There are only wp users… so if the wp user was deleted, then the user is gone… the forum does NOT have its own users… anyone who ever logs into the site or the forum is logging in using their wp account – the only account that exists…  there is a forum table call sfmembers that contains additional data to what is in the wp users table, but it is not a user, nor can it be used to log into the wp site (or the forum)…

as to the data in the footer, its cached so could take an hour to clear out…

the name displayed for users is as you would select in forum – profiles – profile options…  also, you have an option on that page as to whether or not users can deviate from that setting…

Thanks for the reply, but I’m still missing something, however I generally don’t know how the username got posted, when quotes are made on our forum it state ‘Display name’ said… like your forum:

Mr Papa said
There are only wp users… so if the wp user was deleted, then the user is gone… the forum does NOT have its own users… anyone who ever logs into the site or the forum is logging in using their wp account – the only account that exists…  there is a forum table call sfmembers that contains additional data to what is in the wp users table, but it is not a user, nor can it be used to log into the wp site (or the forum)…

as to the data in the footer, its cached so could take an hour to clear out…

the name displayed for users is as you would select in forum – profiles – profile options…  also, you have an option on that page as to whether or not users can deviate from that setting…

However this one said @username are there any occasions the @ would be generated or has a replying user typed it in?

Could another member have looked at their profile to get the username and then types @ username

If thats right I definitely need to remove the user account but I can’t seem to find it. Now you have confirmed simplepress doesn’t store the user info may I ask if you might know as out site is a multisite install with the membership plugin from WPMU Dev if you have heard of this issue before and may be able to guide me where to look.

Thanks

generally speaking, we do not use @username… in other words, quoting or other doesnt do that…

that said, if you are running the mentions plugin for simple press, users can mention other users in a twitter style @username…  but that would be inline text and not part of quoting…

WordPress usernames are not a big secret and users can certainly figure them out for other users…

Not sure what membership plugin you are using, but even in multisite, any users are going to be in the wp users table… there will need to be an entry in there for any user to log in…

be sure to check the ‘other’ name fields in the users table.. perhaps the user in question really has the display name set to the other users username…  check user_login, display_name, etc for the name in question…

Thanks for your help. I found the user in the wp-users table and removed them, they seem happy now and are going to make a new account without using their full real name as username. I will look into the mentions plugin to see if I have installed that one, thanks.

okay, thanks for the update…