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Show HN - usernique.com: Generate usernames and check availability

usernique.com

21–30 of 44 posts

Re: Show HN - usernique.com: Generate usernames and check availability

#21
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, I only just added the reddit check. Looks like I might have to revert that...

Just found the API that reddit uses to check for usernames[1]. I'll be adding it to handlehelp right now. [1]: http://www.reddit.com/api/username_available.json?user=foo

awesome, good find!

Re: Show HN - usernique.com: Generate usernames and check availability

#22
post #7
post #2

Any feedback would be really cool...

Should look up the domain name too. And what's the point in showing the ones that are taken?

Wow, that was fast. I love that you're literally rolling out new features while I refresh this thread. Kudos!

Re: Show HN - usernique.com: Generate usernames and check availability

#23
post #15

What are you using to determine whether *.io domains are "free" vs "taken"? It seems to be incorrect. http://www.usernique.com/io/x -- "free" http://www.nic.io/cgi-bin/whois?query=x.io -- The domain is unavailable for use.

Looks like there's some bugs here. Just claimed 'esi' was available on Twitter and GitHub, but it's not.

Re: Show HN - usernique.com: Generate usernames and check availability

#24
post #15

What are you using to determine whether *.io domains are "free" vs "taken"? It seems to be incorrect. http://www.usernique.com/io/x -- "free" http://www.nic.io/cgi-bin/whois?query=x.io -- The domain is unavailable for use.

just checking the return code on a GET request. src is on github if you're curious. You're right though, looks like the domain lookups need a bit of work.

You should do a "whois" lookup for the domain. The return code for a 'get' request on the domain has no bearing on its availability -- many parked domains do not even have DNS configured, let alone HTTP.

Re: Show HN - usernique.com: Generate usernames and check availability

#25
post #22
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should look up the domain name too. And what's the point in showing the ones that are taken?

Wow, that was fast. I love that you're literally rolling out new features while I refresh this thread. Kudos!

github+heroku baby!

Re: Show HN - usernique.com: Generate usernames and check availability

#26
post #23
post #15

What are you using to determine whether *.io domains are "free" vs "taken"? It seems to be incorrect. http://www.usernique.com/io/x -- "free" http://www.nic.io/cgi-bin/whois?query=x.io -- The domain is unavailable for use.

Looks like there's some bugs here. Just claimed 'esi' was available on Twitter and GitHub, but it's not.

Hmm. Judging from the way the server.js is written, I'd expect he's being rate-limited, and the server returns free whenever the HTTP call doesn't return 200.

Edit: Just to be sure, I threw in a breakpoint on line 18 of generate.js, and set name to my username (cbhl) -- and got a false "free" result for both Twitter and GitHub.

The OP might need to be getting OAuth tokens and using the GitHub/Twitter APIs.

Re: Show HN - usernique.com: Generate usernames and check availability

#27
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

just checking the return code on a GET request. src is on github if you're curious. You're right though, looks like the domain lookups need a bit of work.

You should do a "whois" lookup for the domain. The return code for a 'get' request on the domain has no bearing on its availability -- many parked domains do not even have DNS configured, let alone HTTP.

I'd be wary of doing automated whois lookups, which might be considered abusive / against terms of service depending on which server you hit.

Re: Show HN - usernique.com: Generate usernames and check availability

#28
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

just checking the return code on a GET request. src is on github if you're curious. You're right though, looks like the domain lookups need a bit of work.

You should do a "whois" lookup for the domain. The return code for a 'get' request on the domain has no bearing on its availability -- many parked domains do not even have DNS configured, let alone HTTP.

Very true. This requires a little more work than my current hack. I'll see if there is a whois package for node...

Re: Show HN - usernique.com: Generate usernames and check availability

#29
post #26
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like there's some bugs here. Just claimed 'esi' was available on Twitter and GitHub, but it's not.

Hmm. Judging from the way the server.js is written, I'd expect he's being rate-limited, and the server returns free whenever the HTTP call doesn't return 200. Edit: Just to be sure, I threw in a breakpoint on line 18 of generate.js, and set name to my username (cbhl) -- and got a false "free" result for both Twitter and GitHub. The OP might need to be getting OAuth tokens and using the GitHub/Twitter APIs.

Any tips to sort this out? How are things being rate limited?

edit: just realised you meant that twitter/github etc are rate limiting my requests. Bummer.

Re: Show HN - usernique.com: Generate usernames and check availability

#30
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm. Judging from the way the server.js is written, I'd expect he's being rate-limited, and the server returns free whenever the HTTP call doesn't return 200. Edit: Just to be sure, I threw in a breakpoint on line 18 of generate.js, and set name to my username (cbhl) -- and got a false "free" result for both Twitter and GitHub. The OP might need to be getting OAuth tokens and using the GitHub/Twitter APIs.

Any tips to sort this out? How are things being rate limited? edit: just realised you meant that twitter/github etc are rate limiting my requests. Bummer.

Just hit the profile page URL and get the HTTP staus code. If https://twitter.com/ksdhbfslbflsdbs returns 404, it's not available.

Not quit the same (a username might be reserved internally), but either way, nobody else can use the name.

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