In Wikimedia projects (and MediaWiki systems in general) you actually have to pay attention to other people’s usernames (when working with histories and in article discussions), and at least in Wikipedia long long time ago there was a lot of trolling/vandalism where people impersonated other users (particularly the admins) and made bunch of sockpuppets with tiny variations in names when they got banned. So this rule makes sense.
Seriously, Wikibooks?
Submitted 7 months ago by Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works to mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world
https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/61f8caec-e3e3-4cc5-83ef-3277e60bd3e0.png
Comments
umbraroze@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Carighan@lemmy.world 7 months ago
That’s actually really cool that they do that. Reduces the ability of people to scam because they cannot pick intentionally-similar usernames.
DankDingleberry@lemmy.world 7 months ago
try “Karushifā”
ohwhatfollyisman@lemmy.world 7 months ago
the scenes when one won’t be able to choose 5318008.
Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
Aha, that username is apparently not allowed. They require that a username contain at least one letter. Image
trxxruraxvr@lemmy.world 7 months ago
That error message is pretty bad, characters does not mean letters.
sanguinepar@lemmy.world 7 months ago
S318008 it is then.
trxxruraxvr@lemmy.world 7 months ago
They are taking measures to ensure its not too easy to impersonate other users. Seems like a good idea to me.
Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
That certainly does seem to be their goal, but, imo, it’s a bit extreme — especially given the context.
Ashiette@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Which context ?
snownyte@kbin.social 7 months ago
Agreed. I know it must be inconvenient to come across this thing. But people have to realize, it is done for a reason.
You wouldn't want anyone to pretend they're you online and ruining your credibility and reputation.