diff --git a/app/logical/user_name_validator.rb b/app/logical/user_name_validator.rb
index 76044bdaa..5281c7664 100644
--- a/app/logical/user_name_validator.rb
+++ b/app/logical/user_name_validator.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 class UserNameValidator < ActiveModel::EachValidator
   def validate_each(rec, attr, value)
+  	name = value
+  	
     rec.errors[attr] << "already exists" if User.find_by_name(name).present?
     rec.errors[attr] << "must be 2 to 100 characters long" if !name.length.between?(2, 100)
     rec.errors[attr] << "cannot have whitespace or colons" if name =~ /[[:space:]]|:/
diff --git a/script/fixes/043_fix_whitespace_usernames.rb b/script/fixes/043_fix_whitespace_usernames.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..82b929738
--- /dev/null
+++ b/script/fixes/043_fix_whitespace_usernames.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env ruby
+
+require File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', '..', 'config', 'environment'))
+
+ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute("set statement_timeout = 0")
+
+User.where("name like ?", "% %").find_each do |user|
+  print "repairing #{user.name} -> "
+  user.name = user.name.gsub(/[[:space:]]/, "_")
+  user.save
+  puts user.name
+end