Why the odd user names?

steve_sordy

In the last several months, odd looking usernames have been cropping up on the Forum. The usernames have a first half that looks "normal" but then have a random character string for the second half.

At first I thought they were spam names, then saw that they were being accepted. I cannot see why someone would decide to have a username like chadpeterson32xxq&£%#17, it must be inconvenient for the user to have to remember and to type. So what is going on?

Not a vital question, just curious.

I chose my username many years ago, when I thought a username was the name that I used, hence steve_sordy. So I'm not hard to find.

david37

they like the anonymity of it perhaps? or maybe they feel empowered. maybe theyve been previously banned under their own name for having opinions that upset the more fragile amongst us. Who knows.

steve_sordy

I was thinking it a system issue. These odd names look like they have a system generated password tacked on the back. There are loads of them about, so I guess new users are joining all the time.
Someone on the Bike Radar team will know for sure.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I've resisted trying to login using the password looking bit at the end of these new dodgy looking names.

RedClip

It's probably because "steve_sordy" was already taken, they had to come up with another odd name

veronese68

I think they are computer generated user names if people sign up using Facebook, Google or something. I don't think anyone picks them intentionally.

steve_sordy

veronese68 said:

I think they are computer generated user names if people sign up using Facebook, Google or something. I don't think anyone picks them intentionally.

I wasn't suggesting that anyone would pick them intentionally. Who would? They must be inconvenient. I am sure that they are computer generated, but why?

This is not the question of the age, and I have already spent more time on this than I ever thought I would.

I agree that "sordy" is indeed an odd name. If you know anyone with that surname then they are a relative of mine for certain. It is an anglicised version of "sordi" which is quite common in parts of Italy. It first appeared in the UK in Northumberland in the 1700's.

elbowloh

oli_admin* said:

It's to do with the privacy and security of the system we use. Anyone who is unhappy with their username can PM me to request to have it changed.

Cheers

Yeah, i mean you have this weird "admin*" thing after your name...

steve_sordy

oli_admin* said:

It's to do with the privacy and security of the system we use. Anyone who is unhappy with their username can PM me to request to have it changed.

Cheers

Thank you.