Unique users, avoid duplicate names

Hi Jeff

Since there is no registration, how would we handle duplicated authors names?

At the moment I have came out with generating a unique random string which goes with the name when submitting and asking simple question to users before posting:

Is this you first time?

Yes => Show the field to write your unique name

<p><input id="nameField" name="nome_unico" placeholder="Write your name" class="form-control input-lg usp-input"></p>

No => Display the field where you write your usual name

<input class="form-control input-lg usp-input" id="userName" name="user-submitted-name" type="text" value="" data-required="true" required placeholder="Write your username">

Then with jQuery and php I generate the unique string and I set a live preview of the name and I tell the user to save it somewhere in order to remember the user name generated and use that the next time they post:

var randomString = "<?php

//set the random id length
$random_id_length = 10; 

//generate a random id encrypt it and store it in $rnd_id
$rnd_id = crypt(uniqid(rand(),1)); 

//to remove any slashes that might have come
$rnd_id = strip_tags(stripslashes($rnd_id)); 

//Removing any . or / and reversing the string
$rnd_id = str_replace(".","",$rnd_id);
$rnd_id = strrev(str_replace("/","",$rnd_id)); 

//finally I take the first 10 characters from the $rnd_id
$rnd_id = substr($rnd_id,0,$random_id_length); 

echo "_$rnd_id" ;

?>";

$('#nameField').on('keyup', function() {
   var my_value = $(this).val();
   $('#userName').val(my_value + codice);
   $('#userNameMostra').text(my_value + randomString);
});

});

In the jQuery we can see 2 things:

1: The script needed to display the name you are typing + the random string

The result would be something like: james_white_3wLCIUWzol

2: I am copying whatever is the genrated unique username to the plugin name field so that it will be send with the form.

The live preview is just so that he has a place where he can see it live as he types and be able to copy it.

Using a unique name makes it possible to do: “Show all posts by this author” as explained here: https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/display-subcategories.

So this is my solution, am I over complicating it?
How would you approach or what’s your thought in regards of unique author name when they pubblish?

Thanks

https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/user-submitted-posts/