Can one have any (nonduplicate) username?
What if one chooses username "jewhunter"?
There may be other names which are rather political or opinion, who decides on this?
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6$\begingroup$ Actually, people can have duplicate usernames, perhaps confusingly. The moderators of the site and/or the people who run SE have sometimes changed usernames in the past. $\endgroup$– davidlowryduda ModJun 25, 2014 at 17:21
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8$\begingroup$ I would find any name which has almost purely racist/sexist/offensive meaning to be offensive. I am also not a fan of using names of actual people when it's clear you're not them (e.g. Bill Clinton) and that includes "slight typos" in that matter. $\endgroup$– Asaf Karagila ModJun 25, 2014 at 17:22
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$\begingroup$ Related: meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/11562/… $\endgroup$– Asaf Karagila ModJun 25, 2014 at 17:24
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5$\begingroup$ But how do I know you're really the Asaf Karagila...$${}{}$$>.>$${}{}$$<.< $\endgroup$– EmilyJun 25, 2014 at 18:00
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1$\begingroup$ @Arkamis: You ask Arthur Fischer, Michael Greinecker, Gerry Myerson, amongst others. $\endgroup$– Asaf Karagila ModJun 25, 2014 at 18:19
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$\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila Maybe someone else was using your account in between.. $\endgroup$– emcorJun 25, 2014 at 18:22
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$\begingroup$ emcor, unlikely. I'm almost constantly online. $\endgroup$– Asaf Karagila ModJun 25, 2014 at 18:24
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$\begingroup$ See more here: meta.math.stackexchange.com/a/8884/442 $\endgroup$– GEdgarJun 27, 2014 at 14:19
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1 Answer
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There are very few rules on user names, duplicates are explicitly allowed. But there are some restrictions:
- Impersonation of other users is not allowed (having the same name is not necessarily impersonation)
- The diamond symbol indicating a moderator can't be used in user names
- Offensive user names will be forcibly changed by moderators. The decision on whether a user name is offensive is made on a case-by-case basis by the moderators.
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6$\begingroup$ I expect it can be a difficult call, sometimes. Ages ago I met a female Iranian mathematician whose first name was Nazi. That might not work really well as a user name, though it is apparently a perfectly fine Persian name. $\endgroup$ Jun 27, 2014 at 14:20
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3$\begingroup$ @Haran: According to a quick Wikipedia check there at at least two places in Iran called Nazi too. $\endgroup$– Asaf Karagila ModJun 29, 2014 at 8:23
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$\begingroup$ What if a moderator has the name of another user? Does that mean the other user can't use their name? I would vehemently disagree with not allowing someone to use their name because some moderator shares the same name them. $\endgroup$– dustinMar 9, 2015 at 17:53
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2$\begingroup$ @dustin Unless you're doing anything else to imply that you're a moderator or intentionally try to cause confusion, just having the same username as a moderator is no problem at all. $\endgroup$– user9733Mar 9, 2015 at 18:00