Your Display Names and the Challenge Of 10 Million Members
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With an average of 37 messages per year, I'm not surprised! ;P I've posted an average of 210 messages per year, most of which have been utter rubbish. Griff's posted an average of 5547 per year, almost all of which involve sheep. Plus an average of 2669 QA answers per year. Not forgetting 2245 comments, 12 tips, and 1 article. The point is, the more time you waste spend on the site, the more points you're likely to pick up. And when you get more points, you get ... well, a higher score. Which is nice. If you like that sort of thing. If it makes you feel any better, open your profile page[^] and press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
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For new members it's hard to get a display name that's your actual name. Almost impossible. However, we have tons of members who really don't care if their name is the same as someone else's name. I was thinking that it could be interesting to open up Display Names so that you can choose whatever name you want, even if it's been taken by someone else, with a small cavet: If you haven't contributed a message or article, question or answer, your display name is plain text and it will be displayed in gray. Each time you contribute, or each time you change your name, your name is checked against the list and if you're account is the only account with that name that has made a contribution then your name is yours and is unlocked to accept HTML, and will (by default) be displayed in a dark font. Thoughts?
If this is your biggest problem to solve today, you should take a long well earned vacation. I'm with Griff on this one, by all means recycle unused accounts, but otherwise let the users solve their own problems. I'm pretty sure John Smith has encountered this problem before and has a solution for it.
Politicians are always realistically manoeuvering for the next election. They are obsolete as fundamental problem-solvers. Buckminster Fuller
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For new members it's hard to get a display name that's your actual name. Almost impossible. However, we have tons of members who really don't care if their name is the same as someone else's name. I was thinking that it could be interesting to open up Display Names so that you can choose whatever name you want, even if it's been taken by someone else, with a small cavet: If you haven't contributed a message or article, question or answer, your display name is plain text and it will be displayed in gray. Each time you contribute, or each time you change your name, your name is checked against the list and if you're account is the only account with that name that has made a contribution then your name is yours and is unlocked to accept HTML, and will (by default) be displayed in a dark font. Thoughts?
Let me offer a simple solution. Example using My name: User request's David C# Hobbyist You could suggest C# Hobbyist, David. Simple but elegant. :)
David
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I get it can cause problems, but I'm looking for some creative solutions. If this is a problem too hard for our collective intelligence, so be it. But I think it's not.
If you disallowed it, would someone be able to change their name to (for example) this?
Chris MaunderIMHO, I think display names should be plain text and unique. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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For new members it's hard to get a display name that's your actual name. Almost impossible. However, we have tons of members who really don't care if their name is the same as someone else's name. I was thinking that it could be interesting to open up Display Names so that you can choose whatever name you want, even if it's been taken by someone else, with a small cavet: If you haven't contributed a message or article, question or answer, your display name is plain text and it will be displayed in gray. Each time you contribute, or each time you change your name, your name is checked against the list and if you're account is the only account with that name that has made a contribution then your name is yours and is unlocked to accept HTML, and will (by default) be displayed in a dark font. Thoughts?
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Or we could get a Sorting Hat and do it that way!
Someone would end up with "11 7/8". Dave
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For new members it's hard to get a display name that's your actual name. Almost impossible. However, we have tons of members who really don't care if their name is the same as someone else's name. I was thinking that it could be interesting to open up Display Names so that you can choose whatever name you want, even if it's been taken by someone else, with a small cavet: If you haven't contributed a message or article, question or answer, your display name is plain text and it will be displayed in gray. Each time you contribute, or each time you change your name, your name is checked against the list and if you're account is the only account with that name that has made a contribution then your name is yours and is unlocked to accept HTML, and will (by default) be displayed in a dark font. Thoughts?
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And letting people set their display name to "Chris Maunder" (ignoring @jeron1[^]'s "Chris<space><space>Maunder" trick) will make it easier to spot that they aren't you? :confused:
Eminem didn't write:
I'm Chris Maunder, yes, I'm the real Maunder! All you other Chris Maunders can just take a wander. So would the real Chris Maunder please stand up? Please stand up. Please stand up.
I've already got my coat.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
Damnit, that was hilarious.
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For new members it's hard to get a display name that's your actual name. Almost impossible. However, we have tons of members who really don't care if their name is the same as someone else's name. I was thinking that it could be interesting to open up Display Names so that you can choose whatever name you want, even if it's been taken by someone else, with a small cavet: If you haven't contributed a message or article, question or answer, your display name is plain text and it will be displayed in gray. Each time you contribute, or each time you change your name, your name is checked against the list and if you're account is the only account with that name that has made a contribution then your name is yours and is unlocked to accept HTML, and will (by default) be displayed in a dark font. Thoughts?
You'e a bit late to all this aren't you Maunder? A quick search for me shows 2 imposters with identical spelling. 164,269 and 4,796,628.
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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I'm not serious, I'm Marco. Well, you can't be really sure if I am really Marco, since my account is not verified. Just call me Marco.
Veni, vidi, caecus
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With an average of 37 messages per year, I'm not surprised! ;P I've posted an average of 210 messages per year, most of which have been utter rubbish. Griff's posted an average of 5547 per year, almost all of which involve sheep. Plus an average of 2669 QA answers per year. Not forgetting 2245 comments, 12 tips, and 1 article. The point is, the more time you waste spend on the site, the more points you're likely to pick up. And when you get more points, you get ... well, a higher score. Which is nice. If you like that sort of thing. If it makes you feel any better, open your profile page[^] and press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
Yeah, but that one... Converting numbers to the word equivalent.[^] :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
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Chris Maunder wrote:
If you haven't contributed a message or article, question or answer, your display name is plain text and it will be displayed in gray.
Chris, clearly you don't understand what gray is associated with on CP. May be a nother color but not gray. Thanks.
"Coming soon"
I think I have a fairly solid understanding of what gray is, and how it may, for instance, motivate someone to pick an actual unique name instead of sticking with a used name. However, there are those that really wouldn't care. And that's fine.
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If you disallowed it, would someone be able to change their name to (for example) this?
Chris MaunderIMHO, I think display names should be plain text and unique. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
The rules we use would be the same as we use now: comparison between a new name and an existing name is done by collapsing whitespaces, removing HTML and replacing "similar" characters (eg characters in other alphabets that look like English characters). So Chris&Maunder would be marked as gray (and probably have an icon next to it showing it's a fakey).
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Veni, vidi, caecus
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For new members it's hard to get a display name that's your actual name. Almost impossible. However, we have tons of members who really don't care if their name is the same as someone else's name. I was thinking that it could be interesting to open up Display Names so that you can choose whatever name you want, even if it's been taken by someone else, with a small cavet: If you haven't contributed a message or article, question or answer, your display name is plain text and it will be displayed in gray. Each time you contribute, or each time you change your name, your name is checked against the list and if you're account is the only account with that name that has made a contribution then your name is yours and is unlocked to accept HTML, and will (by default) be displayed in a dark font. Thoughts?
One of the reasons I went with my Display Name, was because my real name was already taken[^] a loooong time ago and I didn't want to do something like this[^]. Anyway, I like my Display Name and would not change it, but I imagine there are people who would like to get a chance to use their real names. Soren Madsen
"When you don't know what you're doing it's best to do it quickly" - Jase #DuckDynasty
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For new members it's hard to get a display name that's your actual name. Almost impossible. However, we have tons of members who really don't care if their name is the same as someone else's name. I was thinking that it could be interesting to open up Display Names so that you can choose whatever name you want, even if it's been taken by someone else, with a small cavet: If you haven't contributed a message or article, question or answer, your display name is plain text and it will be displayed in gray. Each time you contribute, or each time you change your name, your name is checked against the list and if you're account is the only account with that name that has made a contribution then your name is yours and is unlocked to accept HTML, and will (by default) be displayed in a dark font. Thoughts?
Please, no. thanks, Bill
"What Turing gave us for the first time (and without Turing you just couldn't do any of this) is he gave us a way of thinking about and taking seriously and thinking in a disciplined way about phenomena that have, as I like to say, trillions of moving parts. Until the late 20th century, nobody knew how to take seriously a machine with a trillion moving parts. It's just mind-boggling." Daniel C. Dennett
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The rules we use would be the same as we use now: comparison between a new name and an existing name is done by collapsing whitespaces, removing HTML and replacing "similar" characters (eg characters in other alphabets that look like English characters). So Chris&Maunder would be marked as gray (and probably have an icon next to it showing it's a fakey).
I'm very much pro that fake icon. Could we also get a Display Name history in the profile? Sometimes it's hard to keep track on who's who. Or should I post this in sugs'n'bugs?
Politicians are always realistically manoeuvering for the next election. They are obsolete as fundamental problem-solvers. Buckminster Fuller
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For new members it's hard to get a display name that's your actual name. Almost impossible. However, we have tons of members who really don't care if their name is the same as someone else's name. I was thinking that it could be interesting to open up Display Names so that you can choose whatever name you want, even if it's been taken by someone else, with a small cavet: If you haven't contributed a message or article, question or answer, your display name is plain text and it will be displayed in gray. Each time you contribute, or each time you change your name, your name is checked against the list and if you're account is the only account with that name that has made a contribution then your name is yours and is unlocked to accept HTML, and will (by default) be displayed in a dark font. Thoughts?
It should be perefctly acceptable to have multiple identical display names, after all, your name is your name, and there are other methods to identify a user. Image and member id/since date. It is a fact of life that users can be impersonated, e.g. any email system can display any name you want. To this effect, I would suggest you restyle the message template and; 1) Do away with the profile pop up (on Name Hover). 2) struture the left of the message with a small user profile section, comprising: a) smaller 64x64 thumbnailed user profile image (derived from profile image) b) Display name in plain text, with no user styling, html etc. permitted. c) Display member since date d) Display message count e) Display member debator rating f) clicking the User image or the User name would take you to the member profile 3) You could always support R to L by flipping the layout also. Just my thoughts as an initial thinking out loud. :) (Don't like the SO layout with the small box in the bottom of posts, looks scrappy, MSDN forums are closer to what I was thinking, the profile part to the right of a phpbb template is more in line with what I'm thinking, e.g. https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=543515[^])
Dave Find Me On: Web|Facebook|Twitter|LinkedIn|GitHub
Folding Stats: Team CodeProject
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I'd be inclined to restrict all display names to plain text. Are there any good examples of HTML display names? Letting users choose and use display names which are already in use could easily cause confusion. Imagine how many spam posts we'll get from "Chris Maunder"! Even without the radioactive Bob icon on the post, we might still fall for it. You could try adding a counter or member ID after the name, but after a couple of pages of arguments between "Chris Maunder 3276412" and "Chris Maunder 3267412", would anyone be able to keep track?
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
Richard Deeming wrote:
I'd be inclined to restrict all display names to plain text. Are there any good examples of HTML display names?
That gets my five. [edit] Or it would, if an error wasn't preventing it [/edit]
Richard Deeming wrote:
Letting users choose and use display names which are already in use could easily cause confusion. Imagine how many spam posts we'll get from "Chris Maunder"! Even without the radioactive Bob icon on the post, we might still fall for it.
Then simply display duplicate names in a different colour, or in italics. If non-dupe names are plain text, then the dupes'll stand out as dupes.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I'd be inclined to restrict all display names to plain text. Are there any good examples of HTML display names? Letting users choose and use display names which are already in use could easily cause confusion. Imagine how many spam posts we'll get from "Chris Maunder"! Even without the radioactive Bob icon on the post, we might still fall for it. You could try adding a counter or member ID after the name, but after a couple of pages of arguments between "Chris Maunder 3276412" and "Chris Maunder 3267412", would anyone be able to keep track?
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
Richard Deeming wrote:
You could try adding a counter or member ID after the name [...]
I think this would be the much better way to solve the problem of letting users choose the name they want. May be a little reference to the Battle.net of Blizzard; they let users choose the name they want but add automatically a hash <#> followed by a random (at least I guess so) 4 digit number. So all users, even with the same name, have unique Displaynames.
