I've gone ahead and fixed this issue.

However, @Cresenta , just so you know, this kind of thing may continue to happen to you from time to time since your username unfortunately does not adhere to our username rules:

(From rules listed on the name change page)

We can guarantee that site updates work with usernames that follow these rules. A lot of users still have invalid usernames that have been grandfathered into the system, and for these, I'll still do my best to make it work out - I don't want the site to be broken for anyone - but we cannot always guarantee it. In some cases it may not be possible.

Just like invalid pet names, you're given the option to keep the name as-is and accept potential glitches, as well as the option to file a ticket for a free username change if you'd rather change it.

Oh I fixed it, it just took me a few minutes longer to write my reply here!

@Cresenta Oh - I quoted all the underscore-related rules, but you're right, you don't break the first rule. You break these two:

This was not a recent change, maybe a few years ago - I am mostly sure this change happened before I became staff - but Subeta is very old. I know it is not ideal; we don't enjoy having to disallow things that were previously allowed.

I think Subeta often didn't have a lot of rules for these things in the distant past, out of good intentions - so everyone can have fun doing what they want. But then over time we would learn the hard way that some constraints are necessary - when the lack of those constraints would cause huge problems and leave us no choice but to go back and put them in, to everybody's dismay.

(Nowadays, we try to be smarter and figure out what limitations any new features might need from the get-go, so that won't keep happening with the things we're building today.)

It is the same issue. We can't guarantee that the site will always work correctly for invalid usernames.

Your friend may need to consider getting a name change since hyphens are disallowed; the only special character allowed is the underscore. If they file a ticket, they can get this name change for free.

[-disease] Please refer to my staff posts above for more details, and apologies for the inconvenience. I will still see what I can do to fix this for you in the meantime, but please be aware this may happen to you again even if I manage to fix it today.

All right, this particular issue should be fixed now for all invalid usernames (which a small update we had made earlier today had caused to break.) That said, please do consider filing a ticket for a free name change if this applies to you - the guidelines we have in place now are to prevent glitches and problems like this, and I may not always be able to get it fixed in the future!