How do I change my username or delete an account on Discourse?

Meta Help
#1

I’m facing two issues than in a normal forum would be relatively easy to fix, but I’m stuck.

I have two accounts on this forum:

  • One obsolete that I would like to remove, and has my usual nickname. I would like to remove it completely, but there’s no option in Settings to do. I guess Admins have disabled this feature?
  • One that I’d like to keep, but has the nickname starting with an underscore. Once the existing account is removed, I’d like to reclaim my nickname without the underscore. Again, I don’t spot anything in the settings to change my account name.

How is it possible to fix this? Do you need admin powers?

#2

Hi @_flod,

short answer: Yes, we can and will help.

long answer: One of the ParSys Discourse experts will take care of your case. I guess this will land before the end of the week. Hope this time frame works for you.

/cc @leo @yousef

Best regards,
Henrik

#3

Thanks. Timing is not an issue, both accounts are tied to a working email address, so nothing get lost in the meantime

#4

What you want is to be able to merge your accounts. It’s a feature which we’ve discussed developing upstream, but is a rare enough request that it’s more efficient to just do it manually.

We can’t just give users the power to delete their own accounts, because that includes deleting all their posts, which could make past topics lose relevant context.

So, I can:

  1. Transfer all of @flod’s posts to @_flod
  2. Delete @flod
  3. Rename @_flod to @flod

This way your posts will be transferred, but that’s all, for example: no notification level settings on categories/topics will be transferred.

If that’s alright, I’ll go ahead and do it! :slightly_smiling_face:

#5

Go ahead, plan is absolutely fine.

#6

Great, I’ve just done it!