(no subject)

[arethinn]

I'm confused about swapping names on two accounts (which I want to do on IJ). This tutorial doesn't seem to make sense. (It's also from 2003 and I am wary that it may not reflect current code.) It instructs me to have three journals, foo, bar, and baz (baz is the disposable mediary); rename baz to foo, making foo into ex_foo123; repeat/rotate (kind of a username Towers of Hanoi). But you can only rename a journal to a nonexistent username or to a purged username, can't you? Won't it say "foo already is in use"?

Also, I'm totally lost as to whether this will break username forwarding, or whether it's possible for that to still work. It seems logically like it should break, since how is it supposed to know that if you type <lj user="foo"> that actually you meant to forward to bar, since both foo and bar are both still attached to different user IDs? I assume it will not be allowed to enter a loop, but I still don't see how it could possibly work.

Are these not even right and proper questions? I may not be thinking clearly about this whole process at all.

Comments

[baxil.livejournal.com]

My assumption for renaming vs. forwarding is that, like Unix usernames, the information actually stored in the system isn't the name itself - it's a unique user ID. (For instance, my profile page lists me as "baxil (240226)".) Typing in baxil stores a link to the UID in your post/comment in the LJ database, and then the code is silently translated to a name whenever it is displayed in your Web editor or on the journal itself.

So username swaps break nothing. If I were to change names to not_baxil and then also_not_baxil and then wait_im_baxil_again, since my UID would stay the same, old links to baxil (which were translated to UIDs back when my UID was associated with that name) would continue moving with it.

[arethinn]

Yes, I understand unique user IDs, which is no problem when you have renamed a single journal (as I did this one, tass to starlightforest). In a sense tass and starlightforest are both attached to the same user ID and it now has a symbolic link from tass to starlightforest.

But if I swap foo and bar and both remain active and attached to different IDs, how can it choose, when "foo" is requested, when to forward foo to bar, and when to stay at what is now foo?

[baxil.livejournal.com]

I could tell you how it *probably* works, but at this point, you're better off taking your question to an LJ support request and letting their actual server setup trump clean, elegant theory.

[arethinn]

I submitted a request yesterday but haven't gotten any reply.

I *think* it must come out to as if they were two entirely independent journals to begin with.

I was hoping that someone out there had done exactly this and could tell me how it worked.

[baxil.livejournal.com]

Actually, on further examination, nicked_metal is the one who wrote the FAQ you linked. Perhaps drop him a line directly? (Especially since we already all run in the same circles; he comments on my journal periodically and is in next_of_kin.)

[arethinn]

Er, well, we are talking about IJ here. The codebase is substantially similar, but not identical. I don't see that I should expect him to answer questions about another journal site.