# Usernames changed?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [February 2, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358 "2014-02-02T16:34:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/1 "2014-02-02T16:34:15Z")
In [this thread in IMHO](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=714117), posts that were originally made by echo7tango a few days ago are now by “Bullitt”, and posts that were made by Laszlo Hapsburg are now by “Charlie Wayne”. Did these guys change their usernames at the same time?
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/2 "2014-02-06T17:11:13Z")
Yes, some users have changed their screen names.
It is up to them to let people know they’ve done this; it’s not our business to do so.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/3 "2014-02-07T20:07:19Z")
Well, [our](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=714988) discussion started earlier and is way cooler.
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### Author:  [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/4 "2014-02-08T02:39:41Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#):
>
> Yes, some users have changed their screen names.
>
> It is up to them to let people know they’ve done this; it’s not our business to do so.
I hadn’t seen that happen before, and it seemed odd that two in the same thread did it almost simultaneously.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/5 "2014-02-08T03:19:15Z")
What’s confusing to me is that posts he made as **echo7tango** now say **Bullitt** , but quotes of those posts from before the name change still attribute them to **echo7tango**. I seem to recall that attributed quotes used to change their attribution along with the name change (and I could only figure out the old name if someone addressed the poster).
Am I misremembering?
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/6 "2014-02-08T03:26:41Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> Am I misremembering?
Yes.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/7 "2014-02-08T03:41:54Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> What’s confusing to me is that posts he made as **echo7tango** now say **Bullitt** , but quotes of those posts from before the name change still attribute them to **echo7tango**. I seem to recall that attributed quotes used to change their attribution along with the name change (and I could only figure out the old name if someone addressed the poster).
>
> Am I misremembering?
Posts are unique blobs of text in thousands of rows of data. Usernames are stored in one row in one place. It’d be near impossible and at least HIGHLY impractical for the board software & database to go through all the blobs of text to find & replace usernames.
So yeah, you’re very misremembering.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2014, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/8 "2014-02-08T04:38:08Z")
> [@Esox\_Lucius](#):
>
> I hadn’t seen that happen before, and it seemed odd that two in the same thread did it almost simultaneously.
I didn’t realize that happened. Pure coincidence.
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### Author:  [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2014, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/9 "2014-02-08T06:03:39Z")
By odd, I meant that a glitch in the forum software was more plausible to me than two users in the same thread changing their names at the same time. It was especially confusing to see both old and new names attributed in different quotes. First time I’ve seen that.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2014, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/10 "2014-02-08T06:15:47Z")
Yeah that’s how I took it. I could’ve been more clear when I said “I didn’t realize _that_ happened.” By _that_, I meant the second user also changing their name.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/11 "2014-02-08T15:39:48Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> Posts are unique blobs of text in thousands of rows of data. Usernames are stored in one row in one place. It’d be near impossible and at least HIGHLY impractical for the board software & database to go through all the blobs of text to find & replace usernames.
>
> So yeah, you’re very misremembering.
Just FYI, on some message boards, quote attributions \*do \*change with a change of username. ProBoards software, for one, works that way. So it’s not unreasonable to have expected that to happen here, without advance knowledge to the contrary.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/12 "2014-02-08T18:08:22Z")
> [@Esox\_Lucius](#):
>
> By odd, I meant that a glitch in the forum software was more plausible to me than two users in the same thread changing their names at the same time.
User name changes _always_ happen in pairs.
Required smiley: 😉
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/13 "2014-02-10T17:45:51Z")
> [@Esox\_Lucius](#):
>
> By odd, I meant that a glitch in the forum software was more plausible to me than two users in the same thread changing their names at the same time. It was especially confusing to see both old and new names attributed in different quotes. First time I’ve seen that.
And at this report, two different threads in the current forum are locked in a tight race for silver and bronze behind the current leader, who seems to have a lock on the gold in this event for the considerable future, although some have complained it belongs in another category entirely.
Clear crowd favorite **Leo Bloom** ’s _Changing_ has fallen behind to late-entrant **Esox Lucius** ’s _Usernames_, who surely is benefiting from _Changing_’s strength fading out after 25 hours, when the plucky young upstart began. A long-standing quirk in the rules permits mods to merge OPs at will, but their deliberations are secret, with appeals permitted but rarely enacted. Obviously the sheer interest in this event has persuaded the race to continue.
Part of the excitement in any of these events is being witness to a bump, often overlooked by the mods, but usually permitted when the slightest linkage can be perceived, and is (sometimes) grudgingly accepted as “drift.” Players have claimed a “one bump allowed” rule, but this poster has never seen official recognition of one.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/14 "2014-02-10T20:10:48Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#):
>
> Just FYI, on some message boards, quote attributions \*do \*change with a change of username. ProBoards software, for one, works that way. So it’s not unreasonable to have expected that to happen here, without advance knowledge to the contrary.
If you look at how quotes are constructed, it’s fairly easy to see why they won’t cascade changes - for example, if you quote this post, you’ll see that it’s hard-coding my username into the text of the post itself.
Other boards probably include the user’s ID number as a parameter in the quote coding, and look this up at the time of rendering the thread.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/15 "2014-02-11T01:05:22Z")
I’d been waiting about a month (roughly) since my initial request for change. I think the admins, when they have time to handle these things, then act on a queue of requests, so that might be why the other guy’s request was handled at nearly the same time. Just a guess. I don’t know how long the other guy had been waiting.
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### Author:  [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/16 "2014-02-11T19:40:13Z")
> [@Bullitt](#):
>
> I’d been waiting about a month (roughly) since my initial request for change. I think the admins, when they have time to handle these things, then act on a queue of requests, so that might be why the other guy’s request was handled at nearly the same time. Just a guess. I don’t know how long the other guy had been waiting.
Or the admins wait for the right moment to cause maximum confusion and snicker about it afterwards. You know what they say about power and corruption. And snickering.
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> And at this report, two different threads in the current forum are locked in a tight race for silver and bronze behind the current leader, who seems to have a lock on the gold in this event for the considerable future, although some have complained it belongs in another category entirely.
>
> Clear crowd favorite **Leo Bloom** ’s _Changing_ has fallen behind to late-entrant **Esox Lucius** ’s _Usernames_, who surely is benefiting from _Changing_’s strength fading out after 25 hours, when the plucky young upstart began. A long-standing quirk in the rules permits mods to merge OPs at will, but their deliberations are secret, with appeals permitted but rarely enacted. Obviously the sheer interest in this event has persuaded the race to continue.
>
> Part of the excitement in any of these events is being witness to a bump, often overlooked by the mods, but usually permitted when the slightest linkage can be perceived, and is (sometimes) grudgingly accepted as “drift.” Players have claimed a “one bump allowed” rule, but this poster has never seen official recognition of one.
Fascinating in-depth analysis, but I think someone’s been watching too much Olympics.🙂
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### Author:  [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usernames-changed/680358/17 "2014-02-12T15:46:47Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> If you look at how quotes are constructed, it’s fairly easy to see why they won’t cascade changes - for example, if you quote this post, you’ll see that it’s hard-coding my username into the text of the post itself.
>
> Other boards probably include the user’s ID number as a parameter in the quote coding, and look this up at the time of rendering the thread.
Hmmmm… I thought I had seen username changes propagated to quotes.
In this case, I see “QUOTE=Mangetout;17092608” in the tag. The number appears to be the post ID. That would be used by the software to help the name updates, possibly doing the update at the moment of displaying the page (e.g. app grabs author of post 17092608 and ignores “Mangetout” in the quote tag).
Of course, this all fails when we manually create quote tags, without the post number.
ETA: I see that the post ID creates a little “go to quoted post” arrow.
Let me see what happens if I retain the post id:
> [@Anonymous Person](#):
>
> [redacted]
Ok… the wrong username stays, but the link goes back to the post.