Forum OpenACS Q&A: How to register users anonymously?

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1: How to register users anonymously?
Posted by Ryan Gallimore on 04/14/06 01:56 PM
I see that in 5.2.2 I can mask users' real names and e-mails, but I want users to register with a screen name only, without having to offer their real name. Should I just edit the register ad_form so first and last name are not required, or does the registration process require these fields?

Thanks in advance.

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2: Re: How to register users anonymously? (response to 1)
Posted by Matthew Geddert on 04/15/06 02:28 PM
Users are people objects, and by default people objects require first_names and last_name. You can disable this by removing the not null constraint for both columns on the persons table in the database (I work with sites that have done this and it works - although it makes dupe accounts much more likely). You will likely need to also update a number of other pages and procs, for example if posting on forums it trys to user you name to say who posted, or when on your my account page it asks for the first and last names... if you grep for "first_names" on your install you can see all the places that look for it...
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3: Re: How to register users anonymously? (response to 2)
Posted by Ryan Gallimore on 04/15/06 06:16 PM
Thanks, Matt. I don't mind dup accounts so I may take your suggestion. I will require the username to be the e-mail address. Will this avoid dup accounts? Also, can I require a screen name and then feed that to first_names, last_name? ie
screen_name is 'perfect_user':

set first_names $screen_name
set last_name " "

Thanks