

Ask HN: Unique usernames in educational software - cubicle67

I'm working on a web based educational tool (university level, non-IT students) and I'm wondering how others have handled this.<p>Students belong to a group, which roughly equates to a class, and I'd like to keep usernames unique in each group, but allow duplicates with other users in other groups. ie group+user is unique.<p>Questions: 
1. Is this a stupid idea? Should I just stick to the standard 'you have to think of a username no one else has thought of'?<p>2. How would you implement the logon screen - Three boxes (username, group and password) or combine group and username (eg group.username)?
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duskwuff
This is the sort of idea that tends to end badly. Given that this is an
educational tool, just make the user's graduation year a mandatory part of
their username. jsmith is probably not unique, but jsmith2012 is more likely
to be.

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cubicle67
Thanks.

I tend to agree. The more I think about it, the more problems I can see.
Having to have a username unique can be a pain, but it's something we've
become accustomed to.

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trevelyan
If people are automatically going to organize themselves into small groups,
you don't have a disambiguation problem. Make the email address unique, not
the username.

