I noticed that URLs to profiles on Codidact forum (e.g. mine is https://forum.codidact.org/u/rishi) right now are associated only with a name, not with a user ID number, unlike they are on Stack Exchange. Was this a deliberate choice made for some specific reason? Does it have something to do with Discourse systems? I would expect my activity (and everyone else’s) on this forum to be linked to my actual activity on the Q&A site once it goes live, and that would mean that I am allotted the same/similar identification on both. However, if we enforce the uniqueness of names (i.e. now nobody else can use the name ‘Rishi’), we’re soon going to have dozens of people suffixing their names with random strings of numbers, which looks fairly unprofessional in my opinion. I’m sure people agree that if multiple people happen to have the same first and last names, they should both be allowed to use those names if they wish.
On SE, a person’s user profile goes like (site).stackexchange.com/users/(number)/(name), and only the last bit, (name), changes if they change their user name. Links including the old name redirect to the updated version. Can we retroactively apply that here, such that all of us are given numbers? Or will this at least be refreshed when the Q&A site is up?