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I want to know why have two users, Thomas and Thomas Ward? is there a different people but username almost same?

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  • @muru No, do not flag, this is nto duplicate. Jan 9, 2018 at 5:02
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    You gave a duplicate answer there, excepting the parts of this answer that actually answered the question, so you should already know that this is a duplicate question. Jan 9, 2018 at 5:10
  • I say this is not duplicate. Do not flag. If you reflag this, i wil give an attention. Jan 9, 2018 at 5:11
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    Just saying this is not a duplicate and then being rude to people does not make this not a duplicate, how about giving a reason why this is not a duplicate.
    – Mark Kirby
    Jan 9, 2018 at 10:01

1 Answer 1

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Usernames are not unique. Anyone can name themselves anything they want, as well as rename themselves whenever they want. As a demonstration, go to Users and search for John. You'll have hundreds of hits.

The system instead uses user IDs as the authoritative reference. For example, you are user 772394, and I am user 208574. Thomas Ward (the mod) has the user ID 10616. The user ID is a part of the URL of a user account:

An Ask Ubuntu URL for my user, with the user ID in a red box.

In theory, it becomes possible then for a user to have the same name as a moderator. To prevent cases of mistaken identity, moderators are distinguished by the ♦ by their name as well as the aura of power emanating from their user cards.

The moderator Thomas Ward will have their diamond, and will look something like this on the site:

Thomas Ward, in the flesh? User card?

Otherwise, usernames are almost a free-for-all. Diamonds, as well as some other characters, may not be used in usernames (for obvious reasons).

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