IMPORTANT! If your user name has a space in it or a non-alphanumeric character READ THIS

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

Check my name, please.

Thanks.

[blue_infinity]

I don’t really care for the underscore. I’d rather lose the space.

[splatterpunk]

@AHunter3

Do the password requirements affect the transitioning process? In other words if our current passwords don’t meet those requirements, umm, what happens to our account during the transition?

Nothing happens to your account.

I think the confusion here is the use of the word CHANGE. When you first log onto the new site you will need to SET a password, as if you are a new user. Maybe your current password will work or maybe not, depending on the rules of the new board.

[Art_Rock]

I’d prefer ArtRock over Art_Rock. Not a big deal though.

[DPRK]

There used to be a plugin to support migrated password hashes, but not sure whether that would override any other password length/content restrictions that are enabled.

[not_what_you_d_expect]

So, I guess I need to change mine?

Sorry, I’m not clear on the rules.

[Jackknifed_Juggernaut]

@engineer_comp_geek

Yours comes across as The_Other_Waldo_Pepper

That’s more than 20 characters

ETA: or do the added underscores not count?

[Ukulele_Ike]

I’m perfectly fine with an underscore.

[Jackknifed_Juggernaut]

Also, if I had my druthers, I’d prefer to take out the space completely while maintaining the 2nd capital J. I’ve hated the underscore since the early days of e-mail and the internet.

[JcWoman]

@engineer_comp_geek

I have also been told that the minimum password length is 8 characters and must have at lease 2 unique characters(#$%& etc)

@DPRK

The minimum and maximum username length, password length, unique character requirements, and stuff like that are all parameters an administrator can edit in the Discourse site settings.

In this case, can you soften those password rules to not require the special characters? I prefer to use weak passwords for internet forums and such because I couldn’t care less if those accounts get hacked. I use strong passwords for things that matter.

It drives me BONKERS how many trivial internet forums and such require strong passwords when they really don’t need to. I know they do that because a lot of people use the same password everywhere, but I would think (hope) that the denizons of SDMB are smarter than that. (And really, if they aren’t by this point in time, they kind of deserve what they eventually get.)

[filmore]

Will this username transformation affect the value that people have to type in the “User Name” field on Discourse? So if their user name is “Sam’s Boat” here, will they have to know to log in with “Sam_s_Boat” on Discourse? If so, I would guess that many people will not realize that and will try to log in with their old name on the new site.

Does Discourse have a way to customize the failed login screen? If so, that would be a good place to put info about the username/password changes, along with ways to contact a mod if manual intervention is needed.

[Chronos]

To be clear, nobody needs to change their username. If your username is one that won’t work on the new board, the conversion will automatically convert it to one that will work. The only problem is that, in some cases, this might result in a username that isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as the one that you currently have. That’s a personal judgement call, so we can’t make any blanket statements about that.

Another issue that might arise is people getting their usernames changed, and not knowing precisely what it changed to. But once the new board is live, this will be something that you’ll be able to check yourself: Just find some thread that you posted in, and see how it shows up there.

[not_what_you_d_expect]

So can it be changed after we go to the new board if we don’t like what the system does to our current name?

I don’t want to be stuck with not_what_you_d_

[Crafter_Man]

Since I knew this would eventually happen, I went ahead and put an underscore in my username when I joined in 1999.

[Santos_L_Halper]

@engineer_comp_geek

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.

There’s me, Santos L Halper and Santos L. Halper (not me) who posted here a few times in 2004.

[engineer_comp_geek]

@Jackknifed_Juggernaut

That’s more than 20 characters

ETA: or do the added underscores not count?

Underscores count.

If you try to enter a new name on the test system it has to be between 3 and 20 characters. On the other hand, for everyone who asks, I am just copying and pasting how the names ported over to the test system.

So maybe they can be more than 20 if that’s the way they are now? I dunno.

[engineer_comp_geek]

@not_what_you_d_expect

So, I guess I need to change mine?

Sorry, I’m not clear on the rules.

Yours ports over as not_what_you_d_expect

As for the rules, you don’t NEED to do anything. Once we switch over you can just log in using the new version of your user name. You just need to be aware that yours will change. If you try to log in on the new system with your existing name, it won’t work. You need to use the new version of your name.

If you don’t like what it changes to, you can request a name change, either before or after the switch to the new system. We expect that many users like you, whose name gets mangled a bit in the conversion, will probably want to modify their user name.

[engineer_comp_geek]

@Santos_L_Halper

There’s me, Santos L Halper and Santos L. Halper (not me) who posted here a few times in 2004.

You come across as Santos_L_Halper

The other one comes across as Santos_L.Halper

We have had a couple of user names with periods in them and Discourse has kept the period. Apostrophes get converted into underscores and spaces get converted into underscores.

[Santos_L_Halper]

@engineer_comp_geek

You come across as Santos_L_Halper

The other one comes across as Santos_L.Halper

OK, cool. Thanks for checking.

[Thudlow_Boink]

Well, this really sucks for iamthewalrus(:3= and people like that.

I realize there’s no point to me saying it here, but I’m going to say it anyway: this restriction on usernames is stupid.