Messed up with preferred username – are "reserved" usernames locked forever?
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So I’d made a WordPress.com account six years ago by the handle I prefer using, but never used it and ended up forgetting about it. I made another today and realized I hadn’t needed to when it was too late. I couldn’t use my preferred handle with the new one, so I tried to change the username on the old one so I could switch it over.
I hadn’t known at the time that that wouldn’t work. (I realize NOW that there’s a Support article stating that old usernames can’t be used by anyone, but the settings page where you can change it is devoid of that particular warning… ) I ended up changing the username, then deleting the old account completely, to try to free it up. Instead of just deleting the new account and using the old one. Yeah.
So, since I didn’t have the foresight to look this up beforehand, and since I don’t see any suggestion as to the time it’s “reserved”… is there perhaps a defined period after which an old username is freed for use again, or is it just permanently gone for everyone ever once it’s been changed?
I didn’t have anything set up on the old account besides an old email and a profile picture. Not even a blog or a page. If that means anything.
If the old handles are permanently gone… can anyone explain why the site works like that? I’m curious…
Thanks.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi there,
If you changed a username and discarded the old username in the process, then it cannot be ever re-used. This restriction is in place to avoid impersonations among other things.
However, if you closed the old account and created a new account, we might be able to help you restore the old account. For that, I need to know what’s the username you’re trying to use.
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Well, the username on the old account was changed before I deleted it… unless you’re able to undo that when restoring the old account (the change was within an hour or two of the deletion), it sounds like restoring it won’t work.
The old account was originally under the handle “dalennau”. I changed it to “dalennaunow” before I deleted it. I can provide verification of ownership as needed.
If there’s really nothing to be done at this point for the original name for the deleted account, then thank you still for taking the time to reply.
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To add on to that: “dalennau” was the handle I wanted to use. I only changed it because I thought I could re-claim it on the new account, not having poked through the support articles at the time.
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