Upgrade Options: Username or Display Name

[Ford Doctor]

Reading through the upgrade guide and noticed that we have to select User names or display names when upgrading to version 4 from an earlier version. This only affects the display name correct? And, no matter what, users have to use their email address that they registered with as the username to login. This is also correct?  These seem like two separate changes so I just want to be clear.

[Nathan Explosion]

On IPB 3.4, log in is via either a username or an email address (depending on configuration, it could be one or the other or both) - the display name is just that, a display name.

With IPS4, the separation of username and display name is gone. Username = Display Name. So if you choose 'Username' in that upgrade option then the user's display name will become what their username currently is.....if you choose Display Name then the username becomes what the DIsplay Name currently is. So, if you have a user with a username of "joeb" and his display name is "Joe Bloggs" then his name will become "joeb" if you choose username, or "Joe Bloggs" if you choose display name.

If you've got a community where a large number of people are using different username/display name combinations then I would suggest going with display name as this will avoid confusion for people who are used to reading Joe Bloggs' stuff instead of it becoming joeb's stuff

The same login functionality still exists though - username or email address, or both. If people are concerned about their username now being publicly exposed (as it is displayed) then you can switch to just email address loging only.

[Ford Doctor]

Ok... So if I chose display names for example, they can still use their usernames that they currently use?

If so then that answers all of my concerns. Thanx!

[Nathan Explosion]

Just now, Ford Doctor said:

Ok... So if I chose display names for example, they can still use their usernames that they currently use?

If so then that answers all of my concerns. Thanx!

No - their display name becomes their username. Bye bye to the existing username.

[Ford Doctor]

Ohhhhhh! Now you see the confusion. LOL!  Perhaps a notification banner before the update is in order to give my members a heads up.

[Nathan Explosion]

Yes - and a message to ensure that they have a working email address against the account. You can be guaranteed that someone will be confused enough to want to reset passwords or whatever, and they won't receive emails if they don't have a working email address on their account. This is the content I display to my users:

Quote

...........it is possible that your login name for the site will be changing as a result of the upgrade from IPB 3.4.8 to IPS 4.x

Currently each user has a user name (used to login to the site) and a display name (your actual name on the site) - with the upgrade, this separation of names will be removed and the display name will become the user name with which to log in to the site.

How does this affect you?

• if your log in name and display name are currently the same then you're unaffected. You'll simply log in as you did prior to the upgrade.
• if your log in name and display name are not currently the same then you will need to change over to logging in with your display name AFTER the upgrade.

In addition to the above, we will also be enabling the ability to log in to the forum using your email address - it will be up to you how you log in after the upgrade, either using your display name or your email address.

In advance of these changes, it may be time for you to ensure that your email address used on the site is a valid and current address. Why? After the upgrade, if you have any issues remembering your login details then you will need to use the relevant 'forgot log in name' or 'forgot password' links on the site - and these details are sent out by email. So if you don't have a valid and current email address then you won't be receiving those items.