[notenoughhorses]

I have a - in my name, and while I’m used to websites not accepting this, it’s always interesting which ones give a neutral error like “only letters and numbers allowed” vs an insulting error of “please enter a valid name” when I try to see if their firm will accept my correct name.

[richrichardsson]

That's quite incredible to learn, so many French (or Belgian/French-Canadian) names contain hyphens. I find it amazing that this wouldn't be taken into account worldwide; who hasn't heard of Jean-Claude Van Damme for instance?

[SwiftyBug]

It's also very common in the US to hyphenate family names when two people get married. e.g.: John Appleseed-McIntosh

[silicon2401]

Why does that need to be insulting? It's correct in that context. Only names of a certain format are valid inputs to their system. It's not a personal attack

[HWR_14]

It's the difference between saying "our system cannot handleyour name" and "your name is wrong". One is a limitation of a program, the other is dehumanizing.

[silicon2401]

What reasonable evidence do you have to think that "valid" in that context is saying your name is wrong, rather than that the system cannot handle it?

[HWR_14]

What makes you think I care what the author meant to say? I'm discussing how people read it.

[silicon2401]

I don't think we should care about people having such unreasonable interpretations. It's fair to expect adults to have enough emotional maturity to differentiate between the limitations of a website interface and a personal, targeted attack.

[HWR_14]

I don't think it's an unreasonable interpertation. The OP of this chain read it that way. I read it that way.

If there are two phrasings, and one is read correctly by everyone, and the other is read correctly by half the world, it's the first that is correct.