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Wikipedia:Changing username/Simple

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by ZZq (talk | contribs) at 01:46, 5 January 2006 (→Requests to usurp an existing account with no edits: А -> A please). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Shortcut

The user name Wikipedians choose for themselves is no longer set in stone. On request, Bureaucrats can change user account settings and article histories such that all previous edits of a given user are attributed to the new name using Special:Renameuser. Note - you must make the request from the account you want renamed; anonymous requests are ignored for security reasons. (Historical note - In the past, this page was used to log requests for developers to manually change attributions and usernames. This practice has long since been discontinued by developers as being too time consuming for the few number of developers available)

See also: The Wikimedia m:Privacy Policy, m:Right to vanish

Currently, only users with fewer than 6800 edits can be renamed (edit counter). You can only be renamed to an account that does not exist. If you have very few edits, it is far quicker to just create a new account.

Requesting a change

  1. To change your user name on the English Wikipedia only, please make your request on this page.
  2. To change your user name on another Wikimedia project that has a local bureaucrat (see Special:Listusers on your wiki to check), please ask one of those bureaucrats.
  3. To change your user name on another Wikimedia project that has no local bureaucrat, please ask a steward at meta:requests for permission.
  4. Re-attribution of edits from an anonymous account to a username can not be carried out by bureaucrats. Please see Wikipedia:Changing attribution for an edit.

Alternatives

  • Instead of changing your name, you can change your preferences to change your signature. This will change your "public appearance" on talk pages without requiring costly changes to the database. All your edits will be attributed to the same user. Although it will be your Username and not your sig that appears in page histories, most public interaction here goes on via talk pages. If you have the desire and the patience, you can use "What links here" from your User: page to manually edit all your old signatures to use the new sig as well (probably not necessary in most cases).
  • You can simply create a new account with the desired name, and redirect your old User: and User Talk: pages to your new account. Put a note at the top of your new User: and User Talk: page to explain the change. This does not merge your contributions history; but anyone investigating the old edits will be redirected to your new one. Again, if you have the patience, you can use "What links here" from your old User: page to manually edit all your old talk page signatures to display the new sig as well, using a piped link of the form [[User:OldUserName|NewSig]]. Use an informative edit summary so that people do not think you are tampering with someone else's entry on a talk page (a definite community no-no).

Instructions

Please follow the procedure carefully or your request will not be fulfilled.

  1. Check that you have fewer than 6800 edits (edit counter).
  2. Check that the new name you want does not exist (Special:Listusers). Do not create an account under the new name.
  3. Sign in with the account that you want renamed.
  4. Add your request in the "current requests" section.
  5. If you are a sysop, please note this fact with your request so that the necessary changes can be made.
  • Once your request is fulfilled, all edits and other user data (including preferences, watchlist, and password) from your old account will be reattributed to your new account.
  • You should check that the old account has been recreated and blocked to prevent someone else creating the account and impersonating you.
  • You will probably want to move and redirect your userpage and talk page to your new name.

Current requests

Please put new requests at the end of this section. Fulfilled requests will be moved immediately to the current archive.

Please note that renaming users puts a large load on the database. Please do not request a rename unless it is necessary. If you have only a few edits, see the alternatives above.
  • Preface your request with a heading, thus: === Target username ===
  • Sign your name at the end with four tildes: ~~~~


Leander

Please could you change my username to Leander. Thanks. ADSR6581 17:44, 30 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Leander already exists. Please choose another name. =Nichalp «Talk»= 05:26, 31 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I checked, and it seems no one is using it, how can I tell a username is not in use? ADSR6581 05:32, 31 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry I checked it with the user list, and it seems the Leander with a capitalized "L" is listed, but not the lower case. So basically if it's on the list, then it can't be used, even though everything is blank (userpage, history etc)? ADSR6581 05:39, 31 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The mediawiki software automatically capitalises the first letter of any username or article. =Nichalp «Talk»= 05:53, 31 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

please change my username to sandhawk thanks Madcowpoo

my user name is being blocked i can write it down madcowpoo please can you tell me whats wrong with it and if it breaks a user name ruel can you change it to prince of persia and if thats taken can you make give me empty user name and tell me what it is. from madcowpoo -— Preceding unsigned comment added by Madcowpoo (talk • contribs)

  • Hey, its okay. No need to change your username. Looks like you just have a little confusion regarding signing signitures. Everybody has one. Just click on "my preferences" and there it is. You can edit your signature to point to it. In my signature under Special:Preferences I have:

MegamanZero|Talk

And that gives the signature that you see. when I type 4 ~'s , it gives me this: MegamanZero|Talk 15:10, 3 January 2006 (UTC) , just do that after you write comments and it'll be fine. -MegamanZero|Talk 15:10, 3 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

ironcito

Is it possible for my username to begin with a lowercase i? The system seems to automatically capitalize usernames, but I've always used it in lowercase. Thanks! ironcito 19:28, 3 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, the software does always capitalize usernames; you seem already to have discovered how to modify your signature, but beyond that I'm afraid it must be capitalized. — Dan | talk 05:30, 4 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

FormerUser#

(where # is any number, as specified by Wikipedia:Account_deletion) I'd like to move my account to this new username. thank you. Achille.brighton 15:48, 4 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

FormerUser#

(where # is any number, as specified by Wikipedia:Account_deletion (note this is a different acct from the above, change in capitalisation of last name) I'd like to this account to the new username. Thank You. Achille.Brighton 15:52, 4 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: Why do you need two accounts? =Nichalp «Talk»= 15:57, 4 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Rename is for privacy reasons
The question was not as to why you want to rename, but rather why you have two accounts in the first place. Such practise is generally viewed as suspicious at best. Matt Gies 19:11, 4 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I first registered achile.brighton, when I realized that the first letter was always capitalized later I decided to register Achille.Briton all capitalized. That is the reason I have two accounts. After some time I was made aware of the privacy implications. In today's day and age it is very easy for someone to go back history of edits someone has made even if that someone is not related to Wikipedia at all. Such people can take edits out of context” or use them to show corruption of ethics , malice, political affiliation, areas of interest etc. I would not mind if both those accounts are DELETED. I am aware that it is not possible to delete the account, thus at minimum I'd like to have those accounts renamed to something else. I understand there might be considerable abuse by changing usernames but since Wikipedia allows for transparency, it can be deducted that neither account has participated in an “edit war” of any kind or in any malicious attempts. Thus, again, I’d like the usernames to be renamed to something else, what that other thing is irrelevant.

please change my username to 641151937605

Im am User:Kapil_Yedidi. I want my username changed for privacy reasons. I would also like 2 pages about me renamed to my new username(for privacy, due to search engines) thanks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:VfD-Kapil_Yedidi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Votes_for_deletion/Kapil_Yedidi

ligeti42

Please change my username to ligeti42. Thank you, Liszt5 00:56, 5 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Archives

Fulfilled

Rejected/Cannot be fulfilled

Earlier archives – These archives predate the Special:Renameuser feature.

Requests from users with over 6800 edits

These requests will not currently be fulfilled; but may be in the future. See also m:Changing username for other complicated requests

  1. User:Kevin_baas to User:Kevin Baas signed: 23:18, August 16, 2005 (UTC)
  2. User:Snowspinner to User:Phil Sandifer Snowspinner 16:25, 24 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  3. User:Dcoetzee to User:Deco - For privacy purposes. Currently I have User:Deco registered and redirect it to my user page, and additionally I use it in my signatures. 23:29, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  4. I would like to change my current user name, User:Karol Langner (my actual full name), to User:Karol. Unfortunately, I have about 80 edits more than the 6800 limit. I hope that's not a big problem, because the change is important to me, due to privacy concerns. Karol 10:38, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
    There is already a User:Karol, although they have not made any edits. If this is you, please sign in and confirm. If not, User:Karol L is available. Warofdreams talk 10:45, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
    I don't think so. Before, I didn't really know how to check that, so I figured if there's no page then it's free. I then played around with the 'create account' page and realized WP creates an account even if I leave the password field blank (I created User:Karol L by mistake, sorry for that, you can delete the account)! If User:Karol is inactive, can't I take over the account? Karol 17:43, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Requests to usurp an existing account with no edits

Occasionally, someone will request to be renamed to an account that exists (has been registered) but has not made any edits. While there is precedent for making such changes, as yet there are no guidelines for handling such requests.

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