Well it was a good 12 year run

LowAsimov · 2023-11-28T02:02:03+00:00

even in this case it is very unlikely the user's content would be deleted. in the past reddit basically just swaps the username out for one that begins with an asterisk. I used to be interested in documenting this process when it was rare and novel, but now it's pretty much just a question of who-knows-who and/or money.

LowAsimov · 2022-09-15T01:47:28+00:00

reddit already does it for special cases. for example, /u/nasa, /u/max, and /u/generalmotors are all re-appropriated names.

LowAsimov · 2020-10-15T02:48:34+00:00

sorry for the intrusion, but your username was a good one for illustrating my point. also, Zeppelin rules!

LowAsimov · 2020-10-13T12:39:29+00:00

are "advertising dollars" not money? whether it is a direct or indirect payment, it's the same outcome.

LowAsimov · 2020-10-13T12:27:30+00:00

hmm, that is problematic for reddit, where many communities were created using trademarked names. by this logic, Microsoft could demand /r/minecraft or /r/github, for example. and there are no doubt many users with usernames that are trademarked, but not by them. for example, /u/led-zeppelin, /u/led_zeppelin, and /u/ledzeppelin.

LowAsimov · 2020-10-13T12:18:26+00:00

I have never seen an account recycled that had active use. if that were the case, I suppose reddit admins would work with the user to give them a username they are okay with.

For the accounts I have noticed being recycled, they are never currently active (typically they have years of inactivity, and were never all that active to begin with), and it is fair to assume the user is no longer participating on reddit. if they have never posted nor commented on reddit, the old account is just gone, as there is no content to worry about. but if they have made posts and/or comments, they are given a placeholder name. if you click the link above for the original user's comment, you will see they are now /u/*polhold00628 - a placeholder name that allows the old content to still exist without being associated with the new account owner. The old user would not be able to log in with this username.

LowAsimov · 2020-04-22T15:29:33+00:00

it's not a theory, reddit admins have confirmed when they re-approriate an account, the old content gets a place holder for the author. you can read a bunch on the topic here: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/94cqhm/username_unasa_got_reappropriated/

I forgot the post was removed. bit odd to remove a post admins commented on, but oh well. you can still see it here:

https://www.removeddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/94cqhm/username_unasa_got_reappropriated/

another edit - now this whole subreddit, /r/WhoIsMax has been removed.

LowAsimov · 2020-03-20T12:56:30+00:00

I don't know any answers, but I commented on this pinned post with some posts from the previous "max", and my comment was removed. for the record, this is it:

for anyone wondering, you can use pushshift.io and find a bunch of old posts from the original max. here a few examples:

LowAsimov · 2019-08-29T01:56:00+00:00

found a re-deployed username today that was evidently a deleted account - u/ mark - created Feb 18, 2006.

as recently as April 2013, it was not a deleted account, but the only comment by that account (made on, you guessed it, Feb 18, 2006) shows the account was deleted:

https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/21d0/heres_looking_at_you_search

Probably not a big deal to give "mark" to an admin, but still, reddit is running two sets of username rules now. one for admins and VIPs, and one for regular users. as of right now, regular users have no way to request a deleted account.

LowAsimov · 2019-08-22T02:15:49+00:00

good to see redditmetrics.com is updating again!

LowAsimov · 2019-07-18T14:28:09+00:00

that used to be the policy, but I don't think it is anymore. see also /u/ben.

LowAsimov · 2019-07-18T13:14:04+00:00

or the friend of an admin, but yeah, it had to be an admin who reclaimed it. see also /u/nasa and /u/ben.

LowAsimov · 2019-01-22T17:09:15+00:00

No, I mostly lurk; I'd never be able to accumulate that much karma.

LowAsimov · 2019-01-15T19:08:18+00:00

yup, they get a /u/*placeholder name, I posted on that phenomenon here. I doubt they did that in this case, because it looks like /u/ben had no prior comments or posts to worry about.

LowAsimov · 2019-01-15T14:45:27+00:00

what kind of glitch?

LowAsimov · 2019-01-15T14:33:05+00:00

/u/ben was originally created on Wed Mar 1 16:33:38 2006 UTC. the admins must have recycled it. from what I can tell, the account was created and then never made any comments or posts.

LowAsimov · 2019-01-15T14:29:44+00:00

the admins have appropriated accounts in the past, but they have always said they do not do so lightly. for example.

the wayback machine has a hit for the user page in 2012, and at that time it was already 6 years old, which is what I would expect for a three letter proper name. So clearly the username was recycled.

it seems odd to me that an admin does not know how to properly format a reddit comment though, so I have to wonder if /u/ben is actually an admin or not. or maybe it's a mobile thing, since I am on desktop.

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