poor member service/user name

[+Rustynails]

I sent the following email to Groundspeak and geocaching.com two days ago and have NOT gotten an reply.

 

Is this the slow response I can expect to get?

 

Is there another email address I should use?

 

I have recently become a premium member. I tried to get the user name rustynails, but found another person using it. I have taken the name rustynails1. I researched the user name rustynails and found this person is not a active member and last used the site july 2007. If possible I would like to replace my user name as rustynails instead of rustynails1. Please help me.

 

I just want to add, the person using the name rustynails registered in june 2007 is not a premium member. And like I stated they have not been active since july 2007.

 

Can anyone help? Thanks

[+Isonzo Karst]

Is this the slow response I can expect to get?

 

2 days! I'd start wondering after 2 weeks or so, and then just send another email to contact@geocaching.com

 

Is there another email address I should use

 

No - contact@geocaching.com is the contact email addy

 

I can help, somewhat, by telling you that the user name you want is not available. There is already an account attached to it. The only time user names are reassigned is if there has been ZERO activity ever on the account.

I believe validating the account is considered activity, though I could be wrong about that.

 

Perhaps since the rustynails account has no other activity, it could be reassigned, but that would not be my expectation. That user might return, from say an overseas deployment, and be surprised to find their account re-assigned.

Edited April 29, 2009 by Isonzo Karst

[+WatchDog2020]

Give it more time

 

But, I joined in 2002 as Watchdog2020 and went 1671 days without a find. Yes, almost 5 years later I was able to start caching again and would have been not real happy if they deleted my name and reassigned it to someone else.

[+Rustynails]

Give it more time

 

But, I joined in 2002 as Watchdog2020 and went 1671 days without a find. Yes, almost 5 years later I was able to start caching again and would have been not real happy if they deleted my name and reassigned it to someone else.

 

Were you a premium member?

I think your case is very rare. All they have to do is email this person and ask if they are going to continue.

[namiboy]

rustynails is taken, move on.

[+webscouter.]

Give it more time

 

But, I joined in 2002 as Watchdog2020 and went 1671 days without a find. Yes, almost 5 years later I was able to start caching again and would have been not real happy if they deleted my name and reassigned it to someone else.

 

Were you a premium member?

I think your case is very rare. All they have to do is email this person and ask if they are going to continue.

 

Nope that is not all that is involved. The other user has kept the account active. That is all they need to do and the name is theirs for all time. You will need to pick another name. May I suggest Rustynails. with a period at the end?

 

Also you need to give Groundspeak more time to respond. There are thousands of users and they get hundreds of e-mails a day. Also they have been doing server upgrades, moves and are moving offices.

[+Isonzo Karst]

You used to be able to see cache page coordinates without creating an account. When I started caching, there was a user who was finding and signing caches with a particular name, but there was no account that matched that name. When the site changed and you had to create an account to see coords, that account was created.

S/he is still caching, I see their stamp in logbooks. There's zero activity on that account, no finds, hides, gallery, trackables.

 

And, I just checked, according to their profile, they haven't logged on in 18 months. But they found a cache in March 09, I saw their signature stamp in the logbook.

[+The Leprechauns]

I have many fond memories of geocaching with certain folks five or six years ago. They're no longer caching, but the online logs and photos are still there. From time to time I go back and re-read the stories of our adventures at an event or on a bike trail.

 

I would be pretty sad to see that the account name was changed to "REPLACED474" or something, just because someone came along later and asked for that name.

 

I think you should re-set your expectations to match Groundspeak's policy on username changes:'

 

We can change a username under some circumstances. Approvals of username changes are at the discretion of Groundspeak and need to comply with the Terms of Use listed here: http://www.geocaching.com/about/termsofuse.aspx.

 

Before making the request, check that the username is available by using this page: http://www.geocaching.com/find

If your search comes up empty, then the username is available. Note: Do not create an account using the intended username. We'll do that.

 

If the username already exists and has ever been validated, or the username has been used in any way, then the username is not available.

The request for a username change needs to be made from the email address in your account profile and sent to contact@Groundspeak.com. Provide the current username as well as the requested new username. Please make sure you specify the reason why you want this change and also the exact spelling, spacing and capitalization for the username you desire.

(Emphasis added.)

[+Flo.]

I wanted Flo, but it was already taken by someone who has not logged in in over 3 years. Webscouter. lives in the same city I do, and knowing he used a "." after his name, I went that route and got Flo.. The only thing is it has bit me back and now everyone calls me Flo Dot. I like it, its unusal and better than just Flo.

[Motorcycle_Mama]

Also, I would say to check to be sure that your email provider is not throttling or blocking emails from Grounspeak (many do so). In the past others have posted that they did not get a response from Groundspeak, when in fact, the response had been blocked by the email provider. Just something to check.

 

And others have correctly addressed the other part of your concern.

[+StarBrand]

I have many fond memories of geocaching with certain folks five or six years ago. They're no longer caching, but the online logs and photos are still there. From time to time I go back and re-read the stories of our adventures at an event or on a bike trail.

 

I would be pretty sad to see that the account name was changed to "REPLACED474" or something, just because someone came along later and asked for that name.

 

I think you should re-set your expectations to match Groundspeak's policy on username changes:'

 

We can change a username under some circumstances. Approvals of username changes are at the discretion of Groundspeak and need to comply with the Terms of Use listed here: http://www.geocaching.com/about/termsofuse.aspx.

 

Before making the request, check that the username is available by using this page: http://www.geocaching.com/find

If your search comes up empty, then the username is available. Note: Do not create an account using the intended username. We'll do that.

 

If the username already exists and has ever been validated, or the username has been used in any way, then the username is not available.

The request for a username change needs to be made from the email address in your account profile and sent to contact@Groundspeak.com. Provide the current username as well as the requested new username. Please make sure you specify the reason why you want this change and also the exact spelling, spacing and capitalization for the username you desire.

(Emphasis added.)

Agreed.

 

This is not some mega-organization with thousands or even hundreds of employees - they are relatively small staffed. I would wait at least 1 to 2 weeks before wondering about an unanswered email. Luckily in this case - you don't need an aswer as the guideline above gives you a definitive anser.

[+Sky King 36]

I did some research on this a while back, as I wanted to change my user name--not to one that was already in use, I just wanted to change it without having to reenter all my caches.

 

Up until a couple of years ago, you could do this. If you look back in early threads there are a lot of references to this. However, a couple of years ago, citing technical reasons, they stopped allowing this. It was too difficult to deal with how your data may have propagated not only on to separate databases within Groundspeak, but even to databases outside of Groundspeak. And so the decision was made to stop allowing users to change names.

 

I suspect the issue here is identical, that is, reassigning a user name is a non-trivial endeavor that they feel is best left alone.

[+Rustynails]

I sent the following email to Groundspeak and geocaching.com two days ago and have NOT gotten an reply.

 

Is this the slow response I can expect to get?

 

Is there another email address I should use?

 

I have recently become a premium member. I tried to get the user name rustynails, but found another person using it. I have taken the name rustynails1. I researched the user name rustynails and found this person is not a active member and last used the site july 2007. If possible I would like to replace my user name as rustynails instead of rustynails1. Please help me.

 

I just want to add, the person using the name rustynails registered in june 2007 is not a premium member. And like I stated they have not been active since july 2007.

 

Can anyone help? Thanks

 

 

Update: I just got a reply from geacaching. Thanks

Edited April 29, 2009 by rustynails1

[+Prime Suspect]

Nope that is not all that is involved. The other user has kept the account active. That is all they need to do and the name is theirs for all time. You will need to pick another name.

Not necessarily. The original name holder last signed on 3 weeks after they set up the account, and that was in 2007. No finds. No owned caches. Such abandoned accounts have been reassigned in the past.

[+Knight2000]

You could register "Rusty Nails" or I could register and sell it to you. Space is your friend.