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Apparently, nothing prevents the users from having identical display names (since they are assigned different userID): here is another Vadim. I admit though that this name is not a particularly rare one, so I will have to think of a better nickname. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? How did you handle it?

Update:

Vadim --> Roger Vadim
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    $\begingroup$ There are pages of users with common first names as their user name, type e.g. 'rob' into the search box here. $\endgroup$
    – ACuriousMind Mod
    Commented May 20, 2021 at 8:32
  • $\begingroup$ I suppose I will just change the name, but keep Vadim in it, so that it remains recognizable. $\endgroup$
    – Roger V.
    Commented May 20, 2021 at 8:35
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    $\begingroup$ I used my forename and surname. $\endgroup$
    – John Rennie
    Commented May 20, 2021 at 8:48
  • $\begingroup$ @JohnRennie People from science will look right away where you work/worked and how many publications you have. $\endgroup$
    – Roger V.
    Commented May 20, 2021 at 8:59
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    $\begingroup$ I dealt with this by winning a moderator election and getting a diamond attached to my name. $\endgroup$
    – rob Mod
    Commented May 20, 2021 at 10:53
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    $\begingroup$ Moderator flex xD @rob $\endgroup$
    – Brian
    Commented May 20, 2021 at 14:05
  • $\begingroup$ @RogerVadim - since a little sleuthing will allow one moderately skilled in the art to find out way more than you imagine about anyone, giving a few hints doesn’t really change things. Anonymity only holds up when people don’t actually care who you are. $\endgroup$
    – Jon Custer
    Commented May 20, 2021 at 14:20
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    $\begingroup$ I used to have my full name as my username. Then another user started being kind of creepy towards me, hence my username now. In any case, you are a fairly regular user here, so I don't think there is an issue of getting you mixed up with the user you linked to. $\endgroup$
    – BioPhysicist
    Commented May 20, 2021 at 14:32
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    $\begingroup$ @rob You beat me to the joke. ;) $\endgroup$
    – Chris Mod
    Commented May 20, 2021 at 19:47
  • $\begingroup$ Clearly, if I want to be a mod I need to shorten my name to just Jon… $\endgroup$
    – Jon Custer
    Commented May 21, 2021 at 15:55

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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It's not much of a problem. While there may be users sharing a display name with you (many, if your name is Chris or rob), it's unlikely there are other prominent users that share a display name with you. As this SEDE query shows, there aren't many names with two high-rep users, and several of these appear to be alternate accounts of the same person.

For example, even though there are 173 users named "Chris," (ignoring case sensitivity), the next-highest reputation "Chris" has only 804 reputation and hasn't been active in years.

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  • $\begingroup$ That query is not trivial to understand. Can you update the description with an explanation of the columns? $\endgroup$
    – Emilio Pisanty
    Commented May 23, 2021 at 9:01
  • $\begingroup$ @EmilioPisanty Sure. How is it now? $\endgroup$
    – Chris Mod
    Commented May 23, 2021 at 9:13
  • $\begingroup$ Yep, that's better. Note that there is a dedicated description field, though. $\endgroup$
    – Emilio Pisanty
    Commented May 23, 2021 at 10:15

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