Feature #24448
openAdding "Display Name" Option in profile editor
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Description
Hi All,
Related to ticket #24447 - I am looking through privacy settings on the Commons. I remembered that used to be an option to set a "display name" and this is still possible in the WP dashboard of the main site, but I don't think a lot of people go there (or even know it exists?) See Screenshot 1.
I also noticed that in our profile settings "full name" is required, and required to be seen by everyone. I guess someone could change this if they do not want their full name see by everyone but I am not sure that's a good or effective work around. See screenshot 2.
Would it be possible to allow the user to choose a display name as is possible in the WP dashboard profile back end? Could we make this display name option available on the front end in the profile editing area? Alternatively, could we create an option for an alias?
I thought this it used to be possible (somewhere on the front end to set a display name or set an alias? Maybe I am misremembering?
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Updated by Boone Gorges 12 days ago
The "Full Name" field on the BP profile is effectively the same thing as the "Display Name" field in the Dashboard.
For more context, WP uses "Display Name" when deciding what name should be put in the byline for posts, the byline for logged-in comments, and certain author-related archive pages. BP requires what has historically in the plugin been called "full name", and has more or less synced it to WP's "Display Name". In the BP context, it's used in directories, in group membership lists, on user profiles, in group forums, and so forth.
So, essentially, they play a similar role - the way that a user is described in public-facing user interfaces throughout the site - and they're programatically linked to each other in many contexts.
As far as privacy is concerned, perhaps what we want is to stop calling it "Full Name". Instead, we can use a label like "Display Name", and then have some helper text explaining that this is the text that'll be used in public contexts to describe you. We might suggest or encourage that individuals use their real name, but people could also choose abbreviations or pseudonyms.