# IMPORTANT! If your user name has a space in it or a non-alphanumeric character READ THIS **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 12, 2020, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560 "2020-06-12T20:15:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/21 "2020-06-12T21:19:45Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > ECG, have you checked if there are any problems with similar names that get converted to the same name? Users “engineer comp geek” and “engineer’comp’geek” would both end up with your username. I know you generally don’t allow usernames like that, but I bet the database has a few banned users who purposely created a name close to someone else’s. > > ETA: In fact, there was a banned “Jonathan Chance” just from today with nonprinting characters in their username. I just checked now. We had a serial sock/troll that tried to copy my name once. Added a period at the end. That one ported over as engineer\_comp\_geek\_1 so apparently if there are duplicates the second one added will get \_1 or maybe just a 1 added to theirs. If your name is close to another user name, or you know anyone whose name is close to another user name, let me know and I will check how they port across. ---
**Author:** ![Mars\_Horizon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mars_horizon/32/2804_2.png) [@Mars\_Horizon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mars_Horizon)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/22 "2020-06-12T21:27:40Z")
I’d prefer to have MarsHorizon than the two words separated by an underscore. Is that doable? ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/23 "2020-06-12T21:31:58Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Going to the new system (Discourse) we have noticed that user names with spaces or non-alphanumeric characters like apostrophes (anything that isn’t a letter or a number), that part of your user name will probably get converted to an underscore (this guy –\> \_ ). > > If that’s ok with you, then you don’t need to do anything. Just be aware that you’ll need to use the new version with underscores once we switch over. > > If this causes an issue for you, please contact us ASAP! > > ETA: Two examples that I checked: > > Omar Little becomes Omar\_Little > Elendil’s Heir becomes Elendil\_s\_Heir I’ve asked the development team about this. So hang on and let me find out what they have to say. Jenny your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/24 "2020-06-12T21:39:10Z")
I just tried to edit a screen name in Discourse and got this message: **Username must only include numbers, letters, dashes, dots, and underscores** So we are going to have to bear up under this. Yes, I can edit screen names both here and there. To a certain less extent on Discourse. ☹ Jenny your humble TubaDiva Administrator ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/25 "2020-06-12T21:59:12Z")
I guess I can live with thorny\_locust, while feeling only slightly thorny about it (which will wear off in time). I hope I can keep the no caps, though. I’ll feel slightly more thorny about it if I can’t. If I understand you correctly the change will be automatic, I won’t have to do anything about it? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/26 "2020-06-12T22:02:01Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I guess I can live with thorny\_locust, while feeling only slightly thorny about it (which will wear off in time). > > I hope I can keep the no caps, though. I’ll feel slightly more thorny about it if I can’t. > > If I understand you correctly the change will be automatic, I won’t have to do anything about it? Yours ports over as thorny\_locust The change is automatic. It’s part of the conversion process from vBulletin to Discourse. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/27 "2020-06-12T22:05:08Z")
I’m going to miss my space. I recall having a problem with that back in the early early 2000s, but I don’t recall why it was an issue then. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/28 "2020-06-12T22:05:54Z")
When I signed up on the demo site, it required me to pick a password of at least 10 characters. My current 8-character password was not accepted. My password contains only lower-case English letters and digits. That was accepted. The various examples given by **engineer\_comp\_geek** are full of inconsistencies. **Dr. Winston OBoogie** becomes “Dr.Winston\_OBoogie” ? Why one space disappears and one becomes and underscore? **What Exit?** becomes “What\_Exit” and not “What\_Exit\_” ? Are user names case-sensitive? If I sign up as **Senegoid** can I later log on just as well as “senegoid” or “SENEGOID” ? Or could those all be distinct names that different users could have? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/29 "2020-06-12T22:06:02Z")
> [@Mars\_Horizon](#): > > I’d prefer to have MarsHorizon than the two words separated by an underscore. Same here. VinylTurnip r00lz; Vinyl\_Turnip dr00lz. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/30 "2020-06-12T22:12:15Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > **What Exit?** becomes “What\_Exit” and not “What\_Exit\_” ? That’s pretty simple. It drops any ineligible character at the end of the name. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/31 "2020-06-12T22:16:43Z")
Just as long as it isn’t all caps. I don’t want my [straw man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawman_theory) taking over my account. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/32 "2020-06-12T22:16:50Z")
Can you do mine please? If it doesn’t work, I’d rather go back to **Shakes**. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/33 "2020-06-12T22:17:45Z")
On another board, we have a contingent of Finnish speakers. All of them had to get rid of the umlauts in their names–which changed the meanings of their names, often to nonsensical things. There seems to be a way to enable full unicode support, but it evidently breaks a bunch of other features. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/34 "2020-06-12T22:40:29Z")
So before the number of individual requests in this thread becomes overwhelming, what is the correct way to request a name modification during the migration? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/35 "2020-06-12T22:41:04Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > These appear to be the user name rules. > > Minimum length: 3 characters > Maximum length: 15 characters > Must begin with a letter or number > All other characters can be a letter, number or underscore > > If you want me to check how your name ported over, please contact me. So, this is me contacting you. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/36 "2020-06-12T22:54:01Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > So, this is me contacting you. Yours comes across as The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/37 "2020-06-12T22:55:19Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > So before the number of individual requests in this thread becomes overwhelming, what is the correct way to request a name modification during the migration? The migration is automatic. We can’t change things during the migration. You can change it now before the migration, or after we’re over on Discourse. Either way, send an e-mail to our admin, [tubadiva@aol.com](mailto:tubadiva@aol.com) Yours comes across as Pork\_Rind by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/38 "2020-06-12T23:03:42Z")
I just changed my password yesterday from random number/letter combo to one I could be sure to remember. Of course it has none of the unique characters. Do I need to change it again? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/39 "2020-06-12T23:06:53Z")
does this mean me? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560/40 "2020-06-12T23:07:34Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Yours comes across as The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper Much obliged! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/important-if-your-user-name-has-a-space-in-it-or-a-non-alphanumeric-character-read-this/855560.md?page=3)