Hijacking of user name!!

I agree theLadyJane10 thing is spooky , but I would tend to notice the Lady part more so wouldn't confuse it with Jane10! I found Anna and Anya more confusing when I first joined.

There are many similar names. There is a polly parrot I've noticed! When I joined I suggested various names and was told they were already taken so I had to have a long think. I didn't want a name that would easily identify me so settled for pollyperkins as it was a song I liked and had heard recently. No connection to my real name! But one reguar poster has a user name very similar to my real name which can be a bit confusing!

No Jane, I agree it is very strange that someone else also chooses 10.

But no 10!

I just searched and came across a post from a good few years ago :-

ladyjane Tue 10-May-11 12:01:41

For all we know there were already some LadyJane variations, just people who don't post on the forums.

I bet that if someone who's bothered by the current algorithm's weaknesses offered to write a better one for free, GNHQ would happily adopt it.

But no-one would offer to do it for free because it would be quite hard to do.

You'll notice I'm not asking you what your reason is, Jane10

Yup. craicon has confirmed what I said. It's done by computer character recognition. If one character is different from a username already in use, the new one, with only one character difference, will be allowed.

There could be a dozen reasons for having a 10 after the name Jane.

Craicon. There are already several Janes on GN. Absolutely fine, they add different things to the Jane. It's the odd addition of the 10 that struck me as odd.

Not sure if this would work? Could GN should have an advice paragraph for new people when registering. They should suggest the newcomer searches on gransnet, before deciding on their own user name. Then if, say, another Jane came up, they would be strongly encouraged to choose a totally different name, not just a number or two after. I an sure GN could sort this if they wanted to.

Agus I’m guessing you’re name was auto-corrected to Angus. It does this on my iPad.
When choosing a new name, as long as it isn’t exactly the same as an existing user, it will let you have it. I think it can be very tricky trying to think up a username if you don’t visit forums very often.
Jane is probably THE most common first name amongst my peers so I think it’s a bit mean to cast aspersions at this stage. Plus with others wading in and agreeing, it smacks of belonging to a clique to suggest that people can’t choose similar names.
If someone is deliberately trying to undermine you, wait until you have concrete evidence and let the site moderators deal with it properly.

When I joined my username was something I use a lot with 2digits after. I then noticed another poster with the same name and 1digit which was the same as me, very easy to confuse. I then changed name as I did not want mistakes between the other poster and me and also because I felt rather identifiable.

I know how you feel, ann. A couple of 'kitties' have been around for a while and I get confused. Added to which, someone used PP for PensionPat which are my RL initials.

Someone up thread (sorry!) mentioned the fact that new posters have presumably previously loitered to establish whether they like GN so it does seem a 'provocative' act.

GNHQ, ought to be able to do something to stop really similar names.

I sometimes get confused about my own posts?
I have seen posts recently from AnnB, my surname begins with B and because Ann is a common name, I often sign AnnB on cards etc
When I first saw AnnB I thought, I don't member posting that comment.

Now there is a endrel123 which is confusing with elrel
There are many new posters at the moment, and I think there will be some mix ups and confusion.

I posted about this a couple of weeks ago. Someone was objecting because she was Luckylegs7 and objected to my similar original name even though I've been on here for years! I don't understand why admin can't object if names are too similar. It made me feel unsettled.

Got it! It popped into my head just as I'd hit 'post message'! There's someone called 'allsortsofbags' posting. Only one 'g' though.

I've seen Grannybaggs too, but I'm pretty sure I've seen another 'baggs' or 'bags' name recently. Hmm, will have to think about this one....

Jane10 It seems to be easy to name change on MN for some strange reason.
Hoping you get a reply they may be short staffed over the week-end and not look at it until Monday ?

I did contact GNHQ but no response. Wonder if this happens on MN?

There also seems to be a few "glammas* registered now a user name I have had for 7yrs ,I have also noticed grannybaggs this morning again noticing the spelling of baggs which I would consider a copywrite infringement
against our Baggs

I think I'll check out and 're register as LadyChewbacca. It has a certain ring to it and is, on reflection, a more apt name for me!

I would have thought anyone joining a forum would have a bit of a lurk to find out what the forum was like before becoming a member?

To add lady in front of a specific username as in yours Jane ‘10’ is too much of a coincidence. Also in the spelling of baggs which stands out clearly in yours Baggs

Can’t remember what the conclusion was exactly when luckygirl brought this confusion over very similar usernames up but GNHQ said they were unable to stop this happening.

Do wonder though if lurkers or new members pay any attention to usernames as I have been addressed as Angus a couple of times?