Could this forum allow for "alias" usernames for posts?

JonB

Further to the discussion below (moderation note, it was moved here to keep things tidy).

This forum puts our registered username in posts. Many other forums ("fora"?) allow a user's profile to specify an "alias" to be used instead, not for logging on but for posts. For my part, I do not want to try to change my actual, unique registered username to something else, but I do not like it being shown here much, and more importantly I don't like that Google grabs it and it shows up all over the web, plus that's a potential hacker-security downer....

JonB

@tekojo

@tekojo got them to change my name! I'm now @JonB, yay! Thanks :)

JonB

Hi, my own question on this, please:

You can see what my name shows up as. That's how I created my account username, and I don't want to change that. However, I hate my name showing up as it does in posts etc., and would have a harmless "alias", such as jon. Can I achieve that? Is there something on, say, Edit Profile I can set to affect how my name is shown/recorded?

tekojo

Hi @JNBarchan
Unfortunately not. You would need to ask for a name change to jon to achieve that.

JonB

@tekojo
Dang, that's awful :( Thanks anyway.

tekojo

@JNBarchan
Unfortunately we are running a version that can't do that. The reason is us using Qt Account as a central login service. It would get mixed up with names and identities.

NodeBB itself has provisions for changing the username, but I due to the changes we have it doesn't work.

(moved all posts to this thread as it makes sense)

JonB

@tekojo said in Could this forum allow for "alias" usernames for posts?:

Hi @JNBarchan
Unfortunately not. You would need to ask for a name change to jon to achieve that.

Now that you have moved that post into this new post thread, rather than me just "oh OK, that's how it is", I'm wondering if anyone would like to consider it?

[EDIT: This post crossed with your reply above:

NodeBB itself has provisions for changing the username, but I due to the changes we have it doesn't work.

Yeah, that's exactly (oh, I'm reading it "have an alias") why I'm asking if you'd care to change your changes so that it does work?! :) Or, would you care to ask NodeBB to add this facility? ;-)
]

Once you answer this question as "No", I'll mark it as Solved!

tekojo

@JNBarchan
To be really honest, it hasn't been a huge problem, and our backend people are continuously up to their necks in work. Meaning I'm not going to push on them easily.

If @ollipuu happens to be around, he could tell how much work it would be.

JonB

@tekojo
Thanks, I'd appreciate it.

I hate my full name.
I believe having it visible on the web will lead to shadowy government organizations tracking me down and making my life miserable.
Being able to see a login username via the web helps hackers break into one's account, generally.

!

tekojo

@JNBarchan
We can change to the visible alias to jon if that is ok with you.

JonB

@tekojo
Well that seems to be a sudden change of reply! That's exactly what I am looking for, so yes please.

Just so I know: this will change what is shown visibly in my posts here, but will my real (login) name still be in the page and so picked up by Google/web crawlers? I realize that is a separate issue you may not be able to affect, I just want to know, it's still better than nothing, and I'll accept however it is.

Many thanks!

tekojo

@JNBarchan ah, a misunderstanding. I was thinking that you wanted a separate thing other than the username. (the nodeBB datastructure actually has something to the effect, but I'm not sure it is used actively)
I'll ask the admins to do it. Usually takes a couple of days to reach the top of their work queue.

JonB

@tekojo
Thank you very much.

To be absolutely clear: my username here is JNBarchan, that's how I log on.

I do not want to alter that.
I do simply want it to show here (and on the web too, but I realize that may not be possible depending on what you need in your HTML) as jon instead. That's all!

tekojo

@JNBarchan
actually you log with your email at Qt Account, and then there is something OAuth-like in between and then you show up as something over here.

The problems arise from the fact that there is a bunch of systems that uses Qt Account (forum, wiki, bugs and gerrit) for authentication. So changing names or any other login details is always manual work, and some of the systems won't be happy with it. Forum names are the easiest in terms of workload.

JonB

@tekojo
If I understand you correctly, your guys can alter my displayed username here on this forum, without preventing me from logging onto "some of the other systems"? That would do nicely, thank you.

tekojo

@JNBarchan exactly, adding to work queue for admins

JonB

@tekojo
May I just check with you: The request to change my name to "jon" was 11 days ago, is it still in the work queue? No rush, but just checking... Thank you.

tekojo

@JNBarchan I'll ask. Unfortunately it's really close to 5.10 release and that creates workload to our admins.

JonB

@tekojo
Thank you! Just wanted to know that the request had been made and was still pending. I shall wait (patiently!) with bated breath ;-)

JonB

@tekojo said in Could this forum allow for "alias" usernames for posts?:

@JNBarchan I'll ask. Unfortunately it's really close to 5.10 release and that creates workload to our admins.

5.10 out now. A month gone by since the request. It's still in the work queue, right? :) thanks.

JonB

@tekojo

@tekojo got them to change my name! I'm now @JonB, yay! Thanks :)