Feature request: Username history

[JonRB]

It would be really useful to have a list of previous usernames associated with an user available via the user's profile.

Often you think "whatever happened to..?" or "I don't recognise that name yet they've been around ages" and it's down to a change of username.

I doubt the information has been captured, but a new table associating user_id to name and date of change wouldn't be a huge overhead and would capture the information from now on even if it can't show historical changes.

[Chris71]

I get the concept, but surely they change their username for a reason on occasions? A little anonymity isn't always a bad thing.

[JonRB]

Chris71 said:

I get the concept, but surely they change their username for a reason on occasions? A little anonymity isn't always a bad thing.

If they want to do that they can create a new account and request the old be deleted, surely?

[Shaw Tarse]

If you click on the member's profile: forums & look at previous posts the old user name will show up.
A bit long winded I know.

[tim the pool man]

If you look at their profile, forums tab, then click back a month or 2, then on a thread they contributed to, it will still show the name they were using then.

gr a bit slow, but it did come half way round the world

Edited by tim the pool man on Tuesday 16th February 17:17

[JonRB]

Shaw Tarse said:

If you click on the member's profile: forums & look at previous posts the old user name will show up.
A bit long winded I know.

Good point. So the system must be retaining the information somehow or else it would just display the new username for all posts.

[paoloh]

JonRB said:

Chris71 said:

I get the concept, but surely they change their username for a reason on occasions? A little anonymity isn't always a bad thing.

If they want to do that they can create a new account and request the old be deleted, surely?

But they would become a newbie

[RacingPete]

JonRB said:

Shaw Tarse said:

If you click on the member's profile: forums & look at previous posts the old user name will show up.
A bit long winded I know.

Good point. So the system must be retaining the information somehow or else it would just display the new username for all posts.

The system stores the username at the time of posting and the member ID, so therefore it can show previous usernames and know they are the same user.

We do audit every change to a user for security reasons, but it isn't in a table that is easy to cross-reference via the website.

Though I am not sure it is a feature that would be high up on our development list at the moment though I am afraid, so the workaround mentioned above is probably the best solution.

[JonRB]

RacingPete said:

Though I am not sure it is a feature that would be high up on our development list at the moment though I am afraid

I can appreciate that. Although do think it would be a useful addition.

[RacingPete]

JonRB said:

RacingPete said:

Though I am not sure it is a feature that would be high up on our development list at the moment though I am afraid

I can appreciate that. Although do think it would be a useful addition.

I have added it to the list, so it is something that is on the future plan

[crofty1984]

RacingPete said:

JonRB said:

RacingPete said:

Though I am not sure it is a feature that would be high up on our development list at the moment though I am afraid

I can appreciate that. Although do think it would be a useful addition.

I have added it to the list, so it is something that is on the future plan

That would be good. Save the "oh what happened to..." moments.

[JonRB]

crofty1984 said:

That would be good. Save the "oh what happened to..." moments.

Exactly.

[JonRB]

Just -ing this to say that I still think it would be a useful feature.

[LordGrover]

They haven't finished search yet! It may be another three years yet.

[anonymous-user]

LordGrover said:

They haven't finished search yet! It may be another three years yet.

The RM Nimbus has been playing up a bit lately.

[MattDell]

LordGrover said:

They haven't finished search yet! It may be another three years yet.

Amazing how he bumped a 3 year old thread without a 'proper' search.

[JonRB]

MattDell said:

Amazing how he bumped a 3 year old thread without a 'proper' search.

Actually I went back through my posting history in 'My Topics' under 'My Stuff'.

Anyway, the search issue is kind of moot as I think you've settled on using Google now?

[MattDell]

We won't have a proper search until the underlying architecture of the forums is revised. And there's no immediate plans to change that, sadly.

[LordGrover]

Classifieds working...
Search shelved...
Bugger.
What can I moan about now then?

[anonymous-user]

JonRB said:

I can appreciate that. Although do think it would be a useful addition.

Useful for you to snoop.

The person has obviously changed their username for a reason. They clearly don't really want to you to be able to easily see what happened to their old username without having to trawl back through all their posts in which case you'd have to be on the right person already anyway.