# Weird citation of stack exchange question

I want to cite a question and its answer in my paper in IEEEtran format. However, citing the question gives me this weird result:

The URL of my account is broken and the author name is just the beginning of my username.

I would be happier if it had the form:

C. Koca (https://math.stackexchange.com/users/426569/c-koca), “Summation of $$\sum_{n=0} a^nq^{n^2}$$ ,” Mathematics Stack Exchange, uRL: https://math.stackexchange.com/q/3738807 (version: 2020-07-06). [Online]. Available: https://math.stackexchange.com/q/3738807.

Alternatively "C-koca" or "c-koca" would be useful as well.

How can I cite it in this way? I tried to change the bibtex text generated by stackexchange, yet I couldn't manage it properly. Also, a feature handling the username and hyphen in the link as itself would be handy.

Thanks!

Edit: Thanks to the suggestion of u/Martin Sleziak, I managed to fix the broken URL. However, the name issue persists. In IEEE citation, Name Surname is cited as

N. Surname

However, when usernames are involved, there is no surname, so it is treated as a single name lacking a surname. I checked the IEEE reference guide but couldn't spot something relevant.

This issue might be about bibtex itself so it might be impossible to solve it.

• Does using hyperref package and enclosing the urls into \url{...} help? I mean something like: AUTHOR = {C.Koca (\url{https://math.stackexchange.com/users/426569/c-koca})}. And similarly for the link to the question. (Maybe also changing "C.Koca" to "C. Koca" might be a reasonable thing to do; i.e., adding the space.) – Martin Sleziak Jul 17 at 12:11
• @MartinSleziak \url{} helped with the broken URL. Thanks! For the name, I used it as {C. Koca} with a space but it doesn't work. – C.Koca Jul 17 at 12:30
• This is not reddit, by the way. – Asaf Karagila Jul 17 at 12:58
• u/Asaf Karagila beat me to it! :) – Omar S Jul 17 at 13:11
• @AsafKaragila I know, but I never noticed if there is convention to refer to someone here. Not giving u/ reduces the information in my opinion. It might easily refer to someone who is not on stack exchange, especially if the user removes the comment. If there is a convention to refer to other users here, please let me know. – C.Koca Jul 17 at 13:29
• You could also check TeX - LaTeX to see whether there are some suggestions how to cite a Stack Exchange post. I was able to find this one: What should an BibTeX entry for a Stack Exchange post look like?. – Martin Sleziak Jul 17 at 13:34