@dylanhigg pinged me and gave me a few site UI/UX (user interface/exprience) suggestions.
One point he made was that some “usernames” are the same as the “full name” for a member account.
I have a few options for how we can change the UI… Which is your fave?
0 voters
1 but it shouldn’t be nickname. Use real names. Anonymity breeds nastiness.
Hey @dylanhigg, Welcome to the community, and thanks for chiming in here!
I think you have a fair point, and I lean towards your suggestion here. I’m interested to see what the rest of the community thinks, as well. (do keep in mind that if we did option 1, when you click on a person’s username or avatar, you will see a profile card and you can see the person’s full name, plus additional info.)
I look at sites like instagram and they lead with the persons unique username, and then show the person’s name beneath.
Take a look at @PickleballVoyager’s instagram page. Randy is widely known as the “Pickleball Voyager” which is his username, and then you can see his full name when you visit his profile.
https://www.instagram.com/pickleballvoyager/
I don’t know the rationale behind why sites like this lead with the username. Maybe b/c they probably have 20 Randy Coleman’s? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I like that the card will display full name. If so, then nickname is fine.
It can be fun having nicknames but in online communities I’m a firm believer in the guideline to BE YOU so I love that full name is part of the equation no matter what.
I think then it goes back to your question of Nickname orrrrr Real name…
I could do option 3 and use CSS to hide the username.
For now I’ve done a basic change to go with option 1, to simplify things. We can always revive this conversation in the future as new feedback/demand comes back into question 
If I had to guess why they lead with usernames it’s most likely to help find the person you’re looking for. For example Randy Coleman, yes you could search for him and try pinpointing which account it is by staring at the tiny profile pic or visiting each profile but the username works more like a unique link to their page. The creativity the nickname allows makes it so we can differentiate ourselves from others who may coincidentally have the same name. One could argue that a username opens the door to BE YOU even more than your given name👏🏽
Love your perspective here @Talyn. Thanks for chiming in. I agree with all of your points.
@dylanhigg took a bit of time to offer me some UI/UX feedback yesterday. He’s spot on that we want to simplify as much as we can and make the 1st impression and simplistic and non-convoluted as possible.
Let’s keep talking about this, and if there are other thoughts or ideas about how we can improve the UI, please post a “+ New Topic” in the #feedback category!
100000% agree with the simplistic approach as well as the Sad fact that anonymity breeds negativity.
I go by Tuttle in pickleball but I’m a military spouse I’m good with what ever you decide to do I think knowing each other’s names is good also. 
probably not helpful
I think usernames make it fun! But I’m a firm believer in making sure the real/full name is also a part of a person’s profile. The more I deliberate over this in my head, i’m inclined to have both. I’m on some other forum sites and several of them use both, and I kind of like the culture that usernames add to also the real name.
I agree with Dylan. I like being able to have a nickname, but have the real name right by it.
