[snip]
> even is that is true i think you need the "comodin characters" (ie: %.
> _) to make "like" behave different from simple comparisons
Not entirely true, if the database was initialized in a different locale
than C, then the direct comparison will probably go for an index on
username, while "like" will not. Which points to a possible index
corruption... which might be interesting for the developers to
investigate, but I would guess a reindex will solve the problem for the
OP if he has it urgent...
Cheers,
Csaba.