I can understand not including a display name in the alt text for icons or in any sort of hover-over for icons, both for the convenience of screenreaders and because if you're just presented with an icon, for example, it makes sense that the unique screen name be the first thing you want to identify with it. However, that said, a screen name is not the only means by which - or even necessarily the primary means by which - people identify their journals here.

Consequently, would a possible useful compromise be to include display names in the hover text for usernames?

When I'm hovering-over a username, I'm already looking at the username. I don't need to see the username again, and I'm going to add to the chorus of people who would, if this option were available, use it to see what name an account is actually listed under.

Also is not the display name meant to be a name? Even if there are people who use it for other purposes, why should that bar people who wish to use it for its intended purpose from getting any use out of it? By that logic, why should we have the 'description' field for icons displayed at all, when a lot of people (in my experience, which I admit is pretty limited) either don't bother to fill it out or put quotes and things there instead of a description of the icon. I am also guilty of this.

That aside, when people are using a display name for its intended purpose, we have to go to their profiles to see it. This seems to me (though I admit I am not very knowledgeable about what things besides icons take the most work from the servers) to be unnecessary work on our fronts and unnecessary extra traffic for you guys, as it means instead of a single data field being loaded on an already loaded page, instead it involves loading an entirely new page.