BuddyPress.org

I don’t have a solution, I’m looking for one. And I’m not spouting paranoid conspiracy theories, I’m stating real world applications.

what I am looking for is a way to list members in the directory by their real names.

If I build one of these for a real company or organization, they don’t want their people listed in the members directory by the name they use to log in…they want them listed with the names on their business cards so that they can be found.
What good is an alphabetical listing or search function of fake names?

People aren’t blogging for fun, blogging is marketing. It’s the engine that drives online networking and having your activities and contributions hidden by a username, instead of your real name that you use for business, or at the very least your company name defeats the purpose.

I’d like to use this platform for real stuff, not just a group of people taking about beer, and that entails that people can be found in the directory in a way that people know to look for them. As long as there are limitations like usernames coded to display instead of actual names, then there will be limitations on how seriously people take it as a real solution.

Most people are savvy enough to know that you create user names and passwords to log into a system, but not marketing themselves or their business with that log in name. It’s juvenile and unprofessional.
If I join a niche community to Network, and promote myself and my business, I want people to see what my name is, not have to click through to my profile to find out who i really am.
I keep bringing up Facebook, but one of the things that appeals to people is that you can actually find people by their names, you don’t have to guess what the screen name is, or hunt down a photo ( that mayor may not be real) to see if you recognize them.

Web people think that everyone lives by screen names and avatars, and they don’t. Business people don’t network with their gaming name.
Taking away the possibility of simply using a real name is short sighted and limits the professionalism in which you can apply the platform.

I think believing that everyone who uses this platform and their users wants anonymity and a scree name to hide behind is short sighted. You can’t possibly make that decision for everyone and every possibility.
In the real world, screen names are the exception, not the other way around.
That’s all I’m saying.

You keep telling me that real names are used through out the installation and I am telling you that they are not. The members directory, one of the most important sections of this thing for any organization, list users by their username.. I have 3 of these built and they all list the members by username /so if indeed, real name are used everywhere else, but the directory doesn’t list real names…that’s even more confusing and screwed up.