4 ms·

GitHub did the same thing to me. Changed my SSH keys and renamed my account. I used to have "rbishop", now some other developer has it. No notice, no communica

GitHub did the same thing to me. Changed my SSH keys and renamed my account. I used to have "rbishop", now some other developer has it. No notice, no communication, nothing. When I contacted the person at GitHub who did it he refused to answer any questions or explain anything. So watch out... If you have the same name as an employee's drinking buddy, prepare to have your account removed without notice or explanation.

sopheny 11y ago
github sucks. Use gitlab man :)
- latj 11y ago
  I still like bitbucket
oh_sigh 11y ago
What was your old account name? Just bishop?
- ryanlol 11y ago
  >I used to have "rbishop", now some other developer has it.
lsaferite 11y ago
Was your account inactive by chance? They have rules that after an account is inactive for a significant amount of time it is subject to removal. I know this because I reclaimed a VERY inactive account. It had one repo that was forked years previously and never had any updates. And the user never contributed to any repos or anything. No activity of any type in years. So, I contacted GH support asking about the account and they removed the account and told me I could register it if I was fast.
- simoncion 11y ago
  How much time elapsed between you speaking to GH support and them removing the account? I would very much hope that GH would attempt to contact the account holder before they deleted the account!
  - lsaferite 11y ago
    A very short period honestly. I was surprised how easy it was. That being said, I would have gladly contacted the account holder but GH removed that capability a long time back. Instead I had to resort to the TOS rules that allowed inactive accounts to be removed.
- Domenic_S 11y ago
  > I know this because I reclaimed a VERY inactive account. IIRC, activity on private repos isn't exposed on the user's page. Is it possible for a non-employee to tell the difference between a truly inactive account and one that has activity on only private repos?
  - lsaferite 11y ago
    And this is why I asked if the account was inactive and deletable. A staff member checked the account and confirmed that the account was inactive and deleted it so it could be reclaimed.
JoshTriplett 11y ago
That sounds like quite a story; you should consider writing it up somewhere other than an HN comment. That's a very serious issue, not least of which because GitHub uses usernames all over the place to identify people.
driverdan 11y ago
Holy shit! Can you give us some more background? Was the account inactive? Free or paid? Did you try contacting anyone else at github?
rubiquity 11y ago
Hey there. I'm the person that was awarded your account. GitHub has/had a form and all I did was submit a request and it was given to me. They said they deemed you as inactive for a substantial period of time. I'm not saying this is right or wrong but I thought you would take solace in knowing your old username is in good hands. Sincerely, the other rbishop

sopheny 11y ago

github sucks. Use gitlab man :)

latj 11y ago
I still like bitbucket

oh_sigh 11y ago

What was your old account name? Just bishop?

ryanlol 11y ago
>I used to have "rbishop", now some other developer has it.

lsaferite 11y ago

Was your account inactive by chance? They have rules that after an account is inactive for a significant amount of time it is subject to removal. I know this because I reclaimed a VERY inactive account. It had one repo that was forked years previously and never had any updates. And the user never contributed to any repos or anything. No activity of any type in years. So, I contacted GH support asking about the account and they removed the account and told me I could register it if I was fast.

simoncion 11y ago
How much time elapsed between you speaking to GH support and them removing the account? I would very much hope that GH would attempt to contact the account holder before they deleted the account!
- lsaferite 11y ago
  A very short period honestly. I was surprised how easy it was. That being said, I would have gladly contacted the account holder but GH removed that capability a long time back. Instead I had to resort to the TOS rules that allowed inactive accounts to be removed.
Domenic_S 11y ago
> I know this because I reclaimed a VERY inactive account. IIRC, activity on private repos isn't exposed on the user's page. Is it possible for a non-employee to tell the difference between a truly inactive account and one that has activity on only private repos?
- lsaferite 11y ago
  And this is why I asked if the account was inactive and deletable. A staff member checked the account and confirmed that the account was inactive and deleted it so it could be reclaimed.

JoshTriplett 11y ago

That sounds like quite a story; you should consider writing it up somewhere other than an HN comment. That's a very serious issue, not least of which because GitHub uses usernames all over the place to identify people.

driverdan 11y ago

Holy shit! Can you give us some more background? Was the account inactive? Free or paid? Did you try contacting anyone else at github?

rubiquity 11y ago

Hey there. I'm the person that was awarded your account. GitHub has/had a form and all I did was submit a request and it was given to me. They said they deemed you as inactive for a substantial period of time. I'm not saying this is right or wrong but I thought you would take solace in knowing your old username is in good hands. Sincerely, the other rbishop