frodewin wrote:

FloatingMuffins wrote:

There are so many scratchers that are unhappy with their usernames. So I created this guide on what to do in this situation.

How do I change my username?
This is one of the most asked questions on Scratch. You cannot change your username. The servers cannot handle it.

So, what are my options?
Well, your options are VERY limited but here they are:

1. Change to another account
You could do the following:
1. Create a new account.
2. Remix over all your projects.
3. Tell your followers about your new account and put a link to your new account on your old profile.
4. Add yourself to all studios you were curating.
5. Follow all studios, discussions and users you were following.
6. Favourite all projects you favourited.
7. Close comments on your old profile.

You will lose all views on projects, followers and all other statistics so you may want to go with another option.

2. Operate a “two account system”
You could create another account and use both your new and old account. E.g. use one for forum posts and the other for projects, use one for animations and the other for games etc. This is alternative to switching over to another account because switching over to another account is a lot of work.

3. Clean slate
Your interests may have changed since you created your account. For example your username could be footballlover78_1 and your profile pic could be a football and all your projects could be football related. Now you may have no interest in football. You also may not like the projects on your account. Or you may feel you have not got a good reputation on the website. In these situation you could start on a clean slate. This is where you start a new account but don't transfer anything over and you don't tell the community about your new account.

4. Stay with your username
You may not like the options above so you could just stay with your username.

5. In case your username contains your real name or a swear word…
you can (and should) ask the ST to change it for you. You can even propose an alternative name.

That's not the only case ST has done that - fairly recently they changed a transgender user's username by their request since it contained the name she used to go by.

LionHeart70 wrote:

frodewin wrote:

FloatingMuffins wrote:

There are so many scratchers that are unhappy with their usernames. So I created this guide on what to do in this situation.

How do I change my username?
This is one of the most asked questions on Scratch. You cannot change your username. The servers cannot handle it.

So, what are my options?
Well, your options are VERY limited but here they are:

1. Change to another account
You could do the following:
1. Create a new account.
2. Remix over all your projects.
3. Tell your followers about your new account and put a link to your new account on your old profile.
4. Add yourself to all studios you were curating.
5. Follow all studios, discussions and users you were following.
6. Favourite all projects you favourited.
7. Close comments on your old profile.

You will lose all views on projects, followers and all other statistics so you may want to go with another option.

2. Operate a “two account system”
You could create another account and use both your new and old account. E.g. use one for forum posts and the other for projects, use one for animations and the other for games etc. This is alternative to switching over to another account because switching over to another account is a lot of work.

3. Clean slate
Your interests may have changed since you created your account. For example your username could be footballlover78_1 and your profile pic could be a football and all your projects could be football related. Now you may have no interest in football. You also may not like the projects on your account. Or you may feel you have not got a good reputation on the website. In these situation you could start on a clean slate. This is where you start a new account but don't transfer anything over and you don't tell the community about your new account.

4. Stay with your username
You may not like the options above so you could just stay with your username.

5. In case your username contains your real name or a swear word…
you can (and should) ask the ST to change it for you. You can even propose an alternative name.

That's not the only case ST has done that - fairly recently they changed a transgender user's username by their request since it contained the name she used to go by.

I had this option in the guide but paddle2see asked me to remove it because it could lead to everyone asking for username changes.

frodewin wrote:

FloatingMuffins wrote:

There are so many scratchers that are unhappy with their usernames. So I created this guide on what to do in this situation.

How do I change my username?
This is one of the most asked questions on Scratch. You cannot change your username. The servers cannot handle it.

So, what are my options?
Well, your options are VERY limited but here they are:

1. Change to another account
You could do the following:
1. Create a new account.
2. Remix over all your projects.
3. Tell your followers about your new account and put a link to your new account on your old profile.
4. Add yourself to all studios you were curating.
5. Follow all studios, discussions and users you were following.
6. Favourite all projects you favourited.
7. Close comments on your old profile.

You will lose all views on projects, followers and all other statistics so you may want to go with another option.

2. Operate a “two account system”
You could create another account and use both your new and old account. E.g. use one for forum posts and the other for projects, use one for animations and the other for games etc. This is alternative to switching over to another account because switching over to another account is a lot of work.

3. Clean slate
Your interests may have changed since you created your account. For example your username could be footballlover78_1 and your profile pic could be a football and all your projects could be football related. Now you may have no interest in football. You also may not like the projects on your account. Or you may feel you have not got a good reputation on the website. In these situation you could start on a clean slate. This is where you start a new account but don't transfer anything over and you don't tell the community about your new account.

4. Stay with your username
You may not like the options above so you could just stay with your username.

5. In case your username contains your real name or a swear word…
you can (and should) ask the ST to change it for you. You can even propose an alternative name.

6. Reason with the Scratch Team using political correctness.
If you contact the Scratch Team, ask for a new username, and are backed by a politically correct reason, then your username will be changed.

red_king_cyclops wrote:

frodewin wrote:

FloatingMuffins wrote:

There are so many scratchers that are unhappy with their usernames. So I created this guide on what to do in this situation.

How do I change my username?
This is one of the most asked questions on Scratch. You cannot change your username. The servers cannot handle it.

So, what are my options?
Well, your options are VERY limited but here they are:

1. Change to another account
You could do the following:
1. Create a new account.
2. Remix over all your projects.
3. Tell your followers about your new account and put a link to your new account on your old profile.
4. Add yourself to all studios you were curating.
5. Follow all studios, discussions and users you were following.
6. Favourite all projects you favourited.
7. Close comments on your old profile.

You will lose all views on projects, followers and all other statistics so you may want to go with another option.

2. Operate a “two account system”
You could create another account and use both your new and old account. E.g. use one for forum posts and the other for projects, use one for animations and the other for games etc. This is alternative to switching over to another account because switching over to another account is a lot of work.

3. Clean slate
Your interests may have changed since you created your account. For example your username could be footballlover78_1 and your profile pic could be a football and all your projects could be football related. Now you may have no interest in football. You also may not like the projects on your account. Or you may feel you have not got a good reputation on the website. In these situation you could start on a clean slate. This is where you start a new account but don't transfer anything over and you don't tell the community about your new account.

4. Stay with your username
You may not like the options above so you could just stay with your username.

5. In case your username contains your real name or a swear word…
you can (and should) ask the ST to change it for you. You can even propose an alternative name.

6. Reason with the Scratch Team using political correctness.
If you contact the Scratch Team, ask for a new username, and are backed by a politically correct reason, then your username will be changed.

Hmm… I don’t know.

FloatingMuffins wrote:

This is one of the most asked questions on Scratch. You cannot change your username. The servers cannot handle it.

Is this an original quote from the Scratch Team? I wonder if a username change is really a lot of effort for the server. If projects/comments/studios are linked by the user's id, then there would be only one place in the database to be updated. Checking all texts for strings refering to users (e.g. “@username”) is a bit more effort.

I would guess that if a scratcher would make a new account and reupload all their projects, this would likely cause a higher strain on the servers than a username update.

There is of cause a strong reason not to have too many username changes - Scratch would become a quite confusing site if the users you interact with constantly switch their names.

frodewin wrote:

FloatingMuffins wrote:

This is one of the most asked questions on Scratch. You cannot change your username. The servers cannot handle it.

Is this an original quote from the Scratch Team? I wonder if a username change is really a lot of effort for the server. If projects/comments/studios are linked by the user's id, then there would be only one place in the database to be updated. Checking all texts for strings refering to users (e.g. “@username”) is a bit more effort.

I would guess that if a scratcher would make a new account and reupload all their projects, this would likely cause a higher strain on the servers than a username update.

There is of cause a strong reason not to have too many username changes - Scratch would become a quite confusing site if the users you interact with constantly switch their names.

I heard stickies say the last sentence. The first two sentences, no, I am pretty sure.

Bump

BUMPing this valuable topic, thx to FloatingMuffins for making such a comprehensive list.

Bump

Very nice guide indeed

Studio-activity wrote:

Very nice guide indeed

Thanks!

FloatingMuffins wrote:

There are so many scratchers that are unhappy with their usernames. So I created this guide on what to do in this situation.




7. Close comments on your old profile.

well, wou do not have to close comments on your old account

great_elmo wrote:

FloatingMuffins wrote:

7. Close comments on your old profile.

Well, you do not have to close comments on your old account

What if you want people to be aware of your new account but that most people don't read your “About me”? The best thing to do would be posting a comment saying "New account: […]" etc. and then closing comments.

You are also able to ask for the Scratch Team to change it for you via Contact Us, but this rarely every happens (only in special cases).

Necroposts don't exist on guides, right?

54329 wrote:

You are also able to ask for the Scratch Team to change it for you via Contact Us, but this rarely every happens (only in special cases).

Necroposts don't exist on guides, right?

Shh it's my secret.

bump

FloatingMuffins wrote:

There are so many scratchers that are unhappy with their usernames. So I created this guide on what to do in this situation.

How do I change my username?
This is one of the most asked questions on Scratch. You cannot change your username. The servers cannot handle it.

So, what are my options?
Well, your options are VERY limited but here they are:

1. Change to another account
You could do the following:
1. Create a new account.
2. Remix over all your projects.
3. Tell your followers about your new account and put a link to your new account on your old profile.
4. Add yourself to all studios you were curating.
5. Follow all studios, discussions and users you were following.
6. Favourite all projects you favourited.
7. Close comments on your old profile.

You will lose all views on projects, followers and all other statistics so you may want to go with another option.

2. Operate a “two account system”
You could create another account and use both your new and old account. E.g. use one for forum posts and the other for projects, use one for animations and the other for games etc. This is alternative to switching over to another account because switching over to another account is a lot of work.

3. Clean slate
Your interests may have changed since you created your account. For example your username could be footballlover78_1 and your profile pic could be a football and all your projects could be football related. Now you may have no interest in football. You also may not like the projects on your account. Or you may feel you have not got a good reputation on the website. In these situation you could start on a clean slate. This is where you start a new account but don't transfer anything over and you don't tell the community about your new account.

4. Stay with your username
You may not like the options above so you could just stay with your username.

Great guide!

Bump

54329 wrote:

You are also able to ask for the Scratch Team to change it for you via Contact Us, but this rarely every happens (only in special cases).

Necroposts don't exist on guides, right?

I know, that was in my guide, but the ST asked me to remove it.

FloatingMuffins wrote:

4. Add yourself to all studios you were curating.

I would suggest changing this to

4. Add yorself to add studios you were curating, and if you are the studio host, change the host to the new account.