Just FYI, that solution is not perfect. If you enter "Your_Mother", you would be told that the username does not exist (because it doesn't). However, you would still be blocked from registering that username because it would just cause problematic confusion with the existing user, Your Mother.

FWIW searching titles for your mother while restricting to user section only would show both variants ( but also supersets like your weird mother )

Edit: knowing about similar usernames might be of interest though.

Cheers Rolf
_{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language and ☆☆☆☆ :)
Je suis Charlie!}

Yeah, one can build a form that submits to super search to do a title search only for users. The instructions could instruct you to use ' ' not '_' for such searches. I don't know if such a form would trigger the super search protection against constructing URLs that actually trigger a (potentially expensive) search so instead just load the form and require a subsequent button push.

A tiny bit of coding could overcome the "don't just do the search" protection and also replace '_' with ' ' automatically.

- tye        

Another thing learned, space and underscore being treated the same. But that is covered under the Restrictions section, which I implicitly suggest the potential username user consult.

Dum Spiro Spero

If ww is on board, and with you not claiming resistance, is there a way that you know of that can sidestep this issue without needing logic changes (or at least minimal ones)?

Excellent idea; no coding (beyond PM HTML) required. ++

But I won't implement until we see other reactions.

Any objections raised to this suggestion?

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (NASB)

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As a newcomer to the site, I think this would be a very valuable feature.. it was definitely something I looked for (and failed at) when I was trying to settle on a username :)

Thanks Co-Rion for dealing with the administrative fallout!

Since no one had commented, updated original instead of adding a comment. This node may be reaped.