Re: Add "is this username available" instructions to "Choosing a username" page in PM FAQ (horse shoes)

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.

- tye

Comment on Re: Add "is this username available" instructions to "Choosing a username" page in PM FAQ (horse shoes)

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Re^2: Add "is this username available" instructions to "Choosing a username" page in PM FAQ (horse shoes) by LanX (Saint) on Oct 13, 2015 at 22:43 UTC
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!}	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Add "is this username available" instructions to "Choosing a username" page in PM FAQ (title search) by tye (Sage) on Oct 15, 2015 at 04:32 UTC
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	[reply]
Re^2: Add "is this username available" instructions to "Choosing a username" page in PM FAQ (horse shoes) by GotToBTru (Prior) on Oct 14, 2015 at 03:10 UTC
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	[reply]
Re^2: Add "is this username available" instructions to "Choosing a username" page in PM FAQ (horse shoes) by stevieb (Canon) on Oct 13, 2015 at 22:28 UTC
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)?	[reply]