Particularly bad since there are more flexible ways of creating usernames that can prevent collisions or unfortunate combinations.
In particular, firstname.lastname, with the addition of middle name first-letters if they exist. Sure, you can still get name collisions, but this method gives you a level of flexibility and professionalism that OP’s does not.
You can even partition people by function or position by using subdomains. So in this case, it could have been megan.finger@student.cwu.edu such that they never are confused for anything other than a student.
Or maybe by campus. Or a combination of @position.campus.city.institution.edu, especially if we are looking at an institution with tens of thousands of students in multiple locations across multiple cities.
At our university, we give students a list of 6 possible usernames based on what’s available and which algorithm used to generate the name. Work pretty well, and sometimes people get really cool ones. They can change their username between their choices at will, again based on availability.
Particularly bad since there are more flexible ways of creating usernames that can prevent collisions or unfortunate combinations.
In particular,
firstname.lastname, with the addition of middle name first-letters if they exist. Sure, you can still get name collisions, but this method gives you a level of flexibility and professionalism that OP’s does not.You can even partition people by function or position by using subdomains. So in this case, it could have been
megan.finger@student.cwu.edusuch that they never are confused for anything other than a student.Or maybe by campus. Or a combination of
@position.campus.city.institution.edu, especially if we are looking at an institution with tens of thousands of students in multiple locations across multiple cities.Or she can just call tech services and they will give her an alias of her choice. Happens all the time.
Maybe not even the first time it’s happened to this person.
At our university, we give students a list of 6 possible usernames based on what’s available and which algorithm used to generate the name. Work pretty well, and sometimes people get really cool ones. They can change their username between their choices at will, again based on availability.
Our University gives students a random 5-letter string, which works well enough. If you dislike it you can also request a firstname.lastname address.
It’s always a treat if you spot a funny combination, they’re quite rare.
I’m thinking that this might have happened, and still ended up an unfortunate event “LastnameFirstinitialMiddleinitial@Bobloblaw.edu”
Can we just give everyone a fucking serial number and get it over with?