Hi Andy,

We ask people to use their real names and as the community grows there will be similar / identical names.

I know this could cause some confusion but I don't see a way around it.

Happy to hear ideas / feedback on this.

Thanks

Oded 

Could there not be some way of checking when a new user comes on board that the name they are trying to use is checked against existing name list ? - as happens on numerous other sites I have tried - ie google mail etc. Can't be too difficult one would think.

Hi Jeffery,

Checking if the name exists is easy.

But if a newbie is signing up and his name is Jeffery S and we already have a Jeffery S signed up - what then?  Do we tell the new Jeffery to change his name?

O

 Oded - In a word...YEP !! thats what you have to do on other sites if the name is already taken. Shouldn;t be too much of a hassle for anyone you would think..

Jeffrey - that would work if we weren't asking people to use their real names.

But if we ask them to use real names, we can't ask them to then change their name if its already taken.

We could of-course lose the whole Real Name thing, but we think that real names add value to the community.

What do you think about real names vs psuedos?

O

Cheers Oded - how do you know if my name is real or not ?? I could be John S. And then there is the question of supplying a photo as well.. people hide behind lots of things (for some unkown reason !!) but I come back to the fact that it shouldn't be a real hassle if their name is already taken - I for one wouldn't get real upset...anyway not a big problem in the whole scheme of things.

All social media sites I know, at least the major ones, ask for real names, and then of course face the situation that there will be duplicate names. Facebook & LinkedIn lead the pack, with hundreds of Jeffery S...(-;

Our assumption is that asking people to use real names drives some trust. Of course some people will lie about their name (or anything else), but a good portion won't. We think that out-weighs the downside of having some duplicates, especially real active members develop a strong reputation based on their online actions (and picture), to differentiate them from others. 

2 things any member can do to reduce the risk of being confsed with other members:

1. Allow other members to see your full name, not just the last letter of your last name. 

2. Ensure you add people you know to your friends' list, so these people immediatly see an alert that you're the person they know

I like the idea behind using real names, at least for me the conversation is more personnal when I know what's the name of the person I am talking to. That said, I reckon if that's continue to be a problem it is always possible to add a nickname field for each user that could be displayed next to or below the real name (of course in that case a nickname would be unique across whole page).

I hadn't realised that you were encouraging people to use their real names.  I think it's the right idea but a lot of people seem to ignore it and set up odd nicknames or abbreviations.

Maybe I should revert back to my real name; unless there's already another member called Clint Mammothcock.

In order to keep the real names - and yes, I realize the irony of saying this given my name here is Zonker while my real name is David - perhaps glocals could add more identifying info next to the name, like "(Joined: 2008)" or something like that.

Or maybe 2-3 lettters.

Your real first name is Clint? Seriously?

Bugger...you got in before me !!

Zonker (I always thought that was your real name!), 

Each profile, and profile summary, already shows join date, last site visit, country of origin. 

This guy might be tempted to use a pseudonym if he signs up ....

If this was my name I would use it in full for all of my user accounts

I assume that we need a precise name of person if we want to identify him/her on glocals. Can then glocals team add a function to look for a user via email address(like FB)? All of them need to be unique, right?

I think that if a name is already taken, one could still use that name but a bit differently. For example, if my name was already taken on this site I could have named myself: MyriamW or myriamW or Myriam Wa or Myriam W. Isn t there many possibilities to still use our real names and look different and recognizable?

Hi Kris,

Indeed, emaila ddresses are unique.

Technically, adding a Search by email address is easy.

Is this something you would find useful?

Thanks

Oded

Honestly, so far I didn't have this problem, because I just search people via event that I participated in:)

But I find it useful as long as my email 'd be safe from spamers. Maybe sb else can share an opionion on that?

i don't think anything needs to be changed.

my suggestion was to put information (joined date, country) not just on the profile (which are sometimes hidden) but on the little photo/profile listed on this page next to each reply.....

I think it would be great to have a search by email address functionality.

On the usernames, I quite agree with Lukasz:

There's the first set of people who have strange monikers - I guess these are people with pre-2009 profiles. Then there are those folks who joined & were prompted to enter their provide real names. I guess the only way to sort this out is to separate the two - for eg. Andy C aka ClintMammothcock. :)

For those chickens who do not want to provide their real names (old members), you could always default them to some bizarre name until they change it, like you do with the profile pictures.

In this Internet savey world, if a user name is already existing, it should be easy to say, Please provide other, as the profikle name already exist. Its like saying instead of Andy C, use Andy Casuistik? we know they are the same person, hehehehe

Futther can I create a profile name to SiteAdmin or GlocalsAdmin or GenevaOnline? Or you might pick up on that? You must have some way to catch these abusers. If so, then 'already used profile names' is an easy one.

Finally, I see many profiles dont have true photos of oneself, like some use cartoons, art, animals, in costume, With total halloween makeup, etc.

Or are they really Animals with Glocals profile? hehehehehe

Example, Andy C you cant see his face?

I remember one member was surfing and the face was not clear, but you blocked them as you could not there face until they changed the profile.

I arrive at all events on my motorbike with the front wheel in the air, so I'm easily recognisable from my photo.

Andy, I understand Wheelies are considered reckless driving in Switerland and warrent automatic citation or temporary loss of licence. So what event are you attending next? I think badmitton soon?

Andy are you the one at 00:02:09? or 00:02:55

I may be reckless, but I draw the line at bad mittens.

If naming a baby was like choosing an email address..