I'm thinking about making it so that usernames cannot have special characters. This wouldn't affect users who have already registered but all future usernames would be limited to letters, numbers, apostrophes, underscores and spaces.

If you for some reason think this is a bad idea, let me know. If you think there should be additional characters that are allowed, tell me which. This would be for multiple security reasons.

Staff : I'd like to get feedback from all of you as well.

Well I'm not 100% with this idea but I guess this would sort of help for security reasons.

If you want my opinion, I say allow all basic characters, like ! ? < > . , ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) : [ ] + = etc. Nothing weird like §. Is there a reason that you are thinking about it? I think that it is cool to allow users to have their usernames with symbols.

Yes this would be good since some users have user names with question marks due to some keyboards do not have the character. I suggest you also have a restriction to certain usernames like offensive ones. If you have already, can you make it tighter because I have seen a few users and reported them because of inappropriate usernames.

Well, Here's my question, wouldn't this remove things such as @  # $ % ^ & * etc, I mean while yes they are somewhat spammy they have been used to make original user names in the past, But honestly I wouldn't mind having it kept only to more simple things, And this would make sure we wouldn't have anyone else using invisible symbols to cause chaos on the board again, I would say go for it honestly, But in the end the decision is really up to you even if you do value the staffs opinion, We've always trusted you to run the site how you see fit and you've yet to really let the majority of us down.

Can't say I didn't see this coming. I'm glad your putting restrictions on usernames because I've seen some  not so family friendly usernames and users taking advantage of the certain things you can depict using the symbols on the key board, like for example, a certain user choose their name to be a male anatomy part with fluid coming out using certain keys which by the way if you do what you say here that wont occur again.

I can see this being useful. Everyone prefers the freedom to use what they wish in a username, but it can (as you said) be a security issue, as well as mess with summons. I think you should do this, but would allowing a space be an issue? Of course, that would require filtering people from using names that were all spaces, and I'm not sure if an invisible character would be possible because of this. If the invisible character would be possible, then I would say you should stick with the idea as you described it. In all honesty, an underscore easily replaces the space option, and I see no reason for people to fuss about having to use one.

Eirinn : Invisible usernames are possible to create xD view the perma banned members list on the member list page go to the third page under perma banned users and you can see where a user made a invisible user name.

Divine Aurora : Yeah, I know. That's why I was asking if allowing spaces would, by default, allow invisible names to still be possible. If so, then we definitely need to remove the use of them. In fact, aside from spaces, I don't think we need to make any exceptions, and if the spaces present any sort of potential issue, I don't think we should permit them either.

Basically, no sensible person is going to decide that they don't want to join the site because they can't use certain characters in their username, so I don't see a reason not to limit it to what you mentioned, David.

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES. Can I say that some more?

Yes.

Please, David. Not only will it take care of security issues, but the site will look cleaner and more professional. Besides, if we start limiting characters, maybe we can start limiting inappropriate names altogether, like the insane list of names using the 'f' word.  (Obviously, as with the chat filter, some words would have to be allowable since they're contained in other words.)

I'm with gags on this one. All abnormal characters should be restricted, but allowing the basic characters would still give users a sense of freedom and creativity. Also, you have to consider the star symbol. When users have inappropriate names, the star symbol automatically blocks some words. Wouldn't that filter be affected by the changes, if the symbols were completely removed?

I just wish we had a filter for inappropriate usernames that was similar to our chat filters. That way, a user would be prompted to change their name before they can even sign up. This would prevent most all cases of username abuse, which in turn would lower the number of associated reports, and negate most instances where a manual name change may be necessary.

I honestly wouldn't care.  A lot of users use numbers in there name, and limiting ones that use profan language symbols would help this site a ton.




I'm in with this, because I've even noticed some users having profan names, just by purposely mispelling a certain word.

Limiting the characters might deter people from other countries with non-standard key layouts from joining.

If someone wants a profane/inappropriate user name, I think they will find away around the filter with a creative spelling anyway.

I am unaware of the security issues that might arise from this though.

I agree with GuardianZack and tgags123. Anything available on a normal keyboard should be allowed (imo), but restricted outside of that. Also, the censor GZ mentioned would be awesome!

This sounds like a decent idea. I mean, most of the symbols that aren't the basic ones will fail to appear on most devices, and most of them are totally useless anyway...at least, when you're talking about usernames.

I like this idea. While it might limit a few people who want to have a unique user name for the vast majority of members it is nothing that is going to cause a problem.

I see no reason why this wouldn't be a good idea. I'm on board with it.

Pretty Good idea... We could avoid another cases of "Invisible Users" this way.

I don't they'll need the special characters on their names if they're from another countries... After all, It's just an username.

This honestly sounds like a good idea. About special characters, I think the list should be a bit more strict, that would make it safer and more organized. Vizzed is a family site, Having clean and organized usernames would more than fit with that, plus less characters would help keep track of users too, I can see how that would be helpful. Another idea that sounds wonderful is like Guardian Zack said, Having a filter for any possible inappropriate words combination, but one that could also be updated by any moderator in case a new word shows up to trick the current filter. This would be of great help, that's for sure.

The only exceptions I think that wouldn't impact the initial idea so much but should be taken in consideration would be:
@  [ ]  . ( )

Having fewer characters would keep the site safer, cleaner and organized, so in my view, your initial idea is what would fit that role best, but those few character exceptions I suggested wouldn't affect it too much, those are the most common special characters seen on usernames (At least, these are the ones I mostly see), having them should open enough space for users to have more options when picking their name, while it wouldn't have a big impact on security and organization.