diff --git a/view/who.go b/view/who.go
index c714f07..160cabf 100644
--- a/view/who.go
+++ b/view/who.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/gomarkdown/markdown"
 	"github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/html"
 	"github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/parser"
+	"github.com/google/uuid"
 	"github.com/iancoleman/orderedmap"
 	"go.mongodb.org/mongo-driver/bson"
 )
@@ -198,6 +199,11 @@ func whoPost(namespace string, g storage.RateLimitedGraph, w http.ResponseWriter
 		return nil
 	}
 	one.Name = id
+	if one.ID != "" {
+		http.Error(w, `{"error":"cannot specify ID in body"}`, http.StatusBadRequest)
+		return nil
+	}
+	one.ID = uuid.New().String()
 	if err := g.Insert(r.Context(), namespace, one); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/view/who_test.go b/view/who_test.go
index fbb5261..0f7a766 100644
--- a/view/who_test.go
+++ b/view/who_test.go
@@ -278,7 +278,8 @@ func TestWho(t *testing.T) {
 		handler, _, iwant, _, can := fresh(t)
 		defer can()
 		want := iwant
-		r := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/who?namespace=col&id="+want.Name, strings.NewReader(`{"title":"this should fail to insert", "_id":"trash"}`))
+		want.ID = ""
+		r := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, "/who?namespace=col&id="+want.Name, strings.NewReader(`{"title":"this should fail to insert"}`))
 		w := httptest.NewRecorder()
 		handler.ServeHTTP(w, r)
 		if w.Code != http.StatusConflict {
@@ -291,7 +292,7 @@ func TestWho(t *testing.T) {
 		defer can()
 		iwant := want
 		iwant.Name = ""
-		iwant.ID = "NEWBIE" + iwant.ID
+		iwant.ID = ""
 		b, err := json.Marshal(iwant)
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Fatal(err)
@@ -320,7 +321,7 @@ func TestWho(t *testing.T) {
 		handler, _, want, _, can := fresh(t)
 		defer can()
 		want.Name = "hello world #1 e ę"
-		want.ID = "hello world #1 e ę" + want.ID
+		want.ID = ""
 		want.Connections = nil
 		b, err := json.Marshal(want)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -371,7 +372,7 @@ func TestWho(t *testing.T) {
 		defer can()
 
 		want.Name = "hello world #4"
-		want.ID = "hello world #4" + want.ID
+		want.ID = ""
 		want.Connections = nil
 		b, err := json.Marshal(want)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -413,7 +414,7 @@ func TestWho(t *testing.T) {
 		defer can()
 
 		want.Name = "hello world #1 e ę"
-		want.ID = "hello world #1 e ę" + want.ID
+		want.ID = ""
 		want.Connections = nil
 		b, err := json.Marshal(want)
 		if err != nil {