The current processes used for enforcing username policy aren't particularly friendly to new users. Part of this is about the language used to inform users about policy violations (which is not a technical issue), but part of it is about the process for implementing the change. See this talk page warning as an example (not singling out the user who's placing it, who is following standard operating procedure).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Talati_Panthaky
What I'd suggest as an alternative process:
- We create a new [[Special:ForceUsernameChange]] page.
- When a user whose "force username change" flag is set, while they are logged in, all write operations (edits, preferences, etc.) result in a splash screen requesting that the user change their name before proceeding.
This splash screen can have friendly language explaining policy in simple terms, and providing a simple input box that checks for naming conflicts. Once the name change is in place, the user can proceed doing what they wanted to do.
As an additional checkbox in the special page used by administrators, we could have a "[ ] Require administrative review of new username" checkbox if we don't trust the user to pick a valid name. In that case, the username would land in a review queue.
Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement