desired username is taken, but unfindable?

  • Unknown's avatar
    lucasdenbaas · Member ·

    Hello fellow wordpress users!
    I have a problem and I hope someone could help me. I’m setting up a new blog on wordpress, connected with twitter, pinterest, etc. My username on those platforms is “IcyLucas”, but on wordpress this name is already taken. Ofcourse I can change my name to icylucas, but the adress is “lucasdenbaas.wordpress.com”, and i would really want it to become “icylucas.wordpress.com.
    Now here’s the thing: even though this username is “taken”, there are no search results whatsoever for “icylucas” on wordpress. “icylucas.wordpress.com” shows up blank.
    Would there be anything I could do to change my adress and name to “icylucas.wordpress.com”?

    If you have taken the time to read my message, thanks in advance! :)
    Also feel free to check out my blog ofcourse, but it’s in Dutch only so far… :)

    Best regards,

    IcyLucas

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    bubbleandhearth · Member ·

    There is nothing that can be done unfortunately.

    When a blog name changed or the blog is deleted they do not recycle addresses.

    Addresses (URLs) for blogs that have been deleted by the owner will remain deleted. We cannot, under any circumstances, allow someone to take over the address of a blog that was previously owned and deleted by its original/previous owner

    http://en.support.wordpress.com/recycling-blog-names/

    And here’s the information on changing user names. Once one is used and then changed, the old one can longer be used

    Important:You will not be able to change your username back. The old name will be reserved and no one will have access to it.

    Change Your Username

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    http://icylucas.wordpress.com/ has not been deleted.

    There is no expiration date on blogs unused, reserved or otherwise. If you can make contact on your own with the owner of an unused blog via a contact form or commenting, then providing the are agreeable there is a means of a consenting blog owner to transfer the blog to another username account. http://en.support.wordpress.com/moving-a-blog/#transferring-your-blog-to-another-user-or-account

    In the case that there is no contact information Staff will not breach the privacy policy and provide you with an email address.

    If you are not successful, you can register another blog with a similar name. http://en.support.wordpress.com/register-a-blog/

    Or you can register a domain via a domain mapping upgrade and it will not matter what the underlying .wordpress.com address is.
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/register-domain/

  • Unknown's avatar
    lucasdenbaas · Member ·

    Wow, first of all thank you for the effort of this elaborate reply! I really doubt I would have found this information by myself. Since I cannot find the blog named “icylucas”, I guess I’ll have to content myself with a similar name.. :)
    I’ll try my luck at finding the owner of the “icylucas” through google etc., but I realise it’s a long shot.. I guess I also won’t be able to convince the wordpress devs to recycle an adress, even for once..

    Thanks a lot for the clear and fast reply though! :)

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    Hi there,
    You’re welcome and regarding registering a deleted blog URL you’re right ie. that will not happen.

  • Unknown's avatar
    raincoaster · Member ·

    You can, though, change your display name on the Profile page. It’s “nickname”. Put in the name you want, save, then choose that name from the drop down list.

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