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Make user accounts "real name" field a configurable string
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(Forking from the discussion in T4728 (which resulted in the Realname field becoming optional)...)

Being able to change the string from "Real name", would be very helpful. That way sites can instruct their users to use whatever they prefer.

E.g. At Wikimedia's installation, it would be nice to have the field ask users for "Additional name", or "Also known as (e.g. real name or IRC nickname)".

We don't want to just hide the field entirely, because it's a useful way for getting alternate autocomplete search-strings in, for CCing/Mentioning people. (Because there's always that one user, who uses an IRC nickname that differs from their username and realname and emailaddress-prefix...)

Thanks! :)

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The Real Name field is optional, and users may feel free to put whatever they want in that space. This is the right default for vanilla Phabricator (which most installs are corporate). You should be able to change the "language" of the field as needed in your base English Translations (happy to fix that if needed, it may not exist).

In general we distance ourselves from adding options for many little nuanced things as it adds both upfront engineering costs and well as maintenance costs down the road for ongoing support/documentation.

I think we've got it worked out at our end, in https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T798 so I'll close this task. Thank you :)

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