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Stack Overflow's forum is dead thanks to AI
(wiert.me)
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this post was submitted on 26 May 2026
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I wish English had "placeholder names" like Portuguese (Fulano, Beltrano, Sicrano — they work like a charm for situations like this, where you want to represent some random nobodies).
It's not used much outside computer science, but there is a list; Alice and Bob are both on it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_and_Bob
Scroll down for the full cast of names
I'm aware of that list. I mean names used exclusively as placeholders. Like "thingamajig" or "ACME" but for people.
Because, for example. Let's say I told you a story about "Alice". Without "Bob", "Charlie" etc. to offer you context, it's ambiguous if I'm talking about a real person called Alice, or if it's just a placeholder name. The same wouldn't happen with PT "Fulano" — because it isn't a personal name like Alice, it's used exclusively as a placeholder.
Some also use John Doe, I guess. Or John Smith. But the same issue. (Or perhaps I'm just babbling about language as usual, sorry.)