I know this is an older topic, but it's still relevant and I wanted to share a few thoughts.
I completely agree with you, Bernard, and as you said, using an ID that is not dependant on any specific data field is basically the very first thing you learn when you're taught about databases. I really love WikiTree for a lot of reasons, but the LNAB/ID issue is also my least favourite about it and it makes for a lot of frustration.
As you said, European aristocracy is a good example of when it's annoying (throw-back to this profile that really gave me pause this week when picking a LNAB, for instance.) But it's far from the only ones.
One counter-argument I've seen on this topic a few times really doesn't make sense to me. It is the following: "Ok but European aristocracy is an exception, and the last name system still works for most profiles on WikiTree."
Does it though? How many profiles have disputes exactly about that topic? And even if this is true about current, existing profiles... What about all of those that don't exist (yet)?
I know everyone agrees it's a shame WikiTree is so anglo/american-centred, and it would be nice to have more profiles from everywhere in the world. Is there really such a big percentage of human societies that used a consistant "last name" system, compared to those that didn't? I'm really not sure about that.
And even in those that do... I'm lucky enough to come from French ancestors, and our naming system is close enough to the anglo-saxon one (minus middle names), so I consider myself in "easy mode" to deal with WT conventions. And I still have issues. For instance:
- Some of my ancestors were born from an unknown or illegitimate father, so their birth certificate is under their mother's maiden name. A few months/years later, the mother got married (was it to the bio father of the child? I can never know with just paper trail, but we can never know which children were born from adultery either even when they are considered "legitimate," so that's a moot point.) Under French law, the child is legitimised and takes his new "father's" name. Legally, even the birth certificate is changed. In that case, what name am I supposed to use?
- SPELLING AND VARIANTS. This is my biggest and most common issue, and it's really not even a case of "aristocracy is an exception bc of titles and particules." My ancestors were all common people (AFAIK) and I still struggle with that when picking a last name at birth. For instance, my current last name is Haupaix. In my ancestors from this line, I have seen the spellings Haupais, Haupeis, Aupaix, Hautpays, etc. (and that's just my current last name; the issue stands for pretty much every single name in my tree.) I would like an easy way to "tell" WikiTree all of these are variants of the same surname, so when I click the "Haupaix" word on my profile, the profiles with those last names still show up. But that's a different issue, I guess. What causes me an issue is when several of those are used during a single individual's life, or within a close family. I know I'm supposed to use the spelling used at birth. But for starters, when I create a new profile I may not have a birth certificate yet (I know I can correct it later, but as Bernard said several times, we are encouraged to do so as rarely as possible.) And when I do... If the spelling, say Haupeis, is used ONLY on the birth record and every other record (marriage, death, parents', siblings'...) has Haupais, how am I supposed to decide it wasn't just a weird quirck from that one registrar that should be ignored?
Anyway sorry if that is a bit of a ramble, organising my thoughts is not my strong suits and I had a lot to say about this. Sorry if I'm not offering solutions. I'm not sure I'm qualified to do so.
And one last point: several people have brought up Wikitree's research page. The truth is, when I want to access a historical figure's WT profile, I always use Google because it's far more efficient when I'm not sure what their legal name actually was.