Title: Plugin not useful
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# Plugin not useful

 *  [pha3z](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pha3z/)
 * (@pha3z)
 * [13 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-not-useful/)
 * I may be missing something but the WordPress Codex for “the_author_posts_link()”
   function says this:
 * Displays a link to all posts by an author. **The link text is the user’s Display
   name publicly as field.** The results of clicking on the presented link will 
   be controlled by the Template Hierarchy of Author Templates.
 * So as long as a theme is utilizing the_author_posts_link(), the display name 
   should always show up anyway. The username should never be shown.
 * In fact, this plugin seems to break linking to the Display Name at least in WP
   3.5.
 * I don’t see any reason for this plugin in the current version of WP.
 * [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/display-name-author-permalink/](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/display-name-author-permalink/)

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  [Hassan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hassanhamm/)
 * (@hassanhamm)
 * [13 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-not-useful/#post-3381514)
 * [@pha3z](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pha3z/)
    I’m not quite sure what
   you’re trying to point here, but I think you’re talking about a completely different
   thing.
 * What this plugin says it does (and it does it quite well in WP v3.5.1) is that
   it changes the author’s **URL/permalink slug**. The function you mentioned from
   the Codex does a different thing: it outputs the **link text** from the “Display
   name publicly as” field, but it does not change the author’s URL.
 * For example:
    If we had a user with the username (testname) and this user has
   edited the “Display name publicly as” to (Mr. Test Name). When I use “_the\_author\
   _posts\_link()_” function in my theme, it will display a text link like this (
   [Mr. Test Name](http://www.example.com/author/testname)), when you mouse over
   the previous link you’ll get the URL ([http://www.example.com/author/testname](http://www.example.com/author/testname))
   which used the author’s _username_ in the permalink not the author’s _display
   name_. That way, you’re exposing usernames publicly in author URLs.
 * This plugin’s job is to change that link to this ([Mr. Test Name](http://www.example.com/author/mr-test-name))
   which uses, you guessed it, the sanitized version of the author’s display name
   as the URL.
 *  [Hassan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hassanhamm/)
 * (@hassanhamm)
 * [13 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-not-useful/#post-3381515)
 * Just a quick correction,
    The author’s URL is in fact the author’s _nicename_
   not _username_, but still, since the nicename field in the database is automatically
   created from the username field and there is no obvious way to edit it without
   changing the value directly in the database, the majority of users will still
   have their _nicename_ looking the same thing as their _username_.
 *  [Heartwood](https://wordpress.org/support/users/heartwood/)
 * (@heartwood)
 * [13 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-not-useful/#post-3381521)
 * [@hassan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hassan/), your explanation to [@pha3z](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pha3z/)
   is great — but I’m afraid your correction needs a correction. 😉
 * There are 5 fields under the heading ‘Name’ in the user’s profile settings page(
   wp-admin/profile.php) :
    - Username (cannot be changed)
    - First Name
    - Last Name
    - Nickname (required)
    - Display name publicly as (dropdown menu of all of the above)
 * Usernames are chosen at registration and cannot be changed except directly in
   the database. They’re used for logging in, so should never be revealed publicly,
   for security reasons.
 * The Nickname, being required, is by default set to the Username, since registration
   only provides two fields: username and email. The registered user CAN indeed 
   change the Nickname by logging in and going to the Users > Your Profile page (
   wp-admin/profile.php). — Or the admin can do it for them by going to the Users
   page (wp-admin/users.php) and clicking the Edit link under the user’s name in
   the list of users.
 * That’s also where you can set the Display name. It, too, is filled in by default
   with the Username, but should be changed.
 * It would be best if WordPress core code created the author URL with the Display
   name if available, or the Nickname as a second choice, and only fell back on 
   the Username if nothing else was set. But unfortunately, that’s not what’s happening
   as of the current version (3.5.1). It uses the Username for the URL, even though
   you’d think having the Nickname be a required field would mean that that’s what
   it would use. Well, it doesn’t. That’s why this plugin is useful.
 * What the plugin uses is the Display name. Which is perfect, because the Display
   name can be set to any of the other names, including the real name if you wish,
   or the Nickname if you prefer, which is useful if you don’t want to use the Username
   for security reasons AND you don’t want to use your real name for privacy reasons.
 * I’m not sure whether the “nicename” is supposed to be the Nickname or the Display
   name, but either way, the author URL isn’t using either without this plugin (
   or something similar).
 * 🙂
 *  [Hassan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hassanhamm/)
 * (@hassanhamm)
 * [13 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-not-useful/#post-3381523)
 * [@heartwood](https://wordpress.org/support/users/heartwood/), that was one well-
   structured post — but I’m afraid your correction to my correction needs another
   correction. 😉
 * You wrote:
 * > Usernames are chosen at registration and cannot be changed except directly 
   > in the database.
 * Totally agree with you on this.
 * > The registered user CAN indeed change the Nickname by logging in and going 
   > to the Users > Your Profile page (wp-admin/profile.php).
 * This is also true. But I’ve never emphasized that you cannot do that. The issue
   here is, the Nickname field in the backend and the `user_nicename` field in the`
   wp_users` table in the database are **NOT** the same thing. The username is saved
   in the database in the field `user_login`. The field `user_nicename` is what’s
   used to display the author slug. The Nickname field from the backend is NOT saved
   in `wp_users` table, but in `wp_usermeta` table. It is saved as a meta_key named`
   nickname` with the value you’ve specified from the backend.
 * This, again, triggers the [question](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/editing-the-user_nicename?replies=11)
   of why the `user_nicename` field isn’t editable from the backend. And therefore
   what’s the purpose of the Nickname field in the profile settings. If it’s only
   to allow users to select other option than their real name to be displayed publicly,
   then it shouldn’t be required. If it was not required, nobody would’ve cared 
   much, but being it required is what’s causing the head-scratching here as to 
   what’s that _critical_ thing the Nickname will be used for. Still waiting for
   a satisfactory answer from a core developer.
 * Also, another plugin that deals with the same issue is [Edit Author Slug](http://wordpress.org/support/plugin/edit-author-slug).
 * Finally,
 * > It would be best if WordPress core code created the author URL with the Display
   > name if available, or the Nickname as a second choice, and only fell back on
   > the Username if nothing else was set.
 * I second this!
 * 🙂
 *  [Heartwood](https://wordpress.org/support/users/heartwood/)
 * (@heartwood)
 * [13 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-not-useful/#post-3381524)
 * Thanks for the clarification, [@hassan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hassan/).
   I should have explored the database structure more before replying.
 * So if the nicename is simply the slug, i.e. a URL-friendly version of the name(
   currently the username), and it’s not editable without a plugin, then could it
   be that the original idea was to make the required Nickname be the place where
   you set the slug/nicename, but somehow the developers lost track of that somewhere
   along the way?
 * If the core team did get (back?) on track with a proper purpose for the Nickname(
   beyond giving the Display Name drop-down menu another option), it would solve
   the security issue without needing a plugin fix.
 * It would also make more sense to include the Nickname field in the registration
   process if it’s going to be required, because users don’t always go to their 
   profile page to edit it after the fact.
 * I certainly hope the core team has got something in the works.
    🙂

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

The topic ‘Plugin not useful’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/display-name-author-permalink.svg)
 * [Display Name Author Permalink](https://wordpress.org/plugins/display-name-author-permalink/)
 * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/display-name-author-permalink/#faq)
 * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-name-author-permalink/)
 * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-name-author-permalink/active/)
 * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-name-author-permalink/unresolved/)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-name-author-permalink/reviews/)

## Tags

 * [author url](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/author-url/)
 * [display name](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/display-name/)
 * [nicename](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/nicename/)
 * [nickname](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/nickname/)
 * [user_login](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/user_login/)

 * 5 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Heartwood](https://wordpress.org/support/users/heartwood/)
 * Last activity: [13 years, 2 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-not-useful/#post-3381524)
 * Status: not resolved