About Attribution
Attribution is how other NUU products name you. They do not keep a second public record of you. They read your public profile from NUU Profiles and they show that record.
What other products show
When another NUU product names you, it typically shows:
- your display name
- your handle, if you have one
- your avatar
- sometimes a short tagline or bio
That surface is the same idea as the public page in NUU Profiles. The public page is the full record. Other products often show a short card. Both come from the same public profile.
If you change your display name or avatar in NUU Profiles, other products show the new values. You do not edit those values in each product.
What other products store
Other products store your permanent identity. They do not treat the handle as the key. The handle can change. The permanent identity does not.
This is why a rename does not break old records. A citation, a share, or a permission that points at you still points at you. The label on that record can update. The pointer does not.
If you have no handle yet, other products can still name you. They use the display name and the permanent identity.
Ghosts and attribution
A product can name a person who has no account. It creates or reuses a ghost. The ghost is already a public profile, so attribution works before you sign in.
When you claim that ghost, the permanent identity stays. Records that named the ghost now name you. You do not need to retag old work. See About Ghosts and Claims.
What visitors see versus what you edit
You edit your public profile as the owner. Visitors and other products see the public copy.
Some fields can be private. Birth year is one example. If you mark it private, visitors do not see it. Other products that read the public profile also do not see it.
You can preview the public view before you save. The preview hides private fields. Use that preview if you want to know what other products can show.
Email is not part of the public profile. It comes from your NUU account. Other products do not show it as attribution.
Why this sits in NUU Profiles
If each product stored its own name and picture, those copies would drift. NUU Profiles is the one place that owns the public person. Other products ask it, who is this person, and then they render the answer.
For the identity split behind this, see About Identity and Handles. To set the record that others show, follow Set Up Your Profile.