The old chestnut of the User Name Amnesty?

[AlpacaLypse]

I really do think a Username that was used for about a week and a half five years ago and has lain dormant ever since should be freed up. Maybe HQ could email dormant username owners and give them (say) thirty days to confirm they still want the name? Obviously some names should never be revived eg Mitmoo but I'm thinking the sort that posted once for innocuous advice and then drifted off, either nc-ing or to Another Site?

What do you reckon?

I tried all the suggested combinations on here BUT this one worked.

preens

Thanks, Rusty! I don't always have much time to get on here these days, so thanks for the link. Will see what we can do!

Maryz, yes they are friends of mine, but don't post much themselves...

As I understand it, the thing is that it's not actually that easy to switch usernames between accounts. ie we can't just hit a button that says 'transfer name xxx to account 12345' - it's an actual proper coding-level back-end change each time.

That's why we can't let people who've deregged have their original usernames back any more - it's just a lot more difficult than it sounds

I disagree. I've never posted before, but wouldn't be happy if my nickname was taken off me.

Stares hard

No, deleting the accounts doesn't help tbh - whether the account is active or deregged, it's still a big manual job to transfer a name from account a to account b.

Sorry am probably not explaining it very well (because we're straying into Tech territory which might as well be witchcraft for all I know)

I'd hate if someone nicked my name. Actually I'd be a bit miffed if someone tried to imitate it. Sad, aren't I?

@usualsuspectt

I don't know who Rowan could possibly mean.

I'm just a bit frightened. I've seen what happens sometimes when posters don't quite phrase things right and everything gets misinterpreted and people get offended.

You mean like this?

[innocent]

Oh well, it was worth asking

And Windymill's managed to get her dream name out of it, or near enough.

But after about three years or so you could recycle the name. Perhaps get a new one to pop up in green so we all know it's a recycled name. There is a little song about it which sets down some very helpful guidelines.

Underground, overground, wombling free
The Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we
Making good use of the things that we find
Things that the everyday folks leave behind

It's sensible though.

Anyway that was a bit off topic, I'll go back to lurking.

CupCakes, really don't worry about it. Start small, just a few sentences on the occasional thread. Try avoiding aibu and just being sympathetic on unanswered threads in your area of expertise (and I bet you have one, whether it be non-sleeping babies, how not to burn the dinner or paint colours, it doesn't matter).

Start small, soon you'll be posting shite all over the shop like all of us regular saddos

Sorry Alpaca. Justine likes it as an idea so we will keep trying to think of a workaround.

Don't worry CupCakes, if they're mean to you just report 'em and we take them out the back

@Maryz

Oh, you are much nicer than Olivia

Last time I asked she just told me to go away and leave her alone [paraphrases]

Shocking behaviour

I totally name changed because of this thread.