[Foundation-l] On hard-to-read usernames

[Gregory Maxwell]

On 12/24/06, Brion Vibber <brion at pobox.com> wrote:
> * Use easily-changable 'nicknames' more extensively
>
> Possibly combined with a default transliteration mode, this could allow
> people using a common primary username to choose a more 'friendly' nick
> to be displayed and used more widely in the user interface than the
> current nickname option for talk page signatures.
>
> In some ways the simplest implementation of this might be to provide a
> way to link accounts, so the software can visibly verify that they
> belong to the same person, which brings us to:

An implementation of this via some means other than linked accounts
would might also be beneficial  because it would allow for the setting
of a non-unique preferred name.

(cur) (last) 10:09, 24 December 2006
  SuperNinja92349 (John Doe | Talk | contribs | block) (word to the wise)

There are a number of users that I interact with whom login using
pseudonyms for reasons of account uniqueness but actually prefer to be
addressed by their real names.

They often express this by customizing their signature, but since this
preference is only displayed in their signature it often creates
confusion. For example, they'll mention edit of theirs on a talk page
and you'll waste a long time scanning the history for the wrong name.

Actual implementation would be a little ..fun, at least if it were to
support at will changes to preferred name.