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 1 month 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 1 month ago
Carighan@lemmy.world 1 month 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 1 month ago
try “Karushifā”
ohwhatfollyisman@lemmy.world 1 month ago
the scenes when one won’t be able to choose 5318008.
Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Aha, that username is apparently not allowed. They require that a username contain at least one letter. Image
trxxruraxvr@lemmy.world 1 month ago
That error message is pretty bad, characters does not mean letters.
sanguinepar@lemmy.world 1 month ago
S318008 it is then.
trxxruraxvr@lemmy.world 1 month 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 1 month ago
That certainly does seem to be their goal, but, imo, it’s a bit extreme — especially given the context.
Ashiette@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Which context ?
snownyte@kbin.social 1 month 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.