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Forgot username

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Category: Web Wiz Web App Support Forums
Forum Name: Web Wiz Forums
Forum Description: Support forum for Web Wiz Forums application.
URL: https://forums.webwiz.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=19808
Printed Date: 09 April 2026 at 4:18am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.08 - https://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Forgot username

Posted By: djlurchg
Subject: Forgot username
Date Posted: 11 May 2006 at 4:53am

If a user forgets their username, how are they supposed to recover their password?

Replies:

Posted By: WebWiz-Bruce
Date Posted: 11 May 2006 at 10:08am

If you can think of a way, apart from brain enhancing drug for forgetful people, then let me know?

Usernames are the only way to identify a user, if they forget their own username then how is anyone meant to know who that person is.

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Posted By: nexus
Date Posted: 11 May 2006 at 11:55am

There is a way of doing this -borg-

They do it like described below, on ebay and paypal..

If a user forgets his username, you could have a form where the user inserts his email-adress that he registered with, and then WWF will check for the existance of that email in the "user-system", and if email exists then the username will be sent out to this email.

Cheers! :)

Posted By: WebWiz-Bruce
Date Posted: 11 May 2006 at 12:01pm

That is something I have not thought off.

I will have to look into adding such a tool to the system. It maybe worth developing the forgotten password feature more to also include such a feature.

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Posted By: djlurchg
Date Posted: 11 May 2006 at 2:56pm

Borg:

I'm confused. You really didn't think of that?

90% of the forums and web registration systems that I use have a forgot username/password system that only requires you to know your email address.

I presumed you did the username/email for security reasons. A malicious user could see if a person was registered at a site just by entering that person's email address.

I have a list of frequently used username/passwords that now exceeds 150. For some rarely used sites I don't keep track of my username, I have it email my logon credentials if I ever need to log on to the site.

Posted By: nexus
Date Posted: 11 May 2006 at 3:24pm

Yes, I really liked the way ebay did it. And I really think it's worth the extra coding needed in order for it to work. It's a handy tool!

And normally you wouldn't "forget" you username, but if you're like me having dozens of website that your registered on and also with different usernames (big sites = most "known" usernames already taken :D Therefore need to either have a unique name that no one will ever figure out... or you will need a different name than the one you use usual.) it can actually be easy to forget that name once in a while ;)

Also, security protection on the whole "Forgot my password/username" thing is important. Else robots could try to abuse the system.

I'm forseeing (?) three options:

1. CAPTCHA images after three failed attempts.

2. Security question after three failes attempts.

3. After three failed attempts, block user for X minutes (requires extra db field to store the timout in).

4. A combination of one or more of this suggestions.

I love your work, -borg-!

Cheers

Posted By: djlurch
Date Posted: 14 September 2006 at 2:09pm

Borg:

Any progress on this?

Here's the deal. By not allowing a person to recover their username via their email address, they will just register for another account on a given forum. Having multiple accounts on a forum just exacerbates the problem.

Again, I would suggest having a recover username (and password?) function where the use enters their email address, and the pertinent info is emailed to them.

Posted By: WebWiz-Bruce
Date Posted: 14 September 2006 at 3:32pm

This will hopefully be in the next version, time permitting.

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Posted By: djlurch
Date Posted: 14 September 2006 at 4:08pm

Great! Looking forward to the next release!