So given the previous parts of this series (1, 2, 3), what might an alternative solution to the global namespace for people look like? First, we should have some criteria for how the system operates. Here are the ones that come to mind:Secure decentralized operation that’s not controlled by a single entityHuman readable/memorable namesGlobally uniqueUntil yesterday I was blissfully unaware that there has been a bunch of work on this starting with an assertion by Zooko (talk about a unique nam...

So given the previous parts of this series (1, 2, 3), what might an alternative solution to the global namespace for people look like? First, we should have some criteria for how the system operates. Here are the ones that come to mind:Secure decentralized operation that’s not controlled by a single entityHuman readable/memorable namesGlobally uniqueUntil yesterday I was blissfully unaware that there has been a bunch of work on this starting with an assertion by Zooko (talk about a unique nam...

I ended yesterday’s post by saying that I would write about potential solutions to the global namespace problem for people (parts 1 and 2). So here we go with a post on what seems to be happening (to be followed by a final post on possible alternatives). The de facto solution for an increasing number of services appears to be delegating their namespace to Facebook or Twitter or both. Facebook originally did not have usernames but only real names. The problem with that approach was that the UR...

I ended yesterday’s post by saying that I would write about potential solutions to the global namespace problem for people (parts 1 and 2). So here we go with a post on what seems to be happening (to be followed by a final post on possible alternatives). The de facto solution for an increasing number of services appears to be delegating their namespace to Facebook or Twitter or both. Facebook originally did not have usernames but only real names. The problem with that approach was that the UR...

Yesterday, I started a short series of posts on the global namespace for consumer web services. My quick and highly unscientific survey of readers showed a surprisingly high usage of usernames based on real names. I suspect that to be highly skewed by the audience for my blog. An important historic alternative has been to pick a distinctive username that bears no relationship to one’s first name and/or last name. Such user “handles” go back at least as far as CB Radio, dial-up bulletin board ...

Yesterday, I started a short series of posts on the global namespace for consumer web services. My quick and highly unscientific survey of readers showed a surprisingly high usage of usernames based on real names. I suspect that to be highly skewed by the audience for my blog. An important historic alternative has been to pick a distinctive username that bears no relationship to one’s first name and/or last name. Such user “handles” go back at least as far as CB Radio, dial-up bulletin board ...

I have been thinking a lot recently about the global namespace for people. My thoughts on this are far from settled and there are a lot of them, so I have decided to break this up into a bunch of different posts. When I was growing up near Nuremberg, Germany, I often had my last name “Wenger” misspelled as “Wegner” because the latter was a common last name in my region whereas the former is not. It turns out that “Wenger” is a name that comes from the Alps and is a lot more common there, espe...

I have been thinking a lot recently about the global namespace for people. My thoughts on this are far from settled and there are a lot of them, so I have decided to break this up into a bunch of different posts. When I was growing up near Nuremberg, Germany, I often had my last name “Wenger” misspelled as “Wegner” because the latter was a common last name in my region whereas the former is not. It turns out that “Wenger” is a name that comes from the Alps and is a lot more common there, espe...