I think there is still a fundamental misunderstanding/disagreement about just what the enable_names setting is supposed to do, which boils down to this question:
- Is the
enable_namessetting intended to mean- “Do not show full names publicly.”,
- “This site does not use full-names, period.”
I think some people on this topic think it does (1), and others think it does (2). My impression is the latter, that enable_names decides whether or not the site uses full-names at all.
Keep in mind, when enable_names is turned off:
- The sign-up dialog does not offer the full-name field.
- Users do not see the full-name field on their own account preferences page; users never see their own full-name anywhere.
I do not understand the use case for a site in which admins, and only admins, are the only people that even know that a full-name field exists on the system. My lack of imagination makes me dubious that anyone here actually wants that. If anyone does want this, please enlighten me!
(I think there is also some misunderstanding about what my draft PR is trying to accomplish, and how, and why — but I wanted to address the “What does enable_names actually do?” question first.)