Wikipedia talk:Changing username

Redirect from old user talk page

So... I've been telling a user who was recently renamed that we generally don't delete the redirect from the old user talk page to the new one that is automatically created during the rename. That's based on what I've observed in other renames, and another admin confirmed that was their understanding. Old user talk page redirects seemed to only be suppressed when someone is vanishing. The user was annoyed but eventually accepted that. Different than user pages, which are deleted on user request.

However, yesterday I saw someone on my watchlist was renamed, who wasn't vanishing, where the redirect from the user talk page was suppressed as part of the page move.

So first, is there a rule? And second, if there is a rule against it, how important is it? I'd like to just IAR and delete the redirect even if there is a rule, just because the user wants it and I can't see any giant problem. I don't know if this is just a personal choice by the global renamer, and I've been insisting on a rule that doesn't exist. I generally only like to follow rules that make sense, and (if it exists) I'm not sure this one does. Floquenbeam (talk) 18:43, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

@Floquenbeam: When renaming an account, there is a tick box to suppress the creation of redirects, but not particular pages. As far as the rule of thumb or policy, I don't know. - FlightTime (open channel) 18:55, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

@Floquenbeam here's my hot take: WP:DELTALK is primarily because that is a page that likely has multiple authors and may be useful to others. This type of redirect doesn't suffer from that condition. So should these go to RFD or MFD? No, that's a waste of time. If it seems like a reasonable deletion request from an editor in good standing, I'd likely just delete it. And if the redirect wasn't made, I wouldn't go making it (but certainly wouldn't care if the user made it themselves). The redirects are often very useful, but in certain cases someone has a good reason from distancing themselves from their old username a bit. Users asking about this in side channels should be cautioned that renames are absolutely not secret (only the "reason" may be if submitted though the queues).

The global renamers are not always consistent in their processes, and we're not going to fix that upstream situation here on enwiki. — xaosflux ^Talk 19:16, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Thank you, Xaosflux, I'll do that. It appears I took half a dozen observed data points and called them a policy. Floquenbeam (talk) 19:23, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Problem with changing username.

I want to change my username to Lucy LostWord, which I usually go by, but it said it was taken and I saw it was registered on MediaWiki, then I remembered that was me who had made a MediaWiki account when searching for somewhere to make a new wiki. If I log into that account and change its username, will I be able to the change the username of this account to Lucy LostWord? I do not want to make that other account my main.

Lucy LostWord (ILike Leavanny) 23:40, 18 October 2024 (UTC)

It will need to be manually handled. Go post over at meta:Steward_requests/Username_changes#Requests_involving_merges.2C_usurps_or_other_complications. You will need to be able to log on to both accounts to prove they are you. — xaosflux ^Talk 00:12, 19 October 2024 (UTC)

I am confused. I'm on mobile so there isn't a button to make a post on there and it seems hard to do it based on the other posts.

Lucy LostWord (ILike Leavanny) 19:13, 19 October 2024 (UTC)

Oh nvmLucy LostWord (ILike Leavanny) 19:14, 19 October 2024 (UTC)

14-day hold period

There is an ongoing discussion about extending the hold period for username usurpation requests to 14 days. Please join the discussion and share your views. Thanks! – DreamRimmer (talk) 17:49, 10 November 2024 (UTC)