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I recently realized that, even though I changed my username a while ago (more than six months), some of my old community wiki answers are still displaying the wrong username.

Example of displayed username: community wiki, 50 revs, 7 users 72% Sonic the Inclusive Hedgehog

This bug has already been reported here in 2010 but they declined the idea of fixing it (because they "didn't care").

We are now 9 years later and I do believe it's time for SE Inc to re-think this.

I know SE Inc is trying to be more inclusive and that the new Code of Conduct is part of it. That's why I believe not deadnaming users should be something they would like to do too.

I am (mostly) fine with old comments deadnaming me. However, seeing the "wiki thing" doing the same things isn't as nice. Especially since old answers of mine do use my updated username.

To be clear, I don't like seeing my old username in comments. But I can understand that changing that would cost a lot. And, anyway, since comments are supposed to be temporary, I can always flag to delete them.

Also, there is a reason for the fact I changed my username and I don't want to attract unnecessary attention about this several months later. So, just "editing all my old wiki answers" isn't really an option for me (not one I like, anyway).

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    Arguably a bug, rather than a feature request, as in other contexts it fetches the current user name.
    – Raedwald
    Commented Nov 11, 2019 at 21:44
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    This looks like an interesting opportunity for SE to put their money where their mouth is on the whole CoC and inclusivity business. I'll be interested in how this gets treated.
    – Angew is no longer proud of SO
    Commented Nov 11, 2019 at 22:01
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    Community wiki is going to be changing pretty drastically in the near future and this issue will be obsolete at that point. In the interim, the only thing that would really make sense to spend time on is just removing a display name from those posts altogether.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Nov 11, 2019 at 22:18
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    "deadname. 1. To refer to someone who has changed their name by their previous name." (but see the examples!)
    – This_is_NOT_a_forum
    Commented Nov 11, 2019 at 22:39
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    Yes please. I've previously handled requests to manually review/edit/delete comments in this manner. Even if it were a mod-level tool to manually edit the username for the few community wiki posts and/or close boxes it'd probably be worth it.
    – Robotnik
    Commented Nov 11, 2019 at 22:53
  • @animuson I never saw the point on displaying someone name on a community wiki. It felt to me that doing so was against the whole idea of a community wiki. So I don't see a problem with removing display name from those posts altogether.
    – BelovedFool
    Commented Nov 13, 2019 at 8:39

1 Answer 1

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How is using old usernames "deadnaming"? We're not talking about people maliciously using pre-transition real names here, we're talking about the difference between "Sonic the Inclusive Hedgehog" and "BelovedFool". A website referring to you using an old self-chosen handle is not "deadnaming" by any means, and honestly this is borderline insulting to people who have to deal with actual deadnaming.

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    There are users who have previously used usernames they consider to be deadnames. This may be a name based on their real deadname, their actual deadname (people do use real names sometimes) or old gendered usernames that reflect someone they are not anymore (or never were). It’s a real issue. The example in the question is not a case of this - it’s a user who changes their usernames frequently - but that doesn’t reduce the request here.
    – Catija
    Commented Nov 11, 2019 at 22:36
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    I'm transgender. I actually have to deal with deadnaming. In fact, one of my old username here was based on my actual birth name. I don't consider this name to be mine anymore so yes, seeing my old username makes me feel like SE is actually deadnaming me.
    – BelovedFool
    Commented Nov 12, 2019 at 7:43
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    If nothing else, sonic's tendancy to change his nickname makes him an easy safe example to show the problem without outing anyone who dosen't want to
    – Journeyman Geek
    Commented Nov 12, 2019 at 9:07
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    I guess, if this is implimented, I'll have to say goodbye to "The Snark Knight", "Don Thermidor Lobster mobster" and "Snark Vader"
    – user316129
    Commented Nov 12, 2019 at 21:11
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    Just to be clear here, the person in the spoiler and the one who posted this question are two different people...
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Nov 19, 2019 at 6:04

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