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Username cannot contain 'clyde'

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Re: Username cannot contain 'clyde'

#21

Post by judge2020 »

hn92726819 wrote: post #18
userbinator wrote: post #5

This is a good case for why system bots/messages/etc. shouldn't be given regular names (and perhaps distinguished through other means too); if the error was instead "Username cannot contain 'discord'", it'd be more obvious.

> This is a good case for why system bots/messages/etc. shouldn't be given regular names I disagree. The username can be clyde_discord/clyde_bot and the display name could just be "Clyde". Then the username Clyde wouldn't be taken, and the users would be able to still message the bot and not be confused. Though I personally really dislike simple human names for bots because it sounds cheesy and dumb.

It's not about the username being taken, it's all about what people appear as in the client; bots and scammers might impersonate Clyde to steal credentials, social engineer, etc, so you cannot be "Clyde_help" nor "Clyde_Official" nor any variation that would make people think the bot/user is speaking on behalf of Discord.

Re: Username cannot contain 'clyde'

#22

Post by Eleison23 »

slg wrote: post #7
userbinator wrote: post #5

This is a good case for why system bots/messages/etc. shouldn't be given regular names (and perhaps distinguished through other means too); if the error was instead "Username cannot contain 'discord'", it'd be more obvious.

I feel bad for all the Alexas and the few Siris out there that have had their names hijacked my a couple of the biggest companies on the planet.

I also feel bad for that Google kid I knew in high school. People were always asking him where to find stuff. He thought that changing his name from Alta Vista would stem the tide.

Tragic.

Re: Username cannot contain 'clyde'

#23

Post by margana »

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #8

Why is an internal system in the same namespace as users? I wonder whether there are constraints that made it difficult to implement this functionality in another way, or this is just a bad design decision.

It's not. The reason for this is not technical (unless you think they literally filled their user database with every possible username permutation with the word 'clyde' in it). It's to make sure scammers can't use names with these words in it, because it might make more people consider those accounts legitimate.

Re: Username cannot contain 'clyde'

#24

Post by fold3 »

slg wrote: post #7
userbinator wrote: post #5

This is a good case for why system bots/messages/etc. shouldn't be given regular names (and perhaps distinguished through other means too); if the error was instead "Username cannot contain 'discord'", it'd be more obvious.

I feel bad for all the Alexas and the few Siris out there that have had their names hijacked my a couple of the biggest companies on the planet.

A child named Alexa had to change their name because of the bullying.

https://news.yahoo.com/parents-forced-change-name-6-18055441...

Re: Username cannot contain 'clyde'

#25

Post by kokocute »

rabuse wrote: post #12
slg wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel bad for all the Alexas and the few Siris out there that have had their names hijacked my a couple of the biggest companies on the planet.

I know an Alexa. She hates it.

The only assistant not to be paired with another word as well.

Re: Username cannot contain 'clyde'

#26

Post by askiiart »

taberiand wrote: post #16
ZephyrBlu wrote: post #8

Why is an internal system in the same namespace as users? I wonder whether there are constraints that made it difficult to implement this functionality in another way, or this is just a bad design decision.

It's probably a mix of both. Namespacing often seems to be an afterthought in many systems, and it can be hard to refactor in once an architecture has solidified. It's not always the wrong choice to mingle identifiers of different types, but I think often people err on the side of convenience (/ laziness) instead of thinking through all of the potential issues.

I think it could also be for the purpose of preventing imposters, as what Clyde says is what Discord says.

Re: Username cannot contain 'clyde'

#27

Post by Joker_vD »

margana wrote: post #23
ZephyrBlu wrote: post #8

Why is an internal system in the same namespace as users? I wonder whether there are constraints that made it difficult to implement this functionality in another way, or this is just a bad design decision.

It's not. The reason for this is not technical (unless you think they literally filled their user database with every possible username permutation with the word 'clyde' in it). It's to make sure scammers can't use names with these words in it, because it might make more people consider those accounts legitimate.

Yeah, sure. The very first comment in the Reddit thread says "I use Clydē and it works," and the third one is "CIyde. Use capital i instead of L," so nice try, but no.

Re: Username cannot contain 'clyde'

#28

Post by zetsurin »

Joker_vD wrote: post #27
margana wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not. The reason for this is not technical (unless you think they literally filled their user database with every possible username permutation with the word 'clyde' in it). It's to make sure scammers can't use names with these words in it, because it might make more people consider those accounts legitimate.

Yeah, sure. The very first comment in the Reddit thread says "I use Clydē and it works," and the third one is "CIyde. Use capital i instead of L," so nice try, but no.

I mean their prevention implementation could just be lazy too

Re: Username cannot contain 'clyde'

#29

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

fire wrote: post #4

The key point here that was hard to find is that they and others had a username containing Clyde set already, and now can't update anything else about their profile because their username has come to be considered invalid. That's pretty poor judgement to not even communicate this to affected users

> That's pretty poor judgement to not even communicate this to affected users

Thanks for the clarification, but imagining it's pretty easy that this could just be a bug, e.g. they knew they wanted to prevent future usernames from having "clyde", and maybe even realized some existing clydes would be grandfathered in, but didn't realize it would prevent existing clydes from updating anything else on their profile.

Re: Username cannot contain 'clyde'

#30

Post by fire »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #29
fire wrote: post #4

The key point here that was hard to find is that they and others had a username containing Clyde set already, and now can't update anything else about their profile because their username has come to be considered invalid. That's pretty poor judgement to not even communicate this to affected users

> That's pretty poor judgement to not even communicate this to affected users Thanks for the clarification, but imagining it's pretty easy that this could just be a bug, e.g. they knew they wanted to prevent future usernames from having "clyde", and maybe even realized some existing clydes would be grandfathered in, but didn't realize it would prevent existing clydes from updating anything else on their profile.

yeah, it would be pretty simple to skip validation of the username if it didn't change
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