1963: Namespace Land Rush

2018-03-06T01:01:16Z

Bartweiss: /* Table */

{{comic
| number = 1963
| date = March 5, 2018
| title = Namespace Land Rush
| image = namespace_land_rush.png
| titletext = You can also just mash the keyboard at random, but you might end up with a gibberish name no one can pronounce.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Expand the explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
When a new web server starts, such as a forum, a social media server or an email portal, the people who sign up get to choose their username on the service, which, in most cases, blocks future users from using those usernames. Common names such as "john" are likely to be taken quickly. This is analogous to the way that land was distributed in America, with the first to claim able to choose the best land.

This comic is a list of usernames [[Randall]] suggests should be used if they are available.

The title text is a self-reference to "xkcd", the name of the comic is a purposefully unpronounceable phrase created by Randall.

(Note: for a more serious list of problematic user names to block from a service provider’s point of view, see [https://ldpreload.com/blog/names-to-reserve Hostnames and usernames to reserve] as well as [https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2142 RFC 2142].)

==Table==
{{incomplete|Add explanations of the names. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{| class="wikitable"
!style="width:30%"|Entry
!style="width:70%"|Explanation
|-
!colspan=2|Straightforward (Usernames that a person would use under typical circumstances)
|-
|<Your usual username, if any>
|Most internet users will have settled on some unique handle that they try to use across all platforms. Even if this wasn't a new service, most people would try this first.
|-
|<Your given name>
|More rare is using one's nickname or first name as their username, since the amount of common names will mean many users share a name. Thus, if you can get your given name, you will have a simple username that many others wanted, and without resorting to prefixes or numbers (i.e. Xx_MyName00_xX)
|-
|<Your full name>
|Similar to your given name, but slightly more unique since a last name and/or middle name is added.
|-
|<Initial><Surname>
|A common second choice if a given or full name is already in use.
|-
|<Surname>
|Possibly available if your last name is more uncommon; names like "smith" or "kim" will probably be taken faster than even given names.
|-
!colspan=2|Recognizable (Usernames that would make it look like the email came from an official source within the organization named)
|-
|Google
|Registering the name "Google" would allow for communicating on the site (or even outside of it) with a name that appears to be an official Google account. For any of the examples in this section, you would select the names for the same reason. This has been done in the past with both [https://twitter.com/BiIIMurray humorous] and [http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/technology/ct-russian-twitter-account-tennessee-gop-20171018-story.html nefarious] results.
|-
|iPhone
|
|-
|Facebook
|
|-
|BitCoin
|
|-
|Obama
|Impersonating a president, supposedly to send messages as them to make them seem bad (or not).
|-
|Canada
|
|-
|NFL
|
|-
|Garfield
|
|-
|<Your city>
|
|-
|NASA
|
|-
|<Name of person who runs the service>
|
|-
!colspan=3|Causing Trouble (Usernames that might cause errors when mixed with the service's back-end code)
|-
|User
|
|-
|Username
|
|-
|Name
|
|-
|You
|Many services display "You" as the signed-on user, so naming oneself "You" makes users think that they are you/they are signed on when they aren't.
|-
|Guest
|Attempts to fool users into thinking that they have a guest account.
|-
|Account
|
|-
!colspan=2|Causing More Trouble
|-
|Admin
|Impersonating to be a system administrator will let someone fool people and cause a lot of trouble.
|-
|Administrator
|See above.
|-
|System
|Pretending to be a system-controlled account - might give permissions if the server checks by name.
|-
|<Name of service>
|
|-
|Help
|
|-
|Error
|
|-
!colspan=2|Impossible to Say
|-
|Hyphen-Emdash
|Could be read "Hyphen hyphen Em dash" or "Hyphen dash em dash"
|-
|Dash-8hyphen-8
|Could be read "Dash dash eight hyphen dash eight" or "Dash hyphen eight hyphen hyphen eight". "Hyphen eight" sounds like "hyphenate".
|-
|Zero0ne2numeral2
|Could be read "Zero zero one two numeral two" or "Zero zero ne two numeral two" or "Zero oh ne two numeral two".
|-
|KrisasinHemsworth
|This would be confusing to say out loud, as it would sound like the user was saying that their username was "Chris," spelled the same way that famous actor {{w|Chris Hemsworth}} spells his name. However, the actual username uses the name "Kris," spelled a completely different way than Chris Hemsworth's name, and the phrase "as in Hemsworth" being also part of the username, rather than a clarification of the spelling of "Kris" as would be assumed.
|-
|TheWord&Ampersand
|
|-
|ZettaWith3Teees 
|Read aloud, this would lead the listener to expect a username of 'Zettta'. Clarifying that "with three tees" is text and not description would in turn make it difficult to explain the spelling of 'Zetta' with two 't's, and 'Teees' with three 'e's.
|-
!colspan=2|Misc
|-
|<Single Letters>
|
|-
|<Single Numbers>
|
|-
|<Common Words>
|
|-
|<SQL/JS Injection>
|Codes such as "Drop Table" intended to cause errors or even damage the service's back-end code. (See [[327|Comic 327]])
|-
|ASDF
|
|-
|QWERTY
|
|-
|Yes
|
|-
|Bot
|
|-
|Computer
|
|-
|Blocked
|
|-
|Deleted
|
|-
|Jeeves
|
|-
|Narrator
|
|-
|Internet
|
|-
|NPC
|
|-
|Password
|
|-
!colspan=2|Permissive Character Sets
|-
|<Space>
|
|-
|<nowiki>@ é | " "</nowiki>
|
|-
|<NBSP>
|
|-
|<nowiki>\ . # " '</nowiki>
|
|-
|<RTL override>
|The right to left override is an Unicode character which forces text after it to be laid out right to left. Thus, in left-to-right locales, it flips everything after it. This can be rather amusing if permitted.
|-
|<nowiki>– - _ / ` ' `</nowiki>
|
|-
|<Any emoji>
|Current databases are not set up to store emojis as characters.
|-
|","
|
|-
|<nowiki>&NBSP</nowiki>;
|
|-
|<nowiki></HTML></nowiki>
|
|-
|&LT;/HTML&GT;
|
|-
|OkThisIsKindOfConfusingButIt's <LessThan\ForwardSlashHTML GreaterThanActualGreaterThan Symbol>Yes,ThatWasAllPartOfThe Name,ButSoIs...Ok,LetMeStartOver
|
|-
|}

==Transcript==
'''NAMESPACE LAND RUSH CHEAT SHEET'''

WHEN A NEW SERVICE APPEARS THAT LETS YOU REGISTER A NAME, HERE ARE SOME YOU MAY WANT TO TRY AND GET FIRST:

{|
!colspan=3|Straightforward
!colspan=2|Recognizable
|-
|colspan=3|<Your usual username, if any>
|Google||iPhone
|-
|colspan=3|<Your given name>
|Facebook||BitCoin
|-
|colspan=3|<Your full name>
|Obama||Canada
|-
|colspan=3|<Initial><Surname>
|NFL||Garfield
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|<Surname>
|colspan=2 rowspan=2|(Bold & Slightly Unconventional)
|<Your city>||NASA
|-
|colspan=3| 
|colspan=2|<Name of person who runs the service>
|- style="vertical-align:bottom;"
!Causing Trouble
!colspan=2|Causing More Trouble
!colspan=2|Impossible to Say
|-
|User
|colspan=2|Admin
|colspan=2|Hyphen-Emdash
|-
|Username
|colspan=2|Administrator
|colspan=2|Dash-8hyphen-8
|-
|Name
|colspan=2|System
|colspan=2|Zero0ne2numeral2
|-
|You
|colspan=2|<Name of service>
|colspan=2|KrisasinHemsworth
|-
|Guest
|colspan=2|Help
|colspan=2|TheWord&Ampersand
|-
|Account
|colspan=2|Error
|colspan=2|ZettaWith3Teees 
|-
!Misc!! 
!colspan=3|Permissive Character Sets
|-
|colspan=2|<Single Letters>
|<Space>|| 
|<nowiki>@ é | " "</nowiki>
|-
|colspan=2|<Single Numbers>
|<NBSP>|| 
|<nowiki>\ . # " '</nowiki>
|-
|colspan=2|<Common Words>
|colspan=2|<RTL override>
|<nowiki>– - _ / ` ' `</nowiki>
|-
|colspan=2|<SQL/JS Injection>
|<Any emoji>
|style="text-align:center;"|","
|<nowiki>&NBSP</nowiki>;
|-
|ASDF||QWERTY
|<nowiki></HTML></nowiki>
|style="text-align:right;" colspan=2|&LT;/HTML&GT;
|-
|Yes||Bot
|colspan=3|OkThisIsKindOfConfusingButIt's
|-
|Computer||Blocked
|colspan=3|<LessThan\ForwardSlashHTML
|-
|Deleted||Jeeves
|colspan=3|GreaterThanActualGreaterThan
|-
|Narrator||Internet
|colspan=3|Symbol>Yes,ThatWasAllPartOfThe
|-
|NPC||Password
|colspan=3|Name,ButSoIs...Ok,LetMeStartOver
|}

{{comic discussion}}

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1963: Namespace Land Rush