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Q&A How to keep displayed usernames unique even if the user account is deleted?

Motivation On Stack Exchange (SE) I could have a really hard time following a discussion in comments between multiple users if one of the users deleted their account or changed their username. He...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by zetyty‭  ·  edited 1y ago by zetyty‭

#2: Post edited by user avatar zetyty‭ · 2023-06-29T05:54:32Z (over 1 year ago)
Edit about the bug reported
  • # Motivation
  • On Stack Exchange (SE) I could have a really hard time following a discussion in comments between multiple users if one of the users deleted their account or changed their username.
  • Here on Codidact, this "problem" seems to be handled much better as the username seems to change when a user deletes their account or changes their username.
  • Here is an example of the current behavior (from [here](https://meta.codidact.com/comments/thread/3428#comment-11199)):
  • ![example of deleted user current display](https://meta.codidact.com/uploads/t6y6u1ews0yjqldj1ykquewix08q)
  • The username (shown as "deleted user") is even still clickable (hyperlink retained)!
  • Then it's much easier to follow a thread, **but what if there are two (or more) deleted users chatting in the thread? How to make the discussion still understandable?**
  • # Proposal
  • So the question is: **How to keep displayed usernames unique even if the user account is deleted?**
  • A solution could be to assign a unique number to the username after deletion, e.g. "deleted user #9999999" (but I'm not aware of the implication of such a feature because even if the account is deleted, all user activity can be easily traced...).
  • *(BTW, currently the clicable link related to the deleted user name redirect to the top of the current page (also in comment thread view), maybe it would be better to redirect to a page related to account management or something but it will be harder to maintain...)*
  • # Motivation
  • On Stack Exchange (SE) I could have a really hard time following a discussion in comments between multiple users if one of the users deleted their account or changed their username.
  • Here on Codidact, this "problem" seems to be handled much better as the username seems to change when a user deletes their account or changes their username.
  • Here is an example of the current behavior (from [here](https://meta.codidact.com/comments/thread/3428#comment-11199)):
  • ![example of deleted user current display](https://meta.codidact.com/uploads/t6y6u1ews0yjqldj1ykquewix08q)
  • The username (shown as "deleted user") is even still clickable (hyperlink retained)!
  • Then it's much easier to follow a thread, **but what if there are two (or more) deleted users chatting in the thread? How to make the discussion still understandable?**
  • # Proposal
  • So the question is: **How to keep displayed usernames unique even if the user account is deleted?**
  • A solution could be to assign a unique number to the username after deletion, e.g. "deleted user #9999999" (but I'm not aware of the implication of such a feature because even if the account is deleted, all user activity can be easily traced...).
  • *(BTW, currently the clickable link related to the deleted user name redirect to the top of the current page (also in comment thread view), maybe it would be better to redirect to a page related to account management or something but it will be harder to maintain... **EDIT [after an answer](https://meta.codidact.com/posts/288703/288707#answer-288707)**: this redirection to top page is [a reported bug](https://meta.codidact.com/posts/288749))*
#1: Initial revision by user avatar zetyty‭ · 2023-06-25T05:44:43Z (over 1 year ago)
How to keep displayed usernames unique even if the user account is deleted?
# Motivation

On Stack Exchange (SE) I could have a really hard time following a discussion in comments between multiple users if one of the users deleted their account or changed their username.

Here on Codidact, this "problem" seems to be handled much better as the username seems to change when a user deletes their account or changes their username.

Here is an example of the current behavior (from [here](https://meta.codidact.com/comments/thread/3428#comment-11199)):
![example of deleted user current display](https://meta.codidact.com/uploads/t6y6u1ews0yjqldj1ykquewix08q)

The username (shown as "deleted user") is even still clickable (hyperlink retained)!

Then it's much easier to follow a thread, **but what if there are two (or more) deleted users chatting in the thread? How to make the discussion still understandable?**

# Proposal

So the question is: **How to keep displayed usernames unique even if the user account is deleted?**

A solution could be to assign a unique number to the username after deletion, e.g. "deleted user #9999999" (but I'm not aware of the implication of such a feature because even if the account is deleted, all user activity can be easily traced...).

*(BTW, currently the clicable link related to the deleted user name redirect to the top of the current page (also in comment thread view), maybe it would be better to redirect to a page related to account management or something but it will be harder to maintain...)*