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User search should use the account name when the user's "Name" field is blank.

Here are some accounts with blank names that aren't found when the names are typed into the search field on the Users page:

There's no particular significance to this list. It's just a bunch of accounts I found while preparing this post.

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    Also ~quack, formerly.
    – mmyers
    Apr 15, 2010 at 17:54
  • I found quack...
    – Josh K
    Apr 15, 2010 at 18:09
  • ...and I thought duck's quacks didn't echo...
    – Dennis Williamson
    Apr 15, 2010 at 20:06

2 Answers 2

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Seems to me that this is no longer relevant, since the sites no longer generate display names based on OpenID. Though it is good to know that "@user191054" has no effect (see Jeff's comment to his own answer).

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These users don't actually have names; we're synthesizing a fake name based on their OpenID string.

edit: completed, because we no longer pretend to synthesize fake names from OpenIDs for users who have not provided one.

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    I think the OP's point was that this 'fake name' should still be searched through, because the searcher's expectation is that one should be able to find the profile of a user by their screen name, even if that user is not registered.
    – Ether
    Apr 15, 2010 at 18:19
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    @Ether: Yes, that's what I mean. Also, I haven't tested this, but does the "@user" comment addressing work for replying to these users? Otherwise, maybe yelling "Hey, you!" loudly enough...
    – Dennis Williamson
    Apr 15, 2010 at 20:02
  • @dennis correct, that won't work either for users with no display name.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Aug 1, 2010 at 2:06

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