How to have "Real Name" instead of "username" displayed wherever possible

ijstokes

On forum posts, I'd like my real name "Ian Stokes-Rees" to be displayed, and not my username "ijstokes". Similarly, and more importantly, group membership requests should show real names. For a course-based group that I've setup: https://www.zotero.org/groups/ac263/members all I can see are the member usernames. I don't care if my students use the name "pixiland73" (as a made up example) for their account, but when I get a membership request I need it to say "John Smith" so I can check to see if they are registered.

adamsmith

this has been implemented:
https://www.zotero.org/trac/changeset/10918
not sure whether it's already live or will be shortly.

fbennett

It would indeed be handier to have one's group members real names shown. Does the changeset note mean that if the invitation is to, say, "John Smith ", the user's full name will be shown in the group? Or is there a user-level setting in the Web UI somewhere?

fbennett

Ah, I see now. It's in the individual user's personal preferences. It doesn't seem to take effect though, at least in my own view of my own postings.

In any case, it would be nice if group admins, at least, could choose to see the real names of users in the group.

fcheslack

issue created
https://github.com/zotero/web-library/issues/23

That old commit was specifically for messages to do with group membership (application/invitation).

Gracile

+ on privacy concerns: http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/8471/added-by-usernames-rather-than-real-names/

fcheslack

I'm not sure what the ideal solution here is.

This is one of those bits of information I wouldn't consider private if you're posting publicly. We don't try to insist on legal names like Facebook or Google+, so you can always put whatever name you would want displayed, but apparently there are varying expectations here. I would think the most common expectation is that there is a chance your chosen "Real name" will follow your activity around. Private groups are obviously not going to have the search exposure concern.

fcheslack

Might it be better to just change the hint text on the profile settings to note that the name you put in your profile will sometimes be displayed in place of your username?

Gracile

Yes, it's only for public groups (with open library).
A user is not necessary aware that a public group with closed membership can let others see the library (I know this can be disabled).
An opt-out checkbox could limit the visibility of real names to closed groups (or more generally hidden libraries).

fcheslack

I was hoping to avoid adding another preference for what seems like a concern for only a small number of people.

It is also always possible that a group could change types, which could potentially be more confusing/upsetting with such an explicit preference.