New messageboard alias name oddness

[Mothman]

Hey Gary, I went to create a new alias on my account today and got a message that ‘that avatar name is already in use’. However, when I did a search of ‘Users’ on the site with that name there were no results.

It’s no big deal; the alias I was planning to create was just a joke one, and the moment has passed, but I’m curious to know under what circumstances the alias name would be unavailable but wouldn’t show up in a search of users?

[Ross Byers]

If a user has not created a profile, they do not appear in search results.

[Joana]

I don't have a profile, but I can search for me. Is it because my PbP aliases have profiles?

[Gary Teter]

I forget the details but I think that we do index your messageboards avatar name. What we don't do is index anything else about you except what you put into your profile.

It's worth noting that our user search is not an exact string match, it's fuzzy like the rest of our search results, so it's entirely possible that an existing user name might not be found, especially if it involves punctuation or possibly words that might get stemmed out of a normal search, like "of" or "and".

[Mothman]

Thanks guys, I think that probably answers my question, or close enough. Like I said, it wasn't a big deal.

[flash_cxxi]

Thanks guys, I think that probably answers my This isn't the first instance I've seen of this happening.

When I went to create a Character for a PbP, I went to call her Skia but the system kept telling me that name was already taken. I did a search and found no other user by that name, but it still refused to allow me to take it so I had to fudge it a bit. Now, if you still do a search for Skia, my Character Alias is the only hit you'll get?

[hogarth]

flash_cxxi wrote:

I did a search and found no other user by that name, but it still refused to allow me to take it so I had to fudge it a bit.

There's a user with that name, but with no posts or profile or anything.

http://paizo.com/people/Skia

[flash_cxxi]

hogarth wrote:

flash_cxxi wrote:

I did a search and found no other user by that name, but it still refused to allow me to take it so I had to fudge it a bit.

There's a user with that name, but with no posts or profile or anything.

http://paizo.com/people/Skia

hmmm... Interesting. I didn't even think to type that into the address bar. Good find hogarth.

[DΗ]

http://paizo.com/people/dH/

This Guy.

He angers me. Just sittin there. not posting, not favoriting things, not making a profile. Taking up my name.

As for me: "DΗ" That's not an H. I believe I used a Russian N. Though it may have been some kind of greek letter.

It annoys me that the one with an H was unavailable, by some guy who isnt using it.

[Bryan Stiltz]

I get the same issue when I try to create aliases. I assumed it was because I typed something in wrong on the one alias I have and messed up something.

[gbonehead]

You guys need a name like mine. Who would want that? :)