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When I logged into Stack Exchange Data Explorer for the first time today using my normal Stack Exchange Open ID I was given the display name Jon.Doe8551. There are indeed 66 pages of Jon.Does on SEDE, why is that?

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@ben not a dupe, this one was caused by duplicate display name as Rory explained below. On second thought maybe it's better to close as dupe but add another answer there? –  Shadow Wizard May 19 '13 at 13:02
I don't suppose it matters @Sha, whatever the reason I think it's answered there, this question has "logged into Stack Exchange Data Explorer for the first time today" and Waffles answered "As it stands data.se tries to guess a login for you from your openid provider, if it fails it assigns you a unique jon.doe login." The fact that the OP tried to change their display name seems irrelevant? Or possibly I'm being stupid (wouldn't surprise me). –  ben is uǝq backwards May 19 '13 at 13:06
@ben the login was correct, but something else failed (e.g. "duplicate key isn't allowed" .NET error) which caused the fallback to default name. –  Shadow Wizard May 19 '13 at 13:08
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1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

When attempting to change my display name on the site, I was presented with an error stating that on the Data Explorer all usernames need to be unique. I assume that everyone who attempts to associate with a username that is already in the system is assigned the next available Jon Doe name.

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I have no idea why this is, actually. I'll look into removing the requirement if there doesn't seem to be a good reason for it. –  Tim Stone May 19 '13 at 13:07
@Tim good intention, but keep in mind that even if you fix it, long months (years?) might pass before the fix is deployed. I start to believe the team has abandoned Data Explorer altogether from the complete lack of response. –  Shadow Wizard May 19 '13 at 13:09
@ShaWizDowArd Well, I'm slightly more optimistic than that :P –  Tim Stone May 19 '13 at 13:10
@TimStone your judgement is simply clouded by your recent increase in status. Those moderator privileges might simply have induced a power trip. :) –  Bart May 19 '13 at 13:15
@ShaWizDowArd There are a lot of changes waiting in the Data Explorer repo at this point and we simply haven't had the time to go through and vet them. I keep asking Nick about it periodically, but he's been busy with other work. –  Anna Lear May 19 '13 at 18:04
@Anna I was under the impression that Tim already made all the changes and only need a dev to push a button... didn't know it requires more dev time than that. Thanks, maybe it's worth adding as answer here? Not too late to get the bounty! :-) –  Shadow Wizard May 19 '13 at 20:24
@Anna What, you don't trust me? ;) (As an aside, a large portion of the pending changes don't impact the hosted SEDE) –  Tim Stone May 19 '13 at 22:41
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