@ symbol not allowed in names

[nus-se-script]

Disallowing usage of the @ symbol in names can be inconvenient, as it can appear in people's legal names, usually when referring to their alias. For example, in the screenshot above, the person's birth name would be John Smith, and their alias Jonathan Smith. Though this may not be a major problem as the user could fairly easily rename them to something else, it can still be an inconvenience not to have an applicant's full legal name in the system, in the case where the user needs to process some legal documents on their behalf (visa, passport etc.)

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_{[original: nus-cs2103-AY2425S1/pe-interim#3344] [original labels: type.FeatureFlaw severity.Low]}

[hansneddyanto]

Team's Response

Thank you for the bug report and for highlighting this concern. While we understand that disallowing the @ symbol in names may occasionally present an inconvenience, such cases are exceedingly rare—likely even less common than other special naming conventions (e.g., d/o, s/o, or the use of apostrophes such as in "Lim J'en").

To address this, users can utilize the alias field or include additional details in the remarks section. These remarks can also be efficiently filtered using the find feature if needed, ensuring that any relevant information remains accessible.

Regarding the need to process full legal names containing @ for official documents (e.g., visas or passports), our research ( https://www.reddit.com/r/singapore/comments/6nqw3s/why_do_some_people_have_in_their_legal_names/) suggests that such names can generally be processed by using the part of the name preceding the @. This workaround ensures that legal documentation requirements are met without significant system changes. Note that this source is the only source we have gotten regarding the name with '@' symbol due to its extreme rarity.

Additionally, our decision to disallow the @ symbol in the name field was made to consciously prevent users from mistakenly entering an email address in the name field, which is a far more frequent occurrence. Ensuring data consistency in this way helps maintain the overall integrity of the system.

We hope this explanation clarifies our approach. Please let us know if you have further suggestions or concerns.

Duplicate status (if any):

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