diff --git a/bin/libbfa.sh b/bin/libbfa.sh
index c6ed763f978769e9a1254529a99766a2492a726a..b5d1de5e280edd9a1a13723ec1d75690e7befae3 100644
--- a/bin/libbfa.sh
+++ b/bin/libbfa.sh
@@ -188,14 +188,17 @@ function    nodedir
     test -r "${BFANODEDIR}/rpcport"         ||
         echo $(( $RANDOM / 2 + 12345 )) > ${BFANODEDIR}/rpcport
     rpcport=$(      cat ${BFANODEDIR}/rpcport )
+}
+
+function    extradata
+{
+    account
     # something uniqueish
     ## find default interface
     local def_if=$( ( ip -4 route show ; ip -6 route show ) | expand | sed -ne '/^default /{s/  */ /g;s/^.* dev //;s/ .*//;p;q}' )
     local mymac=$( ip link show ${def_if} | sed -ne '/link\|ether/{s/^.*link.ether //;s/ .*//;s/://g;p;q}' )
-
-    BFAEXTRADATA="${USER}@${HOSTNAME}"
-    BFAEXTRADATA="${BFAEXTRADATA}                   "
-    BFAEXTRADATA="${BFAEXTRADATA:0:19} ${mymac}"
+    #
+    echo -n "${account:0:19} ${mymac:0:12}"
 }
 
 function    account
diff --git a/bin/start.sh b/bin/start.sh
index 21d51e6f39fd2eeb4285cc1a4b5c88b175ae8b30..b49303d9245acb5c0c6e99ba04ccdcf9b66fa609 100755
--- a/bin/start.sh
+++ b/bin/start.sh
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ function getsyncmode
         echo '***'
         echo
         # (re)configure parameters (you never know if they changed)
-	flexargs="$( accountlist) $( getminer ) $( getsyncmode )"
+	flexargs="$( accountlist) $( getminer ) $( getsyncmode ) --extradata $( extradata )"   \
         set -x
         geth			            \
 	    --datadir ${BFANODEDIR}	    \
@@ -78,7 +78,6 @@ function getsyncmode
             --txpool.globalslots 32768      \
             --txpool.accountqueue 512       \
             --txpool.globalqueue 8192       \
-            --extradata "${BFAEXTRADATA}"   \
             --gcmode archive                \
 	    --cache 512		            \
 	    --verbosity 3			&