Rename

Renaming an account on LiveJournal is tricky. Because of this, it's going to cost you.

= Limitations =
 * You can rename an account to a new name or an existing name.
 * You can only rename an account to an existing name if:
 * The existing name has been deleted and purged, or
 * The existing name's account and the original account have the same registered and validated email address and the same password.

= Examples =
 * old_and_busted_name : Name to rename from
 * name_of_new_hotness : Name to rename to
 * ex_name_of_new_hotness10 : Username for name_of_new_hotness ' old data

= Options = The following options can only be set once. Once they are set, they cannot be changed.


 * You can have the old name redirect to the new name, or you can sever the tie between the accounts.
 * If redirecting, the old name will automatically display the new name when used in an LJ User Tag
 * If not redirecting, the old name will appear in a deleted state


 * You can keep your list of friends and memberships, or you can nuke them.
 * If kept, the new username will appear on your friends' and community's profile pages
 * If nuked, this will remove the old account from your friends' and community's profile pages and the new account will not be displayed

Activate redirects

 * Any instance of  ( ) will automatically appear as name_of_new_hotness ( )
 * Any (or most) URL(s) will redirect from old_and_busted_name ( ) to name_of_new_hotness ( )

Disable redirects

 * Any instance of  will appear as old_and_busted_name.
 * Any URL referencing old_and_busted_name will throw the deleted journal error

= Rename to non-existant name = old_and_busted_name is renaming to name_of_new_hotness, which does not already exist. old_and_busted_name 's userid is  .

This can occur immediately.

= Rename to pre-existing name = old_and_busted_name is renaming to name_of_new_hotness, which does already exist. old_and_busted_name 's userid is  . name_of_new_hotness ' userid is  .

In order for LiveJournal to know that old_and_busted_name ( ) also owns name_of_new_hotness, both accounts must have the same registered and validated email address and the same password.

Once this is true, the rename can occur.

Since name_of_new_hotness already exists as userid  , the journal data is going to be moved. name_of_new_hotness ' ( ) data will be moved to ex_name_of_new_hotness10 where  is a random number.

After name_of_new_hotness ' ( ) data has been moved to ex_name_of_new_hotness_10, old_and_busted_name ( ) can rename and become name_of_new_hotness ( ).

= Real examples =


 * mwilson activated redirects to matthew.
 * 5213131 disabled redirects to mm1.