It's important to distinguish between two sources of data:
- Profiles: this is what users use to log in and contains their personal data and activities. They can enter any profile name, alias, or nickname they like. This shows in their personal profile plus events which are not using registration data
- Registration Data: this is the data that you, the host of the event, upload or sync with the system. When this data is available it will be used as the source of truth and will be favored over profile data. For example: we will use the name from the registration data instead of the profile name and the email address from the registration data over what may be entered in the profile.
Why Random Names?
When a user connects using Garmin or some other connected devices we don't have access to their names or nicknames as they use them on Garmin. This due to privacy settings by Garmin. To make sure that the leaderboards show at least a placeholder text so people know where to click we use random animal names when users haven't filled in their name/alias.
How to prevent random names / aliases from showing in the leaderboards?
When you use registration data for your event we will always use the name from there. This allows you to have control over what shows on the leaderboards and prevent random names or funny nicknames from showing on a leaderboard.