Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Welcome to Codidact Meta!

Codidact Meta is the meta-discussion site for the Codidact community network and the Codidact software. Whether you have bug reports or feature requests, support questions or rule discussions that touch the whole network – this is the site for you.

Comments on Restrictions on usernames

Parent

Restrictions on usernames

+5
−2

This post asks to disallow usernames with only periods and spaces. I would like to propose disallowing any឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵឵ username with more than one consecutive space. Furthermore, usernames that have more whitespace/blank characters than non-blank characters should also be disallowed. Such usernames make it extremely hard to click on user profiles and ping them in comments for little benefit. To demonstrate this, I have changed my own username to U+17B5 ().

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

2 comment threads

I would go as far as suggesting to limit them ASCII chars only (1 comment)
Agreed (1 comment)
Post
+3
−4

I've declined this, for the same reason that I've declined other similar Unicode-related "bugs" before. They're not really bugs, just a product of how easy Unicode is to abuse.

The solution: don't do this. Expect your username to be reset to something not-unhelpful if you do.

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

2 comment threads

Precisely because Unicode is easy to abuse there should be a filter/restriction/whatever (12 comments)
Is it really that hard...? (5 comments)
Precisely because Unicode is easy to abuse there should be a filter/restriction/whatever
elgonzo‭ wrote over 3 years ago

Yeah, but your argument is the best argument one can make for restricting the allowed chars for user names: Unicode is easy to abuse for screwing with user names and such...

elgonzo‭ wrote over 3 years ago

However such a restriction would be implemented - whether it would be denial of creating violagting user names, or the system automatically replacing a violating user name with a auto-generated name - as long as it is not a manual process i personally wouldn't mind whatever approach is chosen...

ArtOfCode‭ wrote over 3 years ago

elgonzo‭ That's the whole reason it's not being restricted. It's easy to abuse, and hard to detect. I can disallow specific Unicode characters, but someone will just find another one. There's no easy attribute I can pick to detect what's "abusive" use of Unicode and what's genuine. If someone wants to abuse it, they will.

elgonzo‭ wrote over 3 years ago

Don't blacklist characters or character ranges, instead whitelist character ranges. In my opinion, just whitelist characters in the ASCII range.

ArtOfCode‭ wrote over 3 years ago

elgonzo‭ And then what about folks who want to use their real names? Real names aren't all ASCII, let alone usernames. Works the other way round, too: I can't possibly whitelist all safe Unicode characters, either.

elgonzo‭ wrote over 3 years ago

Well, i guess i will look forward to see 房仕龍 here :-)

deleted user wrote over 3 years ago

https://stackoverflow.com/a/11983015/16241416 it may be helpful to detect unicode

ArtOfCode‭ wrote over 3 years ago

elgonzo‭ Without trying to be flippant... what's stopping you copy-pasting the username? Or, worst case, hover over the link and type in the user ID yourself? Not ideal, no, but neither's breaking the system for anyone with a name that's not 100% ASCII. What about Chloë? Or Ægidius? Or, indeed, 李某? See also the other comment thread on this answer.

elgonzo‭ wrote over 3 years ago · edited over 3 years ago

That's a terrible UX, in my opinion. That's a reason for separating display names from user names (for example, like Twitter does), not for championing subpar UX.

ArtOfCode‭ wrote over 3 years ago

elgonzo‭ I don't disagree, but so is stopping people with names that aren't completely Americanized or Anglicised from using them. Six and two threes. We should be looking at ways around this, rather than just saying "we'll block it completely" instead.

elgonzo‭ wrote over 3 years ago

I agree with that 100%.

Tortliena‭ wrote over 3 years ago

ArtOfCode‭ What's stopping me from copy-pasting... Because I have a quick remembrance of the name but don't have the name imprinted on hand. Doesn't happen when you comment of course, but when looking for specific users...