[wp-hackers] Username Madness

[scribu]

I missed a field. Here are all the fields involved:

In wp_users:

user_login - constant
user_nicename - URL safe
display_name - computed from other fields

In wp_usermeta: all are editable and optional:

nickname
first_name
last_name


So, correction:

Also, what if I want my display_name to be something different?
>
>
> You should use user_nicename instead, since that's what it's for.
>

You should use wp_usermeta.nickname instead of display_name.


Only nicename is guaranteed URL safe.  Also, some cultures write their
> name as 'lastname + firstname'.
>

As stated above, you can use wp_usermeta.nickname or a filter, and it won't
interfere with URLs either.


I don't care about the DB structure, but please don't eliminate
> the independent profile field for nickname.
>

Yeah, nickname won't be going anywhere.



> -1 on redefining display_name. Deprecate it, if you want. Don't redefine
> it.
>

The preference can be easily stored in the usermeta table.

But I'm wondering if this isn't a deliberate design choice, for better
performance - WPMU comes to mind.


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