Find users by email address or real name

Category: Zone BBS Suggestions and Feedback

Post 1 by robbiec12345 (Good night and Farewell ) on Tuesday, 09-Feb-2010 17:11:11

Hi.

Just thought i'd post this to see what people think.
Perhaps it might be useful if you could search for users by entering their email address on the "user profiles" page and be able to see if that email address is registered to a user account on the zone. Under edit profile, there could be an option saying something like "Allow others to search for me by email:" and there would be a combo box with 3 options: No, Yes or yes, but hide my identity (this last option would mean that if you searched for the user's email address, you would be told that the email address is registered on the zone, but that the user has decided to not reveal their zone username/ID).
Also, perhaps it may be useful to be able to search for people by real name, though you would need to be able to edit your real name, which at this time is not possible for some unknown reason.

Thoughts?

Post 2 by laced-unlaced (Account disabled) on Wednesday, 10-Feb-2010 6:59:51

the only real reason i could see for wanting this, is maybe if you were going to tell someone about the zone and you didon't know if they were a member. still, you could just ask them personally through email.

Post 3 by OceanDream (An Ocean of Thoughts) on Wednesday, 10-Feb-2010 8:42:56

That would be cool for people who wanted to find someone they knew was a member, but who weren't members themselves, but for the users on the site, they'll most likely know their username before they know their Email address.

I do, however, think it would be cool to be able to search for people by their real name.

Post 4 by Brooke (I just keep on posting!) on Wednesday, 10-Feb-2010 12:56:11

But realistically, how many people are going to include their real name when signing up?

Post 5 by OceanDream (An Ocean of Thoughts) on Wednesday, 10-Feb-2010 13:22:43

Some might, or at least their first name. Most people know it within the first month anyway.

Post 6 by OceanDream (An Ocean of Thoughts) on Wednesday, 10-Feb-2010 13:23:24

It could be an optional field, like the full birthday, where you can choose how much of your birthday you want shown.

Post 7 by CrystalSapphire (Uzuri uongo ndani) on Tuesday, 02-Mar-2010 11:22:49

I'm a mixture of feelings on this... Email, sure, real full name no...

Post 8 by OceanDream (An Ocean of Thoughts) on Tuesday, 02-Mar-2010 13:43:39

You can send people an Email, however, provided the user in question accepts Email messages.

Post 9 by CrazyCapricorn (I lost my conscience! Anyone seen it?) on Sunday, 21-Mar-2010 23:10:13

Sure, some people may not actually use their real name. However, they have to have an email address in order to redgister, so it would be convenient to at least allow searches by email address, if nothing else...