I never thought this would be such an issue, but why can’t you have people use their real names?

You can’t put your real name in the “Username” field because it won’t let you write normally with capitol letters and spaces.
The real names in the profile field don’t show up throughout the site so users can’t search for each other unless they just happen to know the other person’s username.

So the members directory is just a list of anonymous usernames, not a real list of community members.
If Buddypress is indeed good for communities, sports teams, and the like, then why create it for people to hide from each other?

Is it possible to have a community of real people with real names using Buddypress?
Seems like a no brainier…any successful community online is driven by people being able to find each other, not a list of usernames a la Facebook, Linked IN.

After all of the work and development on this program, didn’t it ever occur to anyone that someone may want to really use it as a real community site, with real people that have real names?

Can Buddypress be used with Real Names?

[@r-a-y Keymaster 14 years, 7 months ago]

@peterverkooijen – I guess it’s possible to make sure display/real names are unique, but you still run into the issue of someone having the same name. The email address is unique; you’re right.

[@eborg9 Member 14 years, 7 months ago]

Every other system does just fine with duplicate real names. There are many occasions where I had to use a middle initial, or other combination to have my name registered. It’s still much easier for others to find, than an obscure string of letters that only has meaning to me.

I’m not saying that the username system is not efficient for registrations, and log in…it’s just that using them in place of actual names for a “Social Networking” community defeats the purpose of what many communities intend.

I sign into Facebook, Linked in and other platforms with a username or email address, but when it comes to being listed, my actual name is displayed, not my username…that’s why they work.

[@i250 Participant 14 years, 4 months ago]

I’m building a private community network in the company I work for. I could really use some settings in Buddypress where I can order the members alphabetic by there real Last names.

[@pcgs51 Member 14 years, 1 month ago]

I came to this thread and read all the way through hoping I would see the answer at the end of the rainbow. eborg9 totally has a point and boy he sure had to work to make it. eborg9, I feel your pain.

Case in point, I am using BuddyPress for an alumni group. They won’t know what to do with a username other than use it login (would be nice if they just used their email addresses). Usernames are displayed all through my BuddyPress site and there is no way to turn that off. This is counter intuitive for my audience. In fact, for my site they need to see each other SITEWIDE by “first name + last name in school” (aka: maiden names for women). This shouldn’t be so difficult. I’m surprised there isn’t a plugin to modify the Sign Up form and to edit the profile output. I would pay for such a plugin and I know others would. Does one exist that is for sale? I don’t expect to find one for free.

My site members shouldn’t have to navigate to a members directory and do detective work to figure out to discover another members identity if they belong to an open community established so they can communicate.

[@razzgpe Participant 13 years, 10 months ago]

Hello everybody,

has somebody a solution for this problem? A social community without Firstname + Lastname isnt a social community. Its only a forum for internetpeople. But not for real People, who want to interact in a social community is this not relevant.

I hope, somebody has a solution. Because I love the Buddypress Plugin. It’s very nice. But at this point, it’s making many Projects, like mine,
impossible.
Buddypress loses his potential because of this reason.

Best regards from Germany!
Alex

[@candy2012 Member 13 years, 5 months ago]

yuk, it sucks – and reasoning of the kind “is good to have user names as reference throughh the site” is unfortunatelly indeed a bit juvenile and with no touch to the real business world.

people give most of the times usernames they think they’ll stay secret and will only B used to login (as it actually should!) – than once “in” they find out their funky username is all over the place

really not professional – maybe good for kids sites or “anonymous” type of communities but definitely NOT for serious communities & networks

sad actually that such a great work as this plugin ruins its chances to enter the business world by stubbornly sticking to a decision that might not have been the greatest in town …

[@candy2012 Member 13 years, 5 months ago]

This buddypress installation here has some buggs bugging around for quite some time – impossible to edit post (try it!), search does not work etc.

Anyways, wanted to add a link to a plugin which might at least solve some of the issues (make sure you read the FAQs):

https://buddypress.org/community/groups/buddypress-no-mentions

[@umagokhale Participant 12 years, 3 months ago]

Guys, here’s how to fix BP @ Mentions & Display Names Conflict: customwebdesignseo.com/fixing-bp-mentions-display-names-conflict

[@hnla Participant 12 years, 3 months ago]

@umagokhale

CAn you not spam the forum with multiple posts to the same page on your site. It is noted that:

– The content is not available unless you either join your site at a price or share the link to the page on ones social networks

– The content is not yours but taken from elsewhere but without due attribution (please feel free to correct that if not true)

I’m removing the posts as they appear to simply be an attempt at SEO gaming using this support forum.

If you have a problem with that decision please feel free to contact one of the core developers.

[@umagokhale Participant 12 years, 3 months ago]

Point noted Hugo.

– You’re right about having to share to read the solution but wrong about the price to sign up. The content is only available after sharing but the site is free to join.

– I figured out the bp-labs code change myself and the solution IS NOT copied from anyone. Before finding the solution, I browsed through all the forums here but they couldn’t help me so I posted the solution I found for myself.