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While merging accounts using the Contact Us link on the bottom of the page, how do I select the account which must be retained; the one that won't get deleted?

If I login from the main account and then merge the secondary account, then should the URL of main account come first on this page? In other words, does "your other profile link" refer to the primary/main account or the secondary one?

Also, on merging 2 Stack Exchange accounts, will all the related account info of the associated sites used in both the accounts be merged?

The situation is like this :
I used two different email address to create two stack exchange accounts . I used account 1 for sister site A and B while I used account 2 for sites C and D . Now I want account 1 's email address to exist and want to combine both .(this is a mini update , again from the comments, which elaborates the situation)

UPDATE 1 :
(from the comments)

Is this automated ?

" The last time I did so , I was taken to a page saying "We have sent verification email to both your account emails " and then I clicked on those verification links from my inbox . A new page came up saying "Account 1 is verified , now do the same for the other " ... and I did so and it was over in a minute . So I felt that it was automated . Maybe its automated for accounts which are associated to a single sub-site only (which was the case back then). "

UPDATE 2

I read the comments of this answer and also this question and its answers and it looks like the merging process is sometimes automatic and sometimes not .

While I was at this problem , I came across "my logins" . I was wondering if adding the two SE accounts in the login details of one account merge them automatically ?
I guess then I will be able to delete the unwanted one .(I didnt try it though)

The incident I described in updated one looked automated and can be backed by this :

Is it automatic for 2 stackexchange accounts which are registered only in one same sub-site( out of the many ) and the contact us link of that particular website is used ?

(all this has been updated from the comments )
(If this looks like too much for a single question feel free to edit and open new questions)

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21
  • Why would it make any difference? Only the profile picture isn't merged, and you can just change that?
    – Tim
    Mar 8, 2015 at 10:11
  • @Tim I meant that I used two different email address to create two stack exchange accounts . I used account 1 for sister site A and B while I used account 2 for sites C and D . Now I want account 1 's email address to exist and want to combine both .
    – droid21
    Mar 8, 2015 at 10:15
  • Well, the accounts won't be merged before the team contacts you via email, so just make it clear in your response to them what account you want to keep and what account to destroy by merging into the other.
    – Shadow Wizard Is Sad And Angry
    Mar 8, 2015 at 10:21
  • @ShadowWizard Do you mean to say that the system wont merge directly from that contactus page ? And I have to write an email to [email protected] ?
    – droid21
    Mar 8, 2015 at 10:28
  • The "contact us" page is a template, and submitting the form results in an email being sent to the proper Stack Exchange employees who can then review it and respond. No need to send separate email, just patience. :)
    – Shadow Wizard Is Sad And Angry
    Mar 8, 2015 at 10:59
  • @ShadowWizard Woah , I didnt know that . The last time I did so , I was taken to a page saying "We have sent verification email to both your account emails " and then I clicked on those verification links from my inbox . A new page came up saying "Account 1 is verified , now do the same for the other " ... and I did so and it was over in a minute . So I felt that it was automated . Maybe its automated for accounts which are associated to a single sub-site only (which was the case back then).
    – droid21
    Mar 8, 2015 at 13:22
  • @ShadowWizard Can you please comment on the incident that I described in the previous comment ? and if possible about the questions commented by me in grgarside's answer . Thank you .
    – droid21
    Mar 8, 2015 at 18:41
  • @droid21 turns out I was wrong and this is automated indeed, pretty recent change I wasn't aware of before so I wasn't sure how to respond. Best wait for official response from the team.
    – Shadow Wizard Is Sad And Angry
    Mar 8, 2015 at 19:52
  • @ShadowWizard Okay , when does the official team respond ? I took back my accepted answer so that they might notice this and should I flag ?
    – droid21
    Mar 9, 2015 at 7:37
  • Don't know, sorry. I left a comment here asking Tim for help, hope he'll get to it sometime soon.
    – Shadow Wizard Is Sad And Angry
    Mar 9, 2015 at 7:49
  • @ShadowWizard While I was at this problem , I came across "my logins" . I was wondering if adding the two SE accounts in the login details of one account merge them automatically ? I guess then I will be able to delete the unwanted one .
    – droid21
    Mar 9, 2015 at 8:29
  • Might be, still better have official reply. :)
    – Shadow Wizard Is Sad And Angry
    Mar 9, 2015 at 8:30
  • @ShadowWizard Ya . I will wait . I even flagged for moderator attention ( they might help) .
    – droid21
    Mar 9, 2015 at 8:33
  • Flag isn't a good option, it's not a valid way to get attention to a question (in the sense you just want official reply). Comment is less intrusive. What's done is done, just don't do it again. :-)
    – Shadow Wizard Is Sad And Angry
    Mar 9, 2015 at 8:50
  • @ShadowWizard I will keep that in mind :|
    – droid21
    Mar 9, 2015 at 8:53

3 Answers 3

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5

While merging accounts using the Contact Us link on the bottom of the page, how do I select the account which must be retained; the one that won't get deleted?

It is a merge. Details of the accounts (including logins) and the associated site-specific users will get merged - that is, added together. For all intents and purposes - it doesn't matter which one is deleted and which retained. The end result would be the same whether the two were switched.

If I login from the main account and then merge the secondary account, then should the URL of main account come first on this page? In other words, does "your other profile link" refer to the primary/main account or the secondary one?

Again, it doesn't matter. "your other profile link" means just that - a link to the other profile - to indicate which two profiles you wish to get merged.

Also, on merging 2 Stack Exchange accounts, will all the related account info of the associated sites used in both the accounts be merged?

That's one of the things that would happen, yes. If the different accounts have users on the same site, the users will get merged as well (rep, badges etc...).

Is this automated ?

To an extent. If both accounts have low reputation (IIRC that's the main criteria) we initiate a "self serve" process - emails with confirmation links are sent to the registered email addresses of both profiles. After both have been clicked, an automated merge will occur. All other cases go through the community team.

I was wondering if adding the two SE accounts in the login details of one account merge them automatically ?

It should initiate an automated merge, yes. Some merges require community team approval (for example if one account has lots of reputation - but there are several different checks there, for safety).

Is it automatic for 2 stackexchange accounts which are registered only in one same sub-site( out of the many ) and the contact us link of that particular website is used ?

Not sure what you mean there. Login credentials are linked to the account - so adding a credential on one site adds them to all.

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  • In the last question , I meant that if Account1 is registered in site A and B while Account2 in B and C . If I use site B's contact us link and put the name-of-site-B.stackexchange/userprofile/userid (that is the user profile links of the same site B) then would it be automatic . It happened once as mentioned in the question . (this too might depend on the rep )
    – droid21
    Mar 11, 2015 at 3:42
  • In your answer you say it doesn't matter which account gets merged into which, all details will remain. Does that include the careers part of the profile? Also, will I be able to login with either account (both use openID but different emails)? Just wanted to confirm my understanding of your response. Thanks.
    – dudeman
    Feb 26, 2016 at 17:50
  • All the details should join up, including different credentials, @MikeAtNobel
    – Oded
    Feb 26, 2016 at 17:51
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Merging accounts isn't automatic1, so feel free to describe exactly what you wish to happen in the free-form text box underneath the profile link fields.

For example, suggest that you wish account A to be merged into account B by referring to the accounts by their IDs and describing the direction of the merge. Furthermore, you can even edit the About Me of the accounts such that account A says "delete me" and account B says "keep me".

1 It's automatic if you have the same logins for both the accounts. This generally isn't the case (because if you tried to sign up with the same login then you'd just log in to the first account) therefore the merge won't be automatic. If the merge is automatic, then I would generally presume that the second account is merged into the first account, but really, does it matter?

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6
  • Is it automatic for 2 stackexchange accounts which are registered only in one same sub-site( out of the many ) and the contact us link of that particular website is used ?
    – droid21
    Mar 8, 2015 at 13:25
  • and thanks for the answer . Does the confirmation email arrive at both the inboxes simultaneously ?
    – droid21
    Mar 8, 2015 at 13:27
  • Any help on this ? :)
    – droid21
    Mar 9, 2015 at 8:30
  • @droid21 I've expanded my answer.
    – grg
    Mar 9, 2015 at 20:53
  • Look at my first comment on your answer . Is that true ? I also updated the last para of the question with the incident where it was automatic. Also , While I was at this problem , I came across "my logins" . I was wondering if adding the two SE accounts in the login details of one account merge them automatically ? I guess then I will be able to delete the unwanted one . will this work ?
    – droid21
    Mar 10, 2015 at 4:21
  • No, it has to be manual.
    – Tim
    Mar 10, 2015 at 17:38
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Currently, there looks like no option to select which account one can retain.

This looks true:

A user can actually trigger an automatic merge of accounts under certain circumstances. But I believe the accounts always merge into the oldest account. – animuson♦ Feb 26 at 14:40

It wouldn't matter much, as Oded mentioned. Only the display name/ profile picture/ real name etc, of the oldest account will be retained which can be changed by you easily.

Is it automatic for 2 stackexchange accounts which are registered only in one same sub-site( out of the many ) and the contact us link of that particular website is used ?

Yes. For two accounts on the same site, the merge using their "merge profiles form" looked automatic. For this automatic merge, you don't even have to fill up the "Please describe your problem " form input box.
You will directly get emails on the two ids stating (1/2) and (2/2). Click the verification links and you are done.

Now if you have the two accounts on different SE sites, using the "merge profiles form" of either of the sites wont be automatic. When you add the profile links of the two accounts, you will have to fill up the "Please describe your problem " form input box. (just fill it saying something about your merge).

You will get this message:

Thank you for contacting the Stack Exchange Team. You should receive an email response shortly.

Its sad as someone from the Team will have to do it for you now. (And now maybe you could say that you want the new display name to stay)

I was wondering if adding the two SE accounts in the login details of one account merge them automatically ?

This cannot be done directly from that page for SE OpenID as far as I know, but from the method explained here: How do I change my OpenID provider(s)?

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