+*GeoPunx* Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 **Feel free to move this if it's in the wrong forum. The name that I wanted to use on this site is already 'in use'. I, at first, moved on so as to get on the site and start caching. Now, upon further research, I see that the name I wanted to use was registered almost three years ago, has never visited the site again since the day of registration, has no forum posts and no logged finds or hides. I have belonged to other forums/online communities where the admins would look into a situation like this and possibly free up a user name that has never been active since the day of registration. Is this something Groundspeak will do? I did a quick search and didn't find anything pertaining to this. Any help or advice will surely be appreciated. Here is the username in question: User name. If you click on the, "See the Forum Posts of this User" link; you get an invalid Member ID error. Brian Quote Link to comment
+Bear and Ragged Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 (edited) In a word: No. Been asked many times. You could make yours *GeoPunx* or -GeoPunx- or similar... Edited December 31, 2012 by Bear and Ragged Quote Link to comment
+*GeoPunx* Posted December 31, 2012 Author Share Posted December 31, 2012 You could make yours *GeoPunx* or -GeoPunx- or similar... Thanks for this tip. This is the first community I've belonged to that allows special characters in names. I was so accustomed to not using them, that I didn't even check. Brian Quote Link to comment
+ipodguy Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I met a cacher who changed their name. When he registered his account, he chose a name that had already been taken. So, he used the same name and added "666" after it. The original account had never found a cache, never logged in after creating the account and had been inactive for quite some time. He contacted Groundspeak and explained the situation. It took forever and a day, but in the end they deleted the old account and allowed him to drop the "666" from his name. Quote Link to comment
+Bear and Ragged Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I met a cacher who changed their name. When he registered his account, he chose a name that had already been taken. So, he used the same name and added "666" after it. The original account had never found a cache, never logged in after creating the account and had been inactive for quite some time. He contacted Groundspeak and explained the situation. It took forever and a day, but in the end they deleted the old account and allowed him to drop the "666" from his name. If an account has ever been 'Validated' (they replied to the email from Groundspeak) the answer is "No" for another cacher to have the name... (Usually!) Quote Link to comment
+The Blorenges Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 In two words: (Mostly) No. B&R is (mostly) correct. However... A geocaching friend had exactly your situation a few years back. He really wanted a specific username and contacted Groundspeak explaining why... and they made an exception to their general rule... and he got it. As I said, that was a few years back. I don't know whether they would be so flexible now - They might end up getting overwhelmed with "Please can I have Whatevername" emails, but you could email contact@geocaching.com and ask... MrsB Quote Link to comment
+*GeoPunx* Posted December 31, 2012 Author Share Posted December 31, 2012 I would not even be asking if the Username I wanted had ever logged a find, made a post or even logged back in since the day they registered. Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 If that's the name you want, and there's no history to the account (no logs, no posts, etc.), then you may get the name if you ask nicely. What's the worst that could happen? Groundspeak says no and you keep using your current account name? Quote Link to comment
+T.D.M.22 Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Here is the username in question: User name. If you click on the, "See the Forum Posts of this User" link; you get an invalid Member ID error. Brian I believe that is because the geocaching website(geocaching) and the forums website(here) are linked so you have to have a geocaching account to have an account here. Since special characters are allowed there, they would automatically be allowed here. Now they don't have to sign up here so if they didn't you will get that message. Like everyone else says try asking Groundspeak. worst that will happen is they say no, and you change your name to something like -GeoPunx- or GeoPunx2 or some simple variation. Quote Link to comment
+Smurf Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 In two words: (Mostly) No. B&R is (mostly) correct. However... A geocaching friend had exactly your situation a few years back. He really wanted a specific username and contacted Groundspeak explaining why... and they made an exception to their general rule... and he got it. As I said, that was a few years back. I don't know whether they would be so flexible now - They might end up getting overwhelmed with "Please can I have Whatevername" emails, but you could email contact@geocaching.com and ask... MrsB In my case, the user who had "My name" had no finds, no hides and had not "validated" the account And had never logged in since crating the account in 2001 It's the email validation that was the important bit Quote Link to comment
+ras_oscar Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 (edited) You can also use underscores to break the name into 2 apparent names. The underscore disappears in most parsers. beneath the default underscore Such as Geo_Punks or ras_oscar Edited January 7, 2013 by ras_oscar Quote Link to comment
Mr.Yuck Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 In two words: (Mostly) No. B&R is (mostly) correct. However... A geocaching friend had exactly your situation a few years back. He really wanted a specific username and contacted Groundspeak explaining why... and they made an exception to their general rule... and he got it. As I said, that was a few years back. I don't know whether they would be so flexible now - They might end up getting overwhelmed with "Please can I have Whatevername" emails, but you could email contact@geocaching.com and ask... MrsB In my case, the user who had "My name" had no finds, no hides and had not "validated" the account And had never logged in since crating the account in 2001 It's the email validation that was the important bit I thought this thread was long gone. I actually emailed the OP with an explanation because I was banned err, I mean on vacation when the thread was started. Yes, it's all about the validation. They absolutely will not, under any circumstances give up a "validated" account, i.e. the person answers the confirmation email they receive after creating an account. Trust me, I know, I was denied a 0 find 0 hide account that only logged in for one day in 2007. Speculation is there are a couple million such accounts. But hey, there wouldn't be 7,000,000 Geocachers then, would there? I too know someone who got a used, but unvalidated username, and that was in like 2005. It's always been the policy, you can't say they aren't consistent. Quote Link to comment
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