I need to re-read/re-listen to Carlton’s Evolving Django’s auth.User Stack Report before I have a firm opinion, but I saw his Mastodon post and I thought it was worth sharing some initial thoughts.

On my first read, I fell into the camp that wants django-unique-user-email and full name to be the defaults on Django’s built-in User. I have wanted this forever, and my clients do, too.

Django should still allow me to create a custom user, but the documentation could be better. Django’s documentation is a topic for another day, but I’m confused by it and find it less and less helpful. I notice the developers I work with get lost in them, too. Docs may be a good DjangoCon US topic if you want to discuss it in a few weeks.

I would love the default User to have a unique email address, full name, and a short name. Optionally, a username is an email address setting. Please don’t take away the ability to have a custom User model. (Update: Carlton is not making a case for removing a custom User model, but others have made that argument. No, thank you.)

Carlton’s “Action points” conclusion seems reasonable to me.