Length of user names

[jelv]

Why are user names allowed to be so long? Should there be a limit on the maximum number of characters in each word in the user name to prevent it breaking the forum formatting?

Here's a partial screenshot of what it does to the index of this forum:

[karlbenson]

SMF does have a limit on the no. of characters in the displayname/realname.

I believe its 25.

if you want to shorten it, there was a tip posted
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=104702.0

[jelv]

If you view the image in my post so that you can see it full size you will see that I was able to enter a 60 character name (with no spaces) on these forums. It totally messed up the layout of the forum index page and any forums I posted in.

The link you gave was very useful - thank you.

[jelv]

Why has this been moved to fixed or bogus bugs?

[Jade Elizabeth]

Why has this been moved to fixed or bogus bugs?

Why do you continue to have a long username?

[Sverre]

Why has this been moved to fixed or bogus bugs?

Probably because the 60 character limit on display names is by design, not mistake (Ref. 1.1.2. Release Notes).

[Jade Elizabeth]

Why has this been moved to fixed or bogus bugs?

Probably because the 60 character limit on display names is by design, not mistake (Ref. 1.1.2. Release Notes).

And people with long usernames, should be banned
Or at least have their usernames edited, and be locked out of their own profile

[falguni1]

lol.

jelv_does_not_learn_and_now_has_a_3_day_ban brought a good point in notice.


this should be corrected in smf 2.0

[Jade Elizabeth]

lol.

jelv_does_not_learn_and_now_has_a_3_day_ban brought a good point in notice.


this should be corrected in smf 2.0

I think the ban will correct it mostly

[DavidCT]

Probably because the 60 character limit on display names is by design, not mistake (Ref. 1.1.2. Release Notes).

*Restricted display name to only sixty characters

I didn't want to get in on this, but... 60 characters is overkill, IMHO.  It should require a space here and there or give an error saying the name is too long.  It does screw up the posts display and probably other areas.

[DavidCT]

To fix this, possible edit (didn't test)...

Register.php:

Code Select Expand


// Validation... even if we're not a mall.
if (isset($_POST['realName']) && (!empty($modSettings['allow_editDisplayName']) || allowedTo('moderate_forum')))
{
$_POST['realName'] = trim(preg_replace('~[\s]~' . ($context['utf8'] ? 'u' : ''), ' ', $_POST['realName']));
if (trim($_POST['realName']) != '' && !isReservedName($_POST['realName'], $memID) && $func['strlen']($_POST['realName']) <= 60)
$possible_strings[] = 'realName';
}


and Profile.php:

Code Select Expand


$_POST['realName'] = trim(preg_replace('~[\s]~' . ($context['utf8'] ? 'u' : ''), ' ', $_POST['realName']));
if (trim($_POST['realName']) == '')
$post_errors[] = 'no_name';
elseif ($func['strlen']($_POST['realName']) > 60)
$post_errors[] = 'name_too_long';


change 60 to whatever you want.  Let me know if it works

[jelv]

Funny how the reaction of some people is not to accept that there is a problem (and end the matter by accepting the need for a change and discussing which version it needs to be fixed in) but instead to swing a big stick and hand out a ban. The fact that the impact was considered so significant that a ban was needed rather proves the point.

I note that this topic is still in the Fixed or Bogus Bugs board.

You might consider that if I'd wanted to really mess things up a name such as jelv_WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW which is still rather less than 60 characters could have been used. Which takes me to (my bold):

I didn't want to get in on this, but... 60 characters is overkill, IMHO.  It should require a space here and there or give an error saying the name is too long.  It does screw up the posts display and probably other areas.

I've been doing some experimenting with long names with embedded spaces. In a few places a name wrapping over two or more lines doesn't look pretty, but it generally just messes up the posts of just that user. To protect the overall forum layout I would suggest that a maximum of around 25 characters per space separated word should be ample - even 25 lower case letters is quite wide: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy

[karlbenson]

Its not a bug per se. Its a feature.

Although I agree it does need tweaking to be shorter.

Personally I have this on my 'mods' to do list and to also set the characters that can be used (as I'm sick of people using copyright and trademark symbols in display name).

My personal settings would be max 15 chars, [a-z0-9-_ ] and the special aeiou chars for instance.

[jelv]

Have you any thoughts on whether longer names should be allowed if they include spaces?

[karlbenson]

Not allowed. Because IMO wrapping is just as bad as forcing it to scroll alot.

[Jade Elizabeth]

Not allowed. Because IMO wrapping is just as bad as forcing it to scroll alot.

I had to compact my forum