Help:Renaming users

Special:Renameuser special page allow bureaucrats to rename the Username of users. Prior to MediaWiki 1.40 , this was part of Extension:Renameuser .

Usage

• Only bureaucrats (unless some other permission configuration is specified) can access the Special:Renameuser page.
• You need to fill three things Current username:, New username: and Reason:.
• Two extra things:
  • Move user and talk pages (and their subpages) to new name, this instructs the system to move all user and talk pages to the new username.
  • Do not create redirects to the new name, this instructs the system not to create redirects from the old username to the new username.
• Then Submit.

Step-by-step

This is how the renaming page looks. The form includes a "Current username:" label indicating the current username of the account to be renamed, and a "New username:" label for the requested new username. You need to provide a reason for changing the username in the third input field. If required, check the box saying "Move user and talk pages (and their subpages) to new name". Clicking the Submit button will successfully change the username.

This error message appears when the new username is already taken.

This is the notice of a successfully renamed username.

Usurping an account

This is a process where the username of an account is taken over by another user. Visit User talk:Dmitriy (usurped)~mediawikiwiki to see usurpation in action. To achieve this, the administrator can rename the existing username by adding (usurped) as a qualifer. Then they can successfully take over the existing username.

The renaming page looks the same, with one exception, the input field for the "New username:" label now includes the word "(usurped)". This addition indicates that the username is being renamed, so another user can adopt the same username.

This is the notice of a successfully usurped username.

See also

• Removing accounts