Username Change Requests

[cguthrie]

Hi Everyone!

As part of the new forum launch we had to change some usernames due to them not really fitting in with the new system or clashing with existing users.

Many (probably most) cases where a username had to be changed can be resolved as nine times out of ten the other user will not be active and we can allocate them a new username instead! This does require a quick manual review however.

So if you have been subject to having your nice username stolen from you as part of this move, please post here and I'll periodically check up on things and make adjustments as needed!

All the best!
Col

 

[RayS]

Please see my postings under comments on the new website

Your proof reading needs some attention too - what does I many mean

I've had my user name Ray S for over 8 years and I want it back please,

 

[xtrailman]

I have now had my user name changed to ray3, could I have it changed to xtrailman please, I am unable to do it in edit.

 

[cguthrie]

Your proof reading needs some attention too - what does I many mean

Oops, sorry about that. I made that post as I rushed out the office at the end of a very long few days, so apologies for the lack of proof reading on that one. I've tried to correct it.

I've had my user name Ray S for over 8 years and I want it back please

I've managed to restore your username to "RayS" (i.e. dropped the "1" suffix). This is still slightly different to before in that the space before the S is gone. Is this acceptable to you? We try to avoid spaces and other more interesting characters in usernames as these can cause problems, but if you are really attached to the space (and you may very well be after 8 years!!), I can look into some ways to restore this (at least visually on the forum, if not what's used to actually log in.

Look forward to hearing back from you and thanks for your patience so far as we work out the kinks!

 

[cguthrie]

I have now had my user name changed to ray3, could I have it changed to xtrailman please, I am unable to do it in edit.

Done! Sorry about that

 

[cguthrie]

Actually RayS, I 've just noticed your posts elsewhere about having your post count reset... this is obviously not intentional and I'm sure we can fix it up! Let me look into it and find out what's going on.

 

[cguthrie]

Actually RayS, I 've just noticed your posts elsewhere about having your post count reset... this is obviously not intentional and I'm sure we can fix it up! Let me look into it and find out what's going on.

And...... that is the post counts restored! Sorry about that.

The actual import process was tested many times (I spent many days importing the forum and writing the conversion scrtips etc) but sadly when it was time to "do it for real" the live environment didn't quite play as nice as it should and I had to import the data in two steps. It seems that somewhere along the way the user counts were lost, but all the data is there and we can always fix these little issues.

Feel free to report any similar anomolies and I'll try and sort them out!

 

[xtrailman]

I have now had my user name changed to ray3, could I have it changed to xtrailman please, I am unable to do it in edit.

Done! Sorry about that

Thank you I appreciate the quick response.

I also quite like the new look of the site.

Generally a huge improvement over the last one.

 

[cguthrie]

And...... that is the post counts restored! Sorry about that.

And..... that's them broken again! Will have to work out why they keep getting reset! Rest assured I'm working on it!

 

[cguthrie]

And...... that is the post counts restored! Sorry about that.

And..... that's them broken again! Will have to work out why they keep getting reset! Rest assured I'm working on it!

And that's it fixed again - hopefully for good this time. Seems in my import I missed populating some metadata that was used as the source to update the user counts, so when they were updated they all got reset to a rather low value! Please do let me know if the issue reoccurs or something similar crops up!

Col

 

[Royston]

My code name has changed from Royston to Royston 1 can you please refer it back to Royston.
Also what has happened to the Roman soldier which symbols the town that I live near.
Royston

 

[cguthrie]

My code name has changed from Royston to Royston 1 can you please refer it back to Royston.
Also what has happened to the Roman soldier which symbols the town that I live near.
Royston

No problem Royston, that's you renamed back!

The avatars (which is what your Roman soldiers were - not strange blue creatures invented by James Cameron!) are now loaded from a website call Gravatar which is a system that allows you to register your image once and then have it work on thousands of websites without reconfiguring over and over again. So if you are happy to sign up for an account (using the same email address as you use here) and upload your Roman soldier image there, it start working again.

I'm not sure everyone is overjoyed at this change, so we'll have to gauge feedback over the next few days and see if we need to do something different, but quite a lot of users seem to have created accounts (or already had them anyway - which is really the point afterall!)

Hope that helps and thanks for your patience during this transitional period!

Col

 

[emmerson]

After 24 hours of trying, I'm now signed in! Trouble is, I've had to use my email address to do so. I want to use my original "emmerson2" please.

 

[emmerson]

Whoops Forget that!!!!!!!!! I'm now back to just "emmerson" as I was about fur years ago. I'm happy with that thank you.

 

[Stevel]

Could Stevel1 be reverted to Stevel? Pretty please?

 

[cguthrie]

Could Stevel1 be reverted to Stevel? Pretty please?

Seeing as you asked so nicely - consider it done!

Glad your (restored) older username is to your liking emmerson!!

 

[emmerson]

Thanks CG, but will I always have to sign in every time I want to post?

 

[smiley]

Mod

I have been changed to smiley1 this doesn't really have the same ring to it.... if you say to yourself it doesn't, does it? Be honest now hmy:
So I'm in a quandry being me, a female with to much choice should I stay smiley or should I be me well a different name or should I use my name what do you think??

Open to all

 

[cguthrie]

Thanks CG, but will I always have to sign in every time I want to post?

We're working on a secure "remember me" feature that should come along soonish (hopefully early next week). It's kinda tricky as there are a few different platforms involved and they all need to be able to load up the correct session info, but it's certainly possible and hopefully will be there soon!

I have been changed to smiley1 this doesn't really have the same ring to it.... if you say to yourself it doesn't, does it? Be honest now hmy:
So I'm in a quandry being me, a female with to much choice should I stay smiley or should I be me well a different name or should I use my name what do you think??

Happy to oblige if you decide otherwise but for now you have been restored to smiley

 

[PaulT]

I've been PaulT for years, now I'm PaulT3 - can I go back to PaulT please? I notice all my postings come up as PaulT3, will they change back if my user name is changed?

 

[cguthrie]

I've been PaulT for years, now I'm PaulT3 - can I go back to PaulT please? I notice all my postings come up as PaulT3, will they change back if my user name is changed?

That's your username changed back too PaulT. And yes, all your posts reflect the name change, so they will all be from PaulT now. All the best.

 

[RogerL]

It if ain't broke, why fix it?

Any forum "upgrade" that changes usernames is a downgrade by any consideration.

PC forum is making me feel decidely schizophrenic - I've no idea how many Alter Egos I have here - but one is too many.

I suggest you find a PC"expert" to sort this on everyone's behalf.

 

[cguthrie]

It if ain't broke, why fix it?

Any forum "upgrade" that changes usernames is a downgrade by any consideration.

Normally I'd agree with you, but this isn't just a simple upgrade! It is a migration to an alternative platform, integration of social media login and also preparing to ensure a shared backend for user accounts for both here and, in the future, Practical Motorhome. So it's not solely about this forum and there are lots of other factors involved. As a result, a very small percentage of users had to have their usernames changed. The most active users were manually checked before launch and all attempts were made to ensure their usernames didn't change and for others we've setup this forum topic for any who were missed.

So all things considered, I'm quite happy with the way things have gone - that's not to say some bits couldn't have been smoother of course! Some problems will always be unexpected and public and user reaction is somehing that's nigh on impossible to predict, but I hope we're dealing (and continue to deal) with the issues to everyone's satisfaction. Still lots to do, but we are workign on it!

All the best!

Col

 

[gary]

Reading your reply to RogerL with one post?? whose been on here as long as I have!!, you say most active users were manually checked?, well it's took me three day to figure out how to log on so I can ask you to sort my account out!!

After the last 'change' I added Dr to gary, then trying to change back to plain gary I lost my original start date and post count hmy:
Maybe now you can merge me back together? ie, Drgary + gary5 without the Dr or the 5?? B)

PS, nice to see some well chosen useful

 

[cguthrie]

Reading your reply to RogerL with one post?? whose been on here as long as I have!!, you say most active users were manually checked?

I did think it was a little odd that RogerL had only one post above. I'll double check what's happening there to see if I missed something. RogerL, should your post count be larger?

well it's took me three day to figure out how to log on so I can ask you to sort my account out!!

After the last 'change' I added Dr to gary, then trying to change back to plain gary I lost my original start date and post count hmy:
Maybe now you can merge me back together? ie, Drgary + gary5 without the Dr or the 5?? B)

PS, nice to see some well chosen useful

OK, so I see two accounts for yourself as you mentioned a Drgary and a gary5. Would you like me to join those two accounts together and attribute posts by either user to just one of them?

I guess the Drgary account is both older and has more posts, so shall we make that the primary one? And should I just completely remove the gary5 account afterwards or just leave it as a 0 post user? Any change to the username needed on the Drgary account? DrGary perhaps? Looking at the accounts, I think we can use just "gary" (or "Gary") if you would prefer that?