# Duplicate names in "About" **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 28, 2022, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duplicate-names-in-about/970487 "2022-08-28T21:30:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duplicate-names-in-about/970487/1 "2022-08-28T21:30:39Z")
If i click on the hamburger menu button and select “about”, i get a page showing all admins and mods - but all their names are duplicated, eg Chronos Chronos. Is that normal ? ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duplicate-names-in-about/970487/2 "2022-08-28T21:32:21Z")
That’s where a custom title should go. I guess the software just copied the username during the transition. ETA: Actually… not sure what’s going on there. What\_Exit is followed by What Exit? and Aspenglow has Reluctant Adult. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duplicate-names-in-about/970487/3 "2022-08-28T21:34:31Z")
Then the software is an ass. (as in donkey, not posterior) > [@GreysonCarlisle](#): > > Aspenglow has Reluctant Adult. I missed that one… ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duplicate-names-in-about/970487/4 "2022-08-28T21:36:38Z")
Not many people know that the ex-Secretary-General of the U.N. was called Boutros Ghali before he joined SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duplicate-names-in-about/970487/5 "2022-08-28T21:39:04Z")
Checked my other D-boards, and none of them do that. You can change yours if you want by going to Preferences\>Account and putting something in the Name box. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duplicate-names-in-about/970487/6 "2022-08-28T21:43:25Z")
Don’t get me started on Sirhan. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duplicate-names-in-about/970487/7 "2022-08-28T21:44:01Z")
The What\_Exit type names should be a database field and the What Exit? Is what should be displayed but discourse doesn’t do this for some reason. It is showing both in this case, same as if you click on a user profile. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duplicate-names-in-about/970487/8 "2022-08-28T21:49:22Z")
Oh well. Not some right wing conspiracy as i first suspected ! Cheers all. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duplicate-names-in-about/970487/9 "2022-08-28T22:00:21Z")
Discourse includes a field for username (which is subject to some restrictions), and also an optional field for real name (which is not subject to those restrictions). vBulletin did not have a real name field at all, so when the Discourse translation software ran, it put the vBulletin usernames in the “real name” field, and put the best approximation it could in the “username” field. So, for instance, the moderator from New Jersey used to be called What Exit?, and that’s still what shows in his real name field, but Discourse can’t handle spaces or question marks in usernames, so it turned his username into @What_Exit. > [@What\_Exit](#): > > The What\_Exit type names should be a database field and the What Exit? Is what should be displayed but discourse doesn’t do this for some reason. Actually, the database field SHOULD be just a number, which most users would never even need to worry about (it’d be part of the URL for a user profile page or the like, so not secret, but not anything anyone would care about). ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duplicate-names-in-about/970487/10 "2022-08-28T22:07:14Z")
That is true and there probably is a hidden numeric index for the name table. The username field is needed to construct the Discourse URLs. But the Real Name field should be the display name. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2022, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duplicate-names-in-about/970487/11 "2022-08-28T22:20:36Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > The username field is needed to construct the Discourse URLs. But the Real Name field should be the display name. That would be a hassle given that it’s user-editable and most people don’t bother filling it out. It would be helpful, though, since some foreign characters cannot be entered into the username field, and that can really screw up a pre-Discourse username. Some Finnish pals o’ mine had a real nightmare with it.