show-names replacement of usernames w. real names breaks UX expectations, leads to ambiguity #8561
Closed as not planned
Description
Hi, first of all, thanks again for Refined GitHub, it's an amazing extension that I continue to recommend.
Description
I tried enabling the show-names feature again and found out again why I disabled it:
When the username "matches" the real name via isUsernameAlreadyFullName(), the username text typically in the top left position on a comment (bold, highlighted) is changed to contain the text of the real name instead (see screenshots below).
This has a few big issues:
- It breaks UX expectations of this location being the username of the user, not the real name - this breaks copying of the username into any location such as comments, other GitHub issues / PRs, URLs, etc
- The username can mismatch the real name, leading to ambiguity of the username (see examples below)
Examples of mismatched user pairs:
| Pair | GitHub username | Real‑name on profile | Canonical form |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | gabriella-monte | Gabriella Monte | gabriellamonte |
| 1 | gabriel-lamonte | Gabriel Lamonte | gabriellamonte |
| 2 | maria-bel | Maria Bel | mariabel |
| 2 | mariabel | Mari Abel | mariabel |
| 3 | robert-oates | Robert Oates | robertoates |
| 3 | robertoates | Roberto Ates | robertoates |
| 4 | tom-ashe | Tom Ashe | tomashe |
| 4 | tomashe | Tomas He | tomashe |
| 5 | sam-argus | Sam Argus | samargus |
| 5 | samargus | Samar Gus | samargus |
This means that users would need to hover for the username before copying it, increasing friction.
How to replicate the issue + URL
- Make the turbofish syntax redundant rust-lang/rfcs#2544
- Make the turbofish syntax redundant rust-lang/rfcs#2544 (comment)
- Make the turbofish syntax redundant rust-lang/rfcs#2544 (comment)
Extension version
25.7.1
Browser(s) used
macOS Chrome 138.0.7204.101
Token ⚠️
- I set a token in the options page. I understand that some features require a token to work.