Temporary feature: change your user name

[Admin]

We will have a temporary feature on the forum this month. Please make sure to read this entire announcement.

For a limited time this month, starting now, everyone on this forum will have the opportunity to change their user name.
We will allow user name changes for approximately the next two weeks, to give everyone the opportunity to change or correct their user name, their user name's spelling, capitalization and/or presentation without needing staff intervention.

You can change your user name by going to your User Control Panel, Profile, Edit Account Settings. You can enter your new desired user name in the top field.
Note that you have to enter your current forum password to make this change, for account security reasons.

After that time frame the option will once again be disabled to provide a consistent community environment with minimal confusion. Once disabled, your user name will be permanently set to what it is at that time and will not be changed by staff.
Needless to say, if you take it upon yourself to abuse this in any way, there will be consequences. It is recommended that if your change it, you change it only once, and to something unique for your person. Now is your moment to get rid of that generic name!

[ron_1]

Are periods still not allowed in user names? I prefer them over underscores.

[moonbat]

Maybe at the end of it there should be a list of changed names so we know who's who to avoid confusion.

[SpockFan02]

Is "will not be changed by staff" a policy change?

[coffeebreak]

What prompted this two-week window for changing user names?

And why wil it no longer be possible for individuals to request a change of user name in the future?
(given that, in my observation, people have always been allowed to do so in the past)

[Admin]

Are periods still not allowed in user names? I prefer them over underscores.

They aren't. phpBB restricts periods in user names.

Maybe at the end of it there should be a list of changed names so we know who's who to avoid confusion.

No, sorry. It will be up to users themselves to let people know if it's not clear. So only use this option if you are sure you want to change your username (it will be changed board-wide, also on already-made posts) and take the responsibility to announce it if needed.

Is "will not be changed by staff" a policy change?

What prompted this two-week window for changing user names?

Kind of. We want to give everyone the opportunity right now to do it themselves, so we no longer have to.
In general, you must pick a user name when you register that you will stick with. This self-serve window was decided on for all those people who regret their originally-chosen name (or the spelling or presentation of it) or for whom circumstances have changed over the last 8 years this forum has been running, and want to change it, like I already explained in my original post.. What we don't want is people changing it then bothering us after the window closes to change it back or otherwise using it to cause extra work or confusion, so when the window closes, that's it, we'll be back to the way it was before and your user name will be in stone.

It's "kind of" because in the exceptional case you can of course still request a name change -- but only for a good, stated reason.

[adesh]

I do not want to change my name, but I don't see how I can change it. For me, user name field in not editable.

[Moonchild]

Another case of too many steering wheels XD
permissions for registered normal users have been adjusted accordingly so it should work now. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Admin]

The window for user-initiated name changes has been closed. For those who have made use of this: enjoy your new name!