Merge requests are a place to propose changes you've made to a project and discuss those changes with others
Interested parties can even contribute by pushing commits if they want to.
Late yesterday, an issue was introduced where users names are being replaced by numerical strings. Logging out and back in should fix your display name.
We are also aware of command line authentication issues when pulling repositories, and are working on a fix.
If you are impacted, please submit a support request to the GitLab team.
Interested parties can even contribute by pushing commits if they want to.