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I have seen that changing our display name is very easy.

I just wanted to ask, how will it look like, and whether this change comes with any unexpected side-effects.

Does it update the displayed name on previous posts, or just on posts published thereafter?

Furthermore, does it impact

  • the reputation?
  • the ability to edit previous posts?
  • the "share link" to previous posts?
    • what happens to a "share link" after I edit a previous answer, while already having an updated display name?

I expect that these things should not bring any surprise based on software glitches, considering who the people are behind the StackExchange network.

What I am thinking about is maybe something intentionally implemented, some limitation necessitated by a policy, by an intent to maintain credibility, or a spam countermeasure, that I, as a novice user would not have thought about.

So, is there anything that I should be prepared for, after I have changed my displayed name?

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    The only "side-effect" is that if people tagged you or mentioned you somewhere, especially in comments, it might confuse future readers as the name used has been changed. (This is not worth worrying about, though. It's just worth mentioning.)
    – Dan
    Commented Jan 27, 2021 at 8:47
  • @dan bother - I just finished putting that in an answer.
    – Criggie
    Commented Feb 7, 2021 at 23:26

2 Answers 2

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Does it update the displayed name on previous posts, or just on posts published thereafter?

It is applied retroactively to all previous posts.

Furthermore, does it impact

  • the reputation?
  • the ability to edit previous posts?
  • the "share link" to previous posts?

No, it doesn't. Those are all tied to your user ID, and that doesn't change.

So, is there anything that I should be prepared for, after I have changed my displayed name?

You can use the feature only once every 30 days, to prevent abuse. If you choose a new name, you'll have to stick with it for a while.

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  • Is it possible for a mod to override the 30-day limit if you really need to for some reason, or is the limit not overridable even then?
    – Vikki
    Commented Feb 7, 2021 at 5:47
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    Yes, they can. But I don't really understand why you really need to change your name twice in 30 days. I wrote about it here on one of our sister sites.
    – Glorfindel
    Commented Feb 7, 2021 at 7:39
  • "You can use the feature only once every 30 days, to prevent abuse. If you choose a new name, you'll have to stick with it for a while." to bypass the 30days lock, user can join to a new SE site, change the name [and then delete account optionally]. I'm not sure if this is a bug or just a open chance.
    – αғsнιη
    Commented Feb 10, 2021 at 16:43
  • Please, if one would like to change their displayed name network-wide, with the exception of this site here, AskUbuntu — where one would like it to remain as it were — what's one's best course? Would it be necessary to go over all our other communities one by one and update our profiles for the given community's scope?
    – Levente
    Commented May 10, 2021 at 18:12
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    @Levente either that, or change it on all sites and wait 30 days to revert it on this site. Or use αғsнιη's trick...
    – Glorfindel
    Commented May 10, 2021 at 20:27
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There is a slight downside, and that's existing comments containing a @yourname or yourname will become outdated and potentially confusing, especially if the display name is similar/duplicates someone else's.

I've seen replies in comments addressed to a user who since renamed themselves. https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/23961/definition-of-a-bunny-hop

For example, Blam talks about different bunny hops....

But that username is gone, having been replaced by the user themselves at some later date.

Overall it's really quite minor.

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