Hi everyone, one of our moderators was asking me to change the way the user names are displayed.  Below is a detailed email from her explaining what she wants to change.  Can you help with this?

 

 

It’s not clear to members who sign up, including vendors, apparently.

 

For example.  I’m in a thread now with a member whose username is Martin and there is no way to know he’s a vendor because the @NICKNAME is in a font you can barely see.  There’s another vendor named “Zane” who posts and I don’t even remember what his @NICKNAME is (his nickname refers to his business name).  Both members are vendors and even posting as APPROVED VENDORS using their true name (USERNAME).  They are not getting the recognition for their business while contributing on the forum with USERNAME being the name seen.  Martin and Zane do nothing look ANY DIFFERENT from other members on the forum and therefore they don’t get recognized with repeat interaction on the forum as easily unless we remember to make a mental note, “oh yeah, he’s from BLANK BOTANICALS” .

 

The name in BOLD is their TRUE NAME used to REGISTER on the forum.  Why aren’t vendors logging in as the @VENDOR BUSINESS NAME??

 

Nobody is intuitively changing their USERNAME to their @NICKNAME and I’m pretty sure they must SIGN IN using the USERNAME and therefore CANNOT switch to the @taggable name UNLESS they set up a new account under the @NICKNAME

 

Additionally, While the @NAME does “tag” the @user, it’s a hassle to have to type out, @ N I C K N A M E with no drop-down suggested names.  Like doing a search on your TV under the title of a show:  you don’t have to SPELL OUT EVERY WORD.  If you want to look up the title of a movie named “Lars and the Real Girl”, which is a cute movie and family friendly, you can likely enter into the SEARCH field, L A R and get suggestions including Lars and the Real Girl as well as a few other movie title suggestions starting with L A R.

 

A repeat example of the hassle on our forum.  USERNAME Don has a NICKNAME of @tiggermanscrat.  Nobody uses the @tiggermanscrat name anymore because it has SO MANY DIGITS to type and if we make a mistake in the name, there is no tool offering spelling suggestions based on the registered nicknames, so if I mess up the name, it goes through and doesn’t offer help / correction.  So it just won’t be taggable.  Nobody bothers to use the @NICKNAMES primarily because they are so small, and in a difficult to see font.  It’s easier to say, Don.  But he won’t see a mention of him as Don.  

 

The whole reason for discussion on the forum is to build friendships and particularly connections with vendors. It’s an essential part of the service the forum offers.  Otherwise every thread and every post is with a total stranger.  There should be memory retention assistance.  I have recollection of discussion with Zane and Martin, but I often totally forget to read that tiny, grayed out @nickname.

 

Ideally, reverse the names circled in green.  Maintain those fonts as they appear on this screenshot.  Therefore, the unique name with the @sign is a taggable name. 

Additionally, a drop down “helper” should speed up tagging by offering suggestions of the @name so we need not type out every single letter, every single time.