With the new forum format working as it should, Jim and I are going to start deleting those user accounts that have not been used or have been inactive for several years. With that in mind, if you see a user name in the member list that you like and has not been used in the last 3-7 years, then let Jim or I know and we can concentrate on freeing those up first. With this new forum format, It’s a simple matter for forum members to change their username but the only stipulation is that it cannot be a duplicate name. Hence the deleting of old accounts which will free up some new user name possibilities.

Mark. The accounts must be deleted at the administrator level but if you’ll email to me the username of the inactive account of yours that you’d like deleted, I’ll take care of it.

Removing old users will not delete any of their posts. Many of the 3-7 year old inactive users did not post much if at all so I’ll concentrate on those first. For your other question, if a username is adopted that was used in an older ‘deleted’ account, then I’m guessing at this point that the older posts would not show up simply due to the site recognizing the difference in ‘originating’ email accounts. I’ll not know for sure on that until we have a guinea pig for that first ‘old username account’ in which to test for some of the nuances involved. On the flip side of that, if you adopt an older username to your account, you’ll still retain all your original posts.

In looking at many of the unused usernames (accounts), some are older accounts of members that are currently active on the forum using different but similar usernames. Some had inaccurate information on the accounts making them inoperative while I suspect others simply had a change in email address or forgot their passwords and the members simply adopted new usernames using a different email address. The site does not allow two different usernames to the same email address.

Short term Jim and I could concentrate on those accounts that did not post at all but ultimately all inactive accounts will be considered cullable.