Incorrect user for commit

[britt-commits]

Hello,

I'm following up on an issue I initially commented under the announcement. My GitHub commit is showing someone else's name for my private repository. Terminal shows my GitHub username.

#1 (comment)

[mike-snhu]

Hi @britt-commits ,

I replied to your initial comment here. Please take a look at my reply and run the two commands that I gave you. Let me know if the commands return your usernames or not. Doing this will help diagnose the issue.

Best,
Mike

[britt-commits]

Hello, I ran the commands and it shows my user name in terminal. I just created a public repo and it still shows this person's profile: https://github.com/britt-commits/sdfcg.

[mike-snhu]

Hi @britt-commits ,

Thank you. I checked your new public repository and its commit information is now correct. GitHub identifies britt-commits as both the author and committer, and you are the repository’s only contributor. I do not see luizcast associated with this repository.

Your earlier Module Two commit may continue showing the other profile because each commit permanently records the Git identity that was configured when that commit was created. Correcting your Git settings affects future commits but does not automatically change existing ones.

Please do not delete or recreate either repository. If you still see luizcast anywhere in the new sdf-communitygarden repository, reply with a screenshot showing where the name appears and include the exact page URL. That will help me identify what part of GitHub you are viewing.

Best,
Mike

[britt-commits]

Hi @mike-snhu,

I figured out the issue. When I copied the GitHub no-reply email I missed a number and that caused the discrepancy. I ended up deleting the garden repository and recreating it before you were able to view it.

Thanks for your help!
Brittany ❤️

[mike-snhu]

Hi @britt-commits,

Excellent investigative skills! You found the cause by checking your Git configuration and testing the correction with another repository.

You also identified an important behavior that GitHub does not clearly document. In its modern no-reply email format—USER_ID+USERNAME@users.noreply.github.com—the numeric user ID appears to determine which account GitHub links to a commit. This link between a commit and a GitHub profile is called commit attribution.

For example, imagine that Petey Penmen’s address is:

123456789+petey-penmen@users.noreply.github.com

If the leading 1 were accidentally omitted, the address would begin with user ID 23456789. If that number belonged to another account, GitHub could attribute the commit to that account—even though the username portion still said petey-penmen.

Although the numeric ID controlled the attribution in this case, the username remains part of GitHub’s documented no-reply address format. The safest practice is to copy the complete address directly from GitHub Settings → Emails.

This was a Git identity configuration error. It does not indicate that the other user accessed your private repository. Correcting the email address fixes future commits, while existing commits retain the identity information recorded when they were created.

Thank you for following up and explaining what you found. Your discovery will help us improve our setup instructions and verification checks.

I’ll now close this discussion as resolved. Again, excellent investigative work!

Best,
Mike