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This is my profile Ingo.

Now we get a new contributor Ingo.

This is very confusing not only for me. I do not want that someone else post with my user name. How can we avoid this?

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  • Discord avoids the clash of names by suffixing your changed name with a random & unique four digit number. They'd have to rewrite the whole StackOverflow registration system to do that on here.
    – Dougie
    May 2, 2020 at 10:52
  • @Dougie Do you suggest that I should rename my user name? Really? Do you like to do that every day with your name if I want?
    – Ingo
    May 2, 2020 at 11:00
  • Nope. I was just mentioning how Discord has solved the problem. I was shocked when they appended an arbitrary number on to my preferred forum name.
    – Dougie
    May 2, 2020 at 22:07
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    The person is unregistered - so will probably never be seen again. There are 3 Dirks registerd
    – Milliways
    May 3, 2020 at 0:14
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    @Milliways - unregistered?! Do you mean SE allows un-registered people to participate?
    – Seamus
    May 21, 2020 at 4:12

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Sorry, this is not an issue to be solved on a single stack of the network. If at all it should be addressed all over the Stackexchange network. You will have to take that issue to the main meta page:

https://meta.stackexchange.com/

Keep in mind though that this problem has been discussed before and the current way is likely by design:

Minor nitpick: it's not usernames that are not unique it's display names. Usernames are in fact unique.

Unless this other Ingo is going to try to impersonate you there is little to be done here. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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  • Thanks for the pointers. I will have a look at it. Seems I have to ask the other Ingo.
    – Ingo
    May 2, 2020 at 17:29
  • @Ingo: Maybe consider using a unique avatar/picture? I could suggest one if you'd like :0 lol
    – Seamus
    May 21, 2020 at 4:09
  • @Ghanima: Like Ingo, I have always assumed that display names were required to be unique. I just read the Q&A in the links you provided & see the point for non-unique display names. But... what IS our unique username? I don't see it in my profile anywhere.
    – Seamus
    May 21, 2020 at 4:20
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    If you click on your identicon on the top bar to get to your profile you'll be redirected to a URL like raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/users/<id>/<display name> there's the unique id. It's also embedded in links you copy using the 'share' function of questions and answers. @seamus
    – Ghanima Mod
    May 21, 2020 at 6:24
  • Hmmm... So I guess if you wanted to insure a unique display name, you could combine your username (number) with some text; e.g. 'seamus12345'.
    – Seamus
    May 21, 2020 at 6:52
  • @seamus but nothing prevents other users using that display name too (technically). Though of course that is becoming more and more borderline to acting in bad faith and at some point (i.e. trying to impersonate another user) moderator action might be warranted.
    – Ghanima Mod
    May 21, 2020 at 7:04
  • Uh yeah... if they let someone get away with that, the entire system becomes moot.
    – Seamus
    May 21, 2020 at 8:17
  • But unless there are any other indications it's just an arbitrary number. Say I choose the username Seamus800704 because that number resonates with me for whatever reason. Now upon registration I did not check for the existence of other Seamusses because the system did not enforce it. Later on we learn that 800704 is your unique id. That in itself is not malicious. @Seamus
    – Ghanima Mod
    May 21, 2020 at 10:45
  • You've got me on that one :( What's a better way?
    – Seamus
    May 21, 2020 at 19:02

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