User name choice on sign-up

Problem

Users need a user name (unique identifier) in APPUiO Cloud.

This identifier should have the following properties:

  • It should be stable for the lifetime of the user in Keycloak.

  • Users should be able to choose it freely.

Proposals

  1. Use the user’s email address as their unique identifier.

  2. Let users choose an arbitrary user name.

  3. Generate a unique identifier (for example u-blue-sound-7239) when the user signs up.

Decision

Let users choose an arbitrary user name.

Rationale

Allowing users to freely choose their user name when signing up increases user experience since they can choose a memorable name they like.

Using the user’s email address as their unique identifier becomes problematic quickly, as a user’s email address may change at any time.

A generated identifier would be an elegant solution from a technical perspective, but generated names are usually not very memorable.