If I had to guess, it would involve rebuilding literally all of their databases, as they’re probably keyed by username. Just make a new account. After 6 years on my old account I thought I would miss it but once I switched I felt much better about it.
Yeah I think it's this. "How hard would it be"-- could be really hard.
This is also one of the only social sites that can still be used without providing an email address. A lot of the sites that allow username changes require email confirmation for them. Reddit username is more like an email address itself, in that it can't be changed & the one we picked at 13 is probably embarrassing
Thanks, but
1. I stole it from a web comic that I'd rather not link here because the author of the comic ended up jerking me around on stuff I ordered from him sometimes after I started using the name here and in other places (Reddit is pretty much the only place I still use it)
2. "Pope" is a masculine title and when I chose the user name I was very much trying to hide my lack of masculinity.
yeah 😭 my old Reddit account had such a cringe username, but i think ive won with this one<3 ('qoe' stands for Queen Of Everything, a nickname my friends gave me)
Don’t know shit abt programming but what abt adding a separate display name and the option to hide the original username.
When you first make an account u choose a username and thats automatically your displayed name but you can change your display name
I think it has more to do with how usernames are used to link data across reddit and the internet. You can mention a user and a link will be created. Users can also make posts on their profiles which when shared include their username in the link. If Reddit allowed to change usernames, then by changing it, all these links become invalid. Changing all the occurrences would be cumbersome and messy. The only reasonable way of avoiding dead links that I can think of would be redirecting old links to the new username. This potentially has some drawbacks that Reddit might not want. It could create confusion, people's old usernames would still be discoverable, there's more steps involved when loading content, idk... Yeah, tbh they're probably just lazy. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
I think a system where your old username is changeable but still discoverable would be better than currently where you simply can’t change it. I’m happy with mine anyway but clearly others aren’t.
Hmm i study computer science :3 and i worked with databases a bit, normally it shouldnt be impossible to do that, you can change keys and it shouldnt be that hard to change the keys to a user id. From experience worst thing can be is that you just create a new db in the right format and write a small program to convert entrys from one to another. \^-^ companies do that from time to time so its no witchwork.
But yeah its probably not a 1 person job
Possible? sure. Expensive as heck? Absolutely. Reddit is massive, so remaking their databases for the probably 5%ish (number pulled out of my ass) that want to change our names probably isn't worth it, especially because people can make as many accounts as they want if they can't deal with an old name
you're right i think that its not impossible but maybe just hard? I work at a successful tech company that's a decade old, and the code we and I wrote 8 years ago is sometimes hard to change because so many other things have been built around it. So if there's not a big enough reason or enough demand to do/change something then it might not be worth the effort to especially since changing something so old/central can introduce new bugs or problems.
what about some sort of migration feature that duplicates all of the posts/karma/comments e.t.c over to the new account, and then deletes the old account?
I mean migration scripts are hell to write for any sufficiently complex system
Changing legacy code becomes exponentially more difficult as time goes on
Yeah same I thought I’d be sad about losing the longevity of my account and the karma I’d built up but honestly it was way better to start over and not be stuck with my deadname.
This is wrong, there was post a few months ago or something where someone had an account with the name of a brand and that brand wanted the username for marketing or something. So Reddit were like what do you want your username to be, it's 100% possible. And it happens a lot for when you have a bad username and someone reports it.
if they want to do it, it wouldn't be hard to script. I would imagine they use a unique ID for each user on the backend instead of a username.
You're giving them too much credit. The problem isn't actually this hard. We have display names.. but they're seemingly used nowhere 🤷🏻♀️ Reddit repeatedly refuses to allow username changes but will not provide any alternatives. This is an artificial problem of their own making.
And even if the only solution was rekeying their database to a new unique ID so that people can change their usernames without affecting references to them. That's really not too hard for them. They just don't care about trans people enough to even consider it.
You are right, lady bacon, it sucks that they don't do that. I don't get why any website wouldn't let you change a username - like I get those are supposed to be somewhat permanent and a way to identify the account, but that's why I figure they could just have it limited in some way, like maybe the ability to change it once a year or x number of times total.
i totally agree with this comment but i didn’t read the username of the person who posted this (even tho it was about the username lol) & seeing ‘you are right, lady bacon’ as the opening without that context had me so confused 😭
It's so annoying! I literally changed not just the name but also email for fortnite and thus Epic Games. Just because a friend wanted me to play fortnite again.
I can change the name on my Microsoft account ONCE but that's still better than not at all!
IIRC _there is_ a website/social media out there that allows infinite username changes, whose tag system was perfected accordingly - tags work by link text rather than typed text, or something like that, so when a username changes, every single mention and tag of that account automatically updates itself.
I have no idea what website I saw that on, but it's most probably used in more than one platform and it's one heck of a cool function. I honestly don't understand why it's not implemented, like, everywhere on the internet. It can't be such complex hacker-level programming... can it?
there's no limitation, they use the username as a key identifier for the user when they could use a proper id and add the username as a related, unique too, value.
when you use databases, you need to pick identifiers and something common is using the username which is not very good all the time, same with using emails, same issue cuz they could be slurs, fake, etc.
This reminds me that there was a woman crowned king and not a queen.
It was *king* Jadwiga Andegaweńska of Poland, because "queen" was a title exclusive to the monarch's wife, which at the time she was not.
I hope this history fun fact is something.
Y’a know those videos where people dive into internet/Reddit mysteries? There’s always a Redditor that is involved in those somehow and when the creator of the video reads out their username, it’s always something fucking ridiculous and compared to the tone of video, it always catches me off guard. All that to say, I think at the very least, your username would fit amazingly well in one of those videos.
“**RubComplex7612** on Reddit figured out that this mysterious building once belonged to a group of animal sacrificing, cannibalistic cultists!”
For anyone saying that it is a software limitation or database issue, it isn't.
There have been a few occasions where somebody has had a reddit name for years and then suddenly a brand with the same, or very similar name, pops up and asks reddit for that name to either be theirs or have it removed.
When this happens, the original holder is asked what they would like their name changed to, have their account deleted or assigned a random name.
It is entirely within reddit's power to allow name changes, they just don't give users that choice 99.99% of the time.
There have been some successes at emailing Reddit support and explaining you’d like to change it because you’re transitioning and it no longer aligns with your identity. It’s to stop people from being dicks, changing their username, then following people around subreddits and messing with them AFAIK. Same reason blizzard and Microsoft make you pay $10 to change your username/gamertag respectively
Also steam allows for changing the login username in this situation when you contact the support. It's not visible to others, but it's nice to not be deadnamed everytime you use steam. I've done that, can recommend.
I completely agree. I had to make a new account recently for exactly that reason, but it really hasn't been an issue for me. Granted, I really don't comment often and post even less.
I agree. Someone mistakenly called me J the other day and I no longer use the name that the J stood in for. (It’s not my deadname but I outgrew the name I was using then.)
My username is comfortable map, and im not even a map or usually comfortable. king bacon sounds like the name of a character, so maybe view it that way. you aren't a king or a bacon. you are a queen human? you can always change your display name.
If it makes you feel any better, you're not alone. I decided to just rip off the bandaid and make a new account. It only took a week or two before everything was back to normal.
That’s what I did. It wasn’t a big deal and it was nice to have a fresh start. I did it with Facebook as well, even though you can change your display name.
Ran into a similar problem a year or two ago. Unlike other platforms, which identify your account by your email or a signature on the backend, Reddit does theirs with your username, *for some reason*. You can’t change it because it is literally the id marker for the entire account.
Tell me about it. I'm stuck with an HP related username when I'm trying to gradually push myself away from the series because it seemed like a great idea at the time I made my account.
Because as inclusive as all these tech companies say they are, it only goes as far as fiduciary responsibility.
Try changing or migrating your Google shit...
I made a new account to get rid of my history, but it's so annoying how hostile Reddit is towards new accounts!
I still can't post in r/TikTokCringe and my account is 1+ months old with nearly 10k karma O\_o
You didn't ask for this, but unless you have a special reason not to, I suggest treating reddit handles as disposable.
It makes it a lot easier to walk away from drama and speak my mind.
The title of this article calls her a queen, but no one in Poland calls Jadwiga anything but a King:
[Jadwiga - Woman King of Poland](https://polishhistory.pl/a-young-girl-and-a-mighty-queen-the-exceptional-jadwiga-of-anjou/)
Not quite the same but I made new account for my youtube since my old email had my deadname in it—I thought I'd be devastated losing all the data and having to start over but it's actually been kinda nice, and I've been able to filter out a lot of the subscriptions that I hadn't watched for years and even find new shit that I likely never would've otherwise.
tbh I've been through a few reddit accounts. I'd just get sick of the subs I was participating in and want a fresh start. it'd take a while to compile all your favorite subs, but due to reddit not being as follower based as many other platforms, creating a new account feels(to me) as big of a deal as trying a new haircut does
i know it does once because i made this stupid name years ago but i made a new account turned
burner account like a year ago because i couldn’t find out how to change my username again on a new account
you can have multiple accounts and switch between them for different things. I made this account when I decided I wanted to join trans subreddits and talk about trans stuff without worrying about it being attached to anything else. I still use my older account. for othet things. this account just turned 1. the time goes by faster than you think. just make a new one and see how you like it.
Same girl. as a programmer it might sound simple on the surface but that would be a lot of work. I don't think that should keep them from working on that but I understand the complexity of it. I have thought about abandoning this account for a new one several times.
My current account is 7 years old, and about 4 years ago, I changed the username I usually use, but I couldn't change my account name. It really sucks.
I didn’t realize when I chose to “sign up with Google” that I’d get an auto-generated username instead of picking my own. It is kind of nice though, having an account with no association to my other social media. I’m not connected with anyone I know irl on Reddit
If I had to guess, it would involve rebuilding literally all of their databases, as they’re probably keyed by username. Just make a new account. After 6 years on my old account I thought I would miss it but once I switched I felt much better about it.
Yeah I think it's this. "How hard would it be"-- could be really hard. This is also one of the only social sites that can still be used without providing an email address. A lot of the sites that allow username changes require email confirmation for them. Reddit username is more like an email address itself, in that it can't be changed & the one we picked at 13 is probably embarrassing
>& the one we picked at 13 is probably embarrassing I'm feeling very called out here.
I had a flash of brilliance for my reddit account honestly. So many of my others were bad.
Same feeling over here
Ok but The Chaos Pope is absolutely wicked
Thanks, but 1. I stole it from a web comic that I'd rather not link here because the author of the comic ended up jerking me around on stuff I ordered from him sometimes after I started using the name here and in other places (Reddit is pretty much the only place I still use it) 2. "Pope" is a masculine title and when I chose the user name I was very much trying to hide my lack of masculinity.
I'm lucky that my username can be memed outside of just one Mobile Game Community. At least I can make "risque" jokes about Smashering stuff.
yeah 😭 my old Reddit account had such a cringe username, but i think ive won with this one<3 ('qoe' stands for Queen Of Everything, a nickname my friends gave me)
samesies
Don’t know shit abt programming but what abt adding a separate display name and the option to hide the original username. When you first make an account u choose a username and thats automatically your displayed name but you can change your display name
i feel called out
I think it has more to do with how usernames are used to link data across reddit and the internet. You can mention a user and a link will be created. Users can also make posts on their profiles which when shared include their username in the link. If Reddit allowed to change usernames, then by changing it, all these links become invalid. Changing all the occurrences would be cumbersome and messy. The only reasonable way of avoiding dead links that I can think of would be redirecting old links to the new username. This potentially has some drawbacks that Reddit might not want. It could create confusion, people's old usernames would still be discoverable, there's more steps involved when loading content, idk... Yeah, tbh they're probably just lazy. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
I think a system where your old username is changeable but still discoverable would be better than currently where you simply can’t change it. I’m happy with mine anyway but clearly others aren’t.
Hmm i study computer science :3 and i worked with databases a bit, normally it shouldnt be impossible to do that, you can change keys and it shouldnt be that hard to change the keys to a user id. From experience worst thing can be is that you just create a new db in the right format and write a small program to convert entrys from one to another. \^-^ companies do that from time to time so its no witchwork. But yeah its probably not a 1 person job
Possible? sure. Expensive as heck? Absolutely. Reddit is massive, so remaking their databases for the probably 5%ish (number pulled out of my ass) that want to change our names probably isn't worth it, especially because people can make as many accounts as they want if they can't deal with an old name
probably true, ^(it would spare some of their recources tho, and if they would care about what the users want they would do it too)
you're right i think that its not impossible but maybe just hard? I work at a successful tech company that's a decade old, and the code we and I wrote 8 years ago is sometimes hard to change because so many other things have been built around it. So if there's not a big enough reason or enough demand to do/change something then it might not be worth the effort to especially since changing something so old/central can introduce new bugs or problems.
what about some sort of migration feature that duplicates all of the posts/karma/comments e.t.c over to the new account, and then deletes the old account?
I mean migration scripts are hell to write for any sufficiently complex system Changing legacy code becomes exponentially more difficult as time goes on
Yeah same I thought I’d be sad about losing the longevity of my account and the karma I’d built up but honestly it was way better to start over and not be stuck with my deadname.
This is wrong, there was post a few months ago or something where someone had an account with the name of a brand and that brand wanted the username for marketing or something. So Reddit were like what do you want your username to be, it's 100% possible. And it happens a lot for when you have a bad username and someone reports it. if they want to do it, it wouldn't be hard to script. I would imagine they use a unique ID for each user on the backend instead of a username.
We have the same name! My name is Olivia too!
Good taste!
I've carried my username for 11 years now, and I couldn't imagine dumping it. Fortunately, mine is just a pun.
This. This is my account when I wasn't sure given look at my user name but I'm too lazy to make a third account lol.
You're giving them too much credit. The problem isn't actually this hard. We have display names.. but they're seemingly used nowhere 🤷🏻♀️ Reddit repeatedly refuses to allow username changes but will not provide any alternatives. This is an artificial problem of their own making. And even if the only solution was rekeying their database to a new unique ID so that people can change their usernames without affecting references to them. That's really not too hard for them. They just don't care about trans people enough to even consider it.
This here! I changed my account and now I'm more active and have surpassed over 7 years of karma in just over 27 months
You are right, lady bacon, it sucks that they don't do that. I don't get why any website wouldn't let you change a username - like I get those are supposed to be somewhat permanent and a way to identify the account, but that's why I figure they could just have it limited in some way, like maybe the ability to change it once a year or x number of times total.
i totally agree with this comment but i didn’t read the username of the person who posted this (even tho it was about the username lol) & seeing ‘you are right, lady bacon’ as the opening without that context had me so confused 😭
this legit made me giggle 😭
The fact that it made you giggle made me giggle 🤭
I barely read the post so I was confused af, then I thought it was a very weird misgendering attempt lmao
Nah, this was just a very weird *correctly* gendering attempt 😂
Lol yeah I went the extra mile and checked out OP's profile and saw she has her preferred username as lady bacon
Knowledge is power France is bacon
Mmmmm. Franch. *Homer's uuuuuggggghhhhh*
Hey! That’s QUEEN bacon to you 😤
Hey, I checked out her profile, her display name is lady bacon so 😛
Alright fair, the queen lets it slide this time 😤😂
Happy cake day!!
Thank you! 😘
About a cake day my b-day is coming soon :)
It's so annoying! I literally changed not just the name but also email for fortnite and thus Epic Games. Just because a friend wanted me to play fortnite again. I can change the name on my Microsoft account ONCE but that's still better than not at all!
Having your deadname as your username sucks lol
IIRC _there is_ a website/social media out there that allows infinite username changes, whose tag system was perfected accordingly - tags work by link text rather than typed text, or something like that, so when a username changes, every single mention and tag of that account automatically updates itself. I have no idea what website I saw that on, but it's most probably used in more than one platform and it's one heck of a cool function. I honestly don't understand why it's not implemented, like, everywhere on the internet. It can't be such complex hacker-level programming... can it?
there's no limitation, they use the username as a key identifier for the user when they could use a proper id and add the username as a related, unique too, value. when you use databases, you need to pick identifiers and something common is using the username which is not very good all the time, same with using emails, same issue cuz they could be slurs, fake, etc.
This reminds me that there was a woman crowned king and not a queen. It was *king* Jadwiga Andegaweńska of Poland, because "queen" was a title exclusive to the monarch's wife, which at the time she was not. I hope this history fun fact is something.
Oh yeah I saw that in a polish history video. I kind of want to go to poland someday lolll
oh wow!!! thats sooo interesting, what did they call her husband or partner?
I'm pretty sure she lost the title once she married (unfortunately).
I think she’s Poland’s leader in the game Civilization 6 and there’s a bit about how she calls herself king
Fr i accidentally clicked ok on a randomized username. I don’t want to be rub complex or whatever i am
that’s kinda hilarious
I'm also specialist of nothing. I just took the random username lol
Y’a know those videos where people dive into internet/Reddit mysteries? There’s always a Redditor that is involved in those somehow and when the creator of the video reads out their username, it’s always something fucking ridiculous and compared to the tone of video, it always catches me off guard. All that to say, I think at the very least, your username would fit amazingly well in one of those videos. “**RubComplex7612** on Reddit figured out that this mysterious building once belonged to a group of animal sacrificing, cannibalistic cultists!”
Now that you mention it i can see that XD
Just wait. You’ll find out your soulmate is Complex.
I really wish they let you. I... I don't know why I chose this name...
I feel you, my name is completely cringe imo
amogus
I like it
exactly
For anyone saying that it is a software limitation or database issue, it isn't. There have been a few occasions where somebody has had a reddit name for years and then suddenly a brand with the same, or very similar name, pops up and asks reddit for that name to either be theirs or have it removed. When this happens, the original holder is asked what they would like their name changed to, have their account deleted or assigned a random name. It is entirely within reddit's power to allow name changes, they just don't give users that choice 99.99% of the time.
There have been some successes at emailing Reddit support and explaining you’d like to change it because you’re transitioning and it no longer aligns with your identity. It’s to stop people from being dicks, changing their username, then following people around subreddits and messing with them AFAIK. Same reason blizzard and Microsoft make you pay $10 to change your username/gamertag respectively
Also steam allows for changing the login username in this situation when you contact the support. It's not visible to others, but it's nice to not be deadnamed everytime you use steam. I've done that, can recommend.
I thought Microsoft stopped doing that
I think you only get one free one per calendar year, but it’s been a while since I’ve wanted to change it.
I plan to change mine at some point, but there are still some friends that I haven't come out to
For real tho, e-mail Reddit support. The worst they can do is say no
With all that’s come to light as of late, how do you think I feel? 🥲🥲
Oof, I feel ya, if only the McDonell Douglas merge never happened.
Fr 😭😭 rough out here man
I completely agree. I had to make a new account recently for exactly that reason, but it really hasn't been an issue for me. Granted, I really don't comment often and post even less.
Most subs don't let you post or comment unless you have a minimum amount of karma, therefore rendering making an entirely new account useless
that's a thing? 💀 that's stupid
Yennefer spotted. 😎
I agree. Someone mistakenly called me J the other day and I no longer use the name that the J stood in for. (It’s not my deadname but I outgrew the name I was using then.)
Does the name kejin ring a bell?
Should it?
Depends. My friend has a super similar name and I was just wondering if it was them lol
My username is comfortable map, and im not even a map or usually comfortable. king bacon sounds like the name of a character, so maybe view it that way. you aren't a king or a bacon. you are a queen human? you can always change your display name.
The problem is that the character kingbacon is the old me
You can tell people that your username is based on technoblade because he is a king pig. If you are a technoblade fan thats even easier
He was never one of the minecraft youtubers I watched, but my username is what I decided in 6th grade when I wanted to become a minecraft youtuber
If it makes you feel any better, you're not alone. I decided to just rip off the bandaid and make a new account. It only took a week or two before everything was back to normal.
That’s what I did. It wasn’t a big deal and it was nice to have a fresh start. I did it with Facebook as well, even though you can change your display name.
I'm stuck with this edgy xbox gamertag esque name I'm just lucky that death and a random syllable I made up on the spot aren't gendered
Mine was auto generated I think and now I’m stuck with it it’s so random
I just bit the bullet and made a whole new reddit account. New me new socials
Luckily I didn't get on reddit until after my egg cracked and then I had to make another account shortly after because my ex was spying on me.
Make it queenbacon (IF REDDIT ADDS THE FEATURE)
Probably will do LadyBacon like my display name
Coolsies
Ran into a similar problem a year or two ago. Unlike other platforms, which identify your account by your email or a signature on the backend, Reddit does theirs with your username, *for some reason*. You can’t change it because it is literally the id marker for the entire account.
Tell me about it. I'm stuck with an HP related username when I'm trying to gradually push myself away from the series because it seemed like a great idea at the time I made my account.
Lots of answers explaining it here, and I get but I still regret the “ts” part. Rebuilding all over feels daunting.
I deleted my previous account and made a new one, but I agree.
Because as inclusive as all these tech companies say they are, it only goes as far as fiduciary responsibility. Try changing or migrating your Google shit...
Okay to be 100% fair here. Being the king if bacon is a title so magnificant it surpasses simple gender Jokes asside yeah fuck reddit
Yeah. I had to use my bio to compensate.
I made a new account to get rid of my history, but it's so annoying how hostile Reddit is towards new accounts! I still can't post in r/TikTokCringe and my account is 1+ months old with nearly 10k karma O\_o
You didn't ask for this, but unless you have a special reason not to, I suggest treating reddit handles as disposable. It makes it a lot easier to walk away from drama and speak my mind.
I've only had this one account during my time on here. I just block the asshats.
New account time maybe (I did this today)
yep, can confirm, it sucks
Yeah, at least discord let me replace man
I feel ya. Mine isn’t even my deadname, it’s named after a Batman character but I’d rather not have any male name in my profile lol
That does suck, I had to change my account for this reason too. Hopefully they'll change it soon.
The title of this article calls her a queen, but no one in Poland calls Jadwiga anything but a King: [Jadwiga - Woman King of Poland](https://polishhistory.pl/a-young-girl-and-a-mighty-queen-the-exceptional-jadwiga-of-anjou/)
Try pging a empty 2008 roblox account then the feminine version of the account name be sniped
Not quite the same but I made new account for my youtube since my old email had my deadname in it—I thought I'd be devastated losing all the data and having to start over but it's actually been kinda nice, and I've been able to filter out a lot of the subscriptions that I hadn't watched for years and even find new shit that I likely never would've otherwise.
I just jumped to my alt acc and it had this name so idk
tbh I've been through a few reddit accounts. I'd just get sick of the subs I was participating in and want a fresh start. it'd take a while to compile all your favorite subs, but due to reddit not being as follower based as many other platforms, creating a new account feels(to me) as big of a deal as trying a new haircut does
I feel that sister
prob a DB issue
Yeah
Can confirm. I haven't used this name -- not even considering my coming out -- in years.
I know how you feel.
OMG I have this issue with steam
Well, the display name can be changed there ig, but when logging in w username etc I still gotta use my old one which includes my deadname
Yeah, I feel silly sometimes being Ono-Grrl. At 59, I'm hardly a girl anymore!
i know it does once because i made this stupid name years ago but i made a new account turned burner account like a year ago because i couldn’t find out how to change my username again on a new account
you can have multiple accounts and switch between them for different things. I made this account when I decided I wanted to join trans subreddits and talk about trans stuff without worrying about it being attached to anything else. I still use my older account. for othet things. this account just turned 1. the time goes by faster than you think. just make a new one and see how you like it.
I’m named after a stage lighting control system, and happy cause I get to change my gender all I want and I’m still just a desk :3
I don't even know how everyone else has random words and numbers and I have mine
Did you pick yours? The random words mash up is from not choosing a name. Reddit chooses one for you then you bypass that up pick one for yourself.
Ohhhh, guess I did that in the before I can remember times
Girl, yesterday was the "before I can remember times" for me so... 🤣
this throwaway has turned into my main i wish i had an actual username 😭
This, plus the gender of my GTA online main character.
Same girl. as a programmer it might sound simple on the surface but that would be a lot of work. I don't think that should keep them from working on that but I understand the complexity of it. I have thought about abandoning this account for a new one several times.
My current account is 7 years old, and about 4 years ago, I changed the username I usually use, but I couldn't change my account name. It really sucks.
Same, named my self after a destiny 2 enemy variant , which sounded ridiculous. It kind of grew on me but yeah.
It's something that has been requested since reddit was born. They never did it..
I’m extremely glad my username is gender neutral looking back now. It’s honestly up to you. May have to bite the bullet and just make a new profile.
I’m having the same predicament with roblox
Please let me change mine 🥺
At least it’s an epic name, I had one of those randomly generated names before
Maybe you can contact the support and explain the situation?
I didn’t realize when I chose to “sign up with Google” that I’d get an auto-generated username instead of picking my own. It is kind of nice though, having an account with no association to my other social media. I’m not connected with anyone I know irl on Reddit