[opensource-dev] display names = the end of 1.x viewers?

[Lance Corrimal]

Am Thursday 19 August 2010 schrieb Bryon Ruxton:

> As I conveyed in the blog, it could be just a warning rather than a
> complete restriction. Such as: "Please be aware that this is a
> resident's username. Any deceptive attempt using this resident's
> name is prohibited..." etc in the case of a match. Or simply a
> text warning always displayed below the Display Name box.


And of course anyone who would otherwise set the display name to the 
name of a well known creator for fraudulent reasons would be 
absolutely deterred by that.

Besides, there's no point to checking against other people's display 
names, or even real login names, as long as unicode is allowed. Are 
you aware of the fact that there are unicode characters that look 
exactly the same but have different "numbers" and therefor are 
different as far as software comparison algorythms are concerned?


> > Maybe an opt-out to deny the use of current usernames as display
> > names would be appropriate, but a general ban to reuse a current
> > username as a display name sounds a bit excessive.

Totally not. It should even trigger an automated AR for impersonating, 
together with a warning message sent to the current holder of the 
login name... "johndoe1234567890 tried to set his display name to your 
login name. the resi team has been notified."

I have a shop where I sell design sails for sailboats.
What would keep someone from setting his display name to my name, and 
hang out there offering "custom, one of a kind design sails for your 
boat, for 2500L cash in advance" to people, and then run with the 
money?
And I would be the one on the receiving end of the abuse reports.

There would be a market for a totally new kind of security devices... 
"kick anyone out who has a display name that matches the following 
pattern(s) and NOT has a login name that matches one out of this list"

like i said. worms. in cans. by the dozen.


bye,
LC