Accounts & Identity Foundation explainer

What is the difference between an account, a profile and a username?¶

They are related, but they are not the same thing.

The account is the provider’s underlying continuing record.
The username is a name or identifier used to sign in, find or refer to it.
The profile is the information presented to other users.

That distinction matters because the thing you can see on screen may not be the best thing to identify in a provider enquiry.

Think of the public view and the provider view¶

A marketplace page might show:

Public profileFenland ClassicsPhoto · seller name · rating · advert list

Provider accountaccount_id=FC-88214Registration · sessions · security · activity · internal identifiers

The public name can be changed.

The profile picture can be replaced.

The username may also change on some services.

The internal account ID is often much more stable.

One account can present several things¶

An account may control:

several profiles;
pages or channels;
business identities;
shop fronts;
aliases; or
application identities.

The reverse can happen too: several accounts may administer the same page or organisational profile.

That is why a screenshot of a profile should not quietly become “the account” in the case notes.

What should you preserve?¶

If you are given an online profile, record:

the exact URL;
visible display name;
username or handle;
any visible account/profile ID;
date and time;
what content was visible; and
how the material was obtained.

If the provider supplies a stable internal ID, use that as the main reference for later requests.

Example preservation note

Profile URL: market.example/fenland-classicsDisplay name: Fenland ClassicsUsername: @fenlandclassicsProvider account ID: FC-88214Observed: 2026-08-18 09:12 UTC

Now another investigator can tell exactly what object you were looking at.

Why terminology matters in requests¶

If you ask a provider for records for a “profile” when the service distinguishes profiles, pages and accounts, you may get the wrong thing.

Be as precise as the service allows:

public profile;
username;
managed page;
channel;
underlying account;
stable account ID.

What is an online account? gives the wider model.

The practical point is: the profile is what people see, the username helps identify or access it, and the account is the provider record sitting underneath. Preserve all three where they matter, but do not treat them as interchangeable.