XF 1.2 Is there any way to allow duplicate usernames?

[TheBigK]

On our website, we've asked users to use their real names and everyone seems to be loving it. We've noticed that the overall engagement with the site, after people began using their real name is much higher than it was before.

But now, if there are two people with same names; they've to either use a dot (.) or a dash (-) or an underscore or a space to create different usernames.

Is there any way to allow duplicate usernames? What problems will it create?

 

[xf_phantom]

What problems will it create?

With the current implementation it would cause:

• Login Problems
  
• Tagging, conversations and all other areas with the username autocomplete feature wouldn't work

 

[TheBigK]

Thank you for your response, @xf_phantom . I think Login can be handled through emails (which xF allows). Tagging and Conversations would definitely be a problem.

Is there any way to fix it? I mean, if we're already asking for a unique email ID; why not let people have a username of their own choice? I wonder how do Facebook and LinkedIn handle this?

 

[Paul B]

It would require code changes plus an additional field in the user table.

 

[Chris D]

How do Facebook and LinkedIn handle this?

Well they have a unique username field, and a unique e-mail address field - just like XenForo - but then a display name field.

My display name on Facebook might be Chris Deeming, but my username could be chrisdeeming123. And if my username was that, that would have to be unique across all users. As would my e-mail address. But the display name does not have to be unique.

So Paul is right. You'd need a new field in the database which is actually a display name, rather than username. Then you would need code changes to display that instead of their username in various places.

 

[TheBigK]

Thanks, Chris. I think xenForo core should allow for 'Display Names' by default. Do you think there was a specific reason why this approach was chosen and not allowing 'Display Name'?

 

[Chris D]

Traditionally this is the approach that most forum software has taken. It's not an unusual approach.

Presumably you want people to be identified by their "real name", so you could use custom user fields as a quick fix. Or even custom titles if you do not use trophy points extensively.

In fact, if you did the latter, you could probably be a bit clever with the CSS:



Make the username less prominent, and their custom title which users would be free to populate with their real name can be more prominent.

They would still be identified by their username everywhere else, of course, but this may help you achieve part of what you want.

 

[TheBigK]

Thank you, @Chris Deeming. I think we'll still need unique usernames or change the system behaviour to let people tag each other using their 'Display Names'. Looks like there's no easy way out.

 

[Lone Fox]

I understand the question has been answered, but I'm desperately curious if there are any updates that I don't know about?
The webmaster/root admin of a forum I'm an active member of wants the option for users to use their real name, so do I honestly.

 

[Paul B]

It still requires custom development.

You can post a request in the relevant forum.

 

[Lone Fox]

Looks like we are going with a competitor software

 

[TheBigK]

Looks like we are going with a competitor software

Which software?

 

[Lone Fox]

IPB