There are some usernames that shouldn\'t be allowed to register on online servic
ID: 660070 • Letter: T
Question
There are some usernames that shouldn't be allowed to register on online services, for example:
administrator, admin, root, system, owner, hostmaster, webmaster, sitename or sitenameadmin
As far as I know, those shouldn't be allowed because they might cause a security risk, due to users registering those usernames might be able to impersonate a website official, and some users might be fooled by this.
http://example.com/administrator
administrator@example.com
Where can I find a list of all those usernames that shouldn't be allowed to register by anonymous users?
Explanation / Answer
This is really the wrong solution to the problem: trying to prohibit "administrator"-like names will become a constant game of whack-a-mole with increasingly creative impersonators.
A blacklist of official-sounding names can be a starting point, but you should also provide an easy way to positively identify admins, such as a unique naming pattern (only admins can register a username ending in "(admin)"), or displaying their names or messages in a unique color.