Usernames in the registration process

[Bertrand Marron]

Hello,

I was wondering why the `username' field is a mandatory field in the
registration process (step aside pre 1.5 django technical reasons).
Right now, it seems to be used only in the forums.

I think that it creates an additional and unnecessary restriction for the user.

I’ve started logging account creation failures
(https://github.com/edx/edx-platform/pull/2341) and right now, about
70% of the 30% of failures are due to the username restrictions
(already taken, forbidden characters, etc.).

So this is just a suggestion, but why not using the user’s “Full name”
in the forum? Or maybe allow them to set a unique username (outside of
the registration process), but not require it?

What do you think?

--
Bertrand Marron

[Yarko Tymciurak]

On Thursday, March 13, 2014 5:53:26 PM UTC-5, Bertrand Marron wrote:

Hello,

I was wondering why the `username' field is a mandatory field in the
registration process (step aside pre 1.5 django technical reasons).
Right now, it seems to be used only in the forums.

I think that it creates an additional and unnecessary restriction for the user.

I’ve started logging account creation failures
(https://github.com/edx/edx-platform/pull/2341) and right now, about
70% of the 30% of failures are due to the username restrictions
(already taken, forbidden characters, etc.).

So this is just a suggestion, but why not using the user’s “Full name”
in the forum?

Thinking out loud:  I would not want that, as a student - anonymity goes out the window, because you've just forced me to make my full identity/name public (in the forums) - not nice!

 

Or maybe allow them to set a unique username (outside of
the registration process), but not require it?

Then - what? - not allow posting to forums w/o setting a user name?

What if people change their user name - how will you manage posts from both "user" names, same user?

What if after starting a course, I want to ask a question, but now all the user names "John" (or some common name) are used?

What is I get frustrated, and don't post (I don't think to use "John31709", or something)?

For this, I think it is better for the student to do up front.

Again - just thinking out loud.

[Bertrand Marron]

On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 12:09 AM, Yarko Tymciurak <yar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thursday, March 13, 2014 5:53:26 PM UTC-5, Bertrand Marron wrote:
>>
>> So this is just a suggestion, but why not using the user’s “Full name”
>> in the forum?
>
> Thinking out loud: I would not want that, as a student - anonymity goes out
> the window, because you've just forced me to make my full identity/name
> public (in the forums) - not nice!
>

There is an option to anonymously leave a message in the forum. Also,
you could use whatever you want, it does not have to be unique. There
can be multiple John Doe.
Think Google+ when it came out, everybody wanted anonymity, people
used nicknames instead of using their real names.

>> Or maybe allow them to set a unique username (outside of
>> the registration process), but not require it?
>
> Then - what? - not allow posting to forums w/o setting a user name?
> What if people change their user name - how will you manage posts from both
> "user" names, same user?
> What if after starting a course, I want to ask a question, but now all the
> user names "John" (or some common name) are used?
> What is I get frustrated, and don't post (I don't think to use "John31709",
> or something)?
> For this, I think it is better for the student to do up front.
>

As long as everything is linked to the /real/ user entity (think
user_id), as long as you can click the _name_ and see whatever stats
you want, it doesn’t matter much what the users call themselves in the
forum.

If students want to be anonymous they won’t enter their full names in
the first place – forcing them to choose a unique username is not
making them anonymous.

--
Bertrand Marron

[Greg Price]

Right now, the primary (and possibly only) purpose of the user's full name is to generate certificates. We may have users who want to earn certificates in their own names but not reveal their names to their fellow forum posters. Anonymity in the forums makes it more difficult to follow conversations; attaching a unique identifier like a username gives students (and, at least as importantly importantly, moderators) a handle by which they can recognize particular individuals to develop relationships or recognize repeat offenders in the case of forum abuse.
 

--
Bertrand Marron