25
votes
Accepted
Can a user make two accounts that both get the site reputation bonus at 200 rep then merge the two accounts, getting the association bonus twice?
Merging doesn't work the way you are thinking it does.
As part of the merge, everything is combined together. All the posts end up on a single profile, and your network account only has a single "...
- 190k
23
votes
I changed my Stack Overflow account email address. Suddenly, my username and photo changed too
You had two accounts registered, one with both of the different email addresses you used. When you confirmed the second email address to one of your accounts, it triggered an automatic merge since you ...
- 190k
23
votes
I log in and I find out I am another user. What are the privacy implications?
The result of a bad merge is that two people have access to the same account and all data in it.
The pieces of personal information revealed here are at least:
the email address associated with the ...
- 189k
19
votes
Accepted
For rule-following sock puppets, is there a "guaranteed" way to request they be merged into a puppeteer account?
In theory, you could simply use the contact link to request a merger. Since you manage the accounts in question, it would be simple to confirm these are yours. At some point though, you're basically ...
- 192k
18
votes
Why did my account get merged with several others? What do I have to do to reverse it?
If your account was merged with another account and you believe it to have been done in error, send a question to us via the "Contact Us" form (also found in the footer of any page), and we'...
- 10.2k
16
votes
Accepted
Why did this former staff member get all these badges at once?
If you look at the first Wayback Machine snapshot of Review queue workflows - Final release, you'll notice the link to Lisa's profile: https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/452001/lisa-park. She now ...
GlorfindelMod
- 256k
14
votes
Accepted
Would it have been possible to get both versions of "Where in the World" with an account-merger?
No. A merge always has a direction, one account is deleted and the other gains stuff from the first.
The choice of which version of "Where in the world" gets awarded is based on the account Id.
- 36.4k
13
votes
Evading question ban by triggering the automatic merger of accounts
This is clear sock-puppet abuse under SE policy.
For an official answer, in the FAQ on when sock-puppets are problematic, Shog9 gives this as an example of abuse:
Circumventing suspensions, quality ...
- 28.4k
10
votes
If I post as a guest and then decide to verify my email address, why aren't the accounts merged automatically?
It used to work this way, but there are security issues involved when merging an account that was not verified into one that is verified. There are a variety of use cases that do not involved the ...
- 190k
10
votes
Accepted
I had my accounts merged. Do I need to update all my share links to ensure I'm awarded publicity badges?
Yes, all of the links would need to be changed to continue counting towards your progress. While all past progress should have been rewritten to the single Id at the time of the merge, there is no ...
- 190k
10
votes
Is it OK to create a timetable to avoid getting merged when I have to share the same network with other people?
Its got nothing to do with time - I've had my alternate account (which is clearly labelled and used for looking at things from an untrusted computer or a non moderator view) logged in at the same time,...
- 192k
10
votes
Accepted
Regressed Issue: some Stack Exchange sites that are not registered by me but shown in “my community” and can be accessed by me
OK, that'll do it. The account has been fixed. The good news is that this was a one-off, and not a systemic issue. We're going to meet to discuss prevention of future issues, etc, this week.
I ...
- 21.2k
8
votes
Accepted
Merging accounts and the 200 daily reputation limitation
A merge recalculates reputation from scratch as if there were never two accounts involved in the first place. If the rep cap was reached on either account, it'll be in place after on the combined ...
- 160k
8
votes
Accepted
Merging accounts deletion
Your other communities are connected to the network account, not each individual profile. Your network accounts also get merged in the process, so any duplicate communities are all merged together, ...
- 190k
8
votes
Accepted
Improve the user profile merge template when contacting community team
Good call. Starting with the next build, the template will be:
Hello,
I'm writing in reference to the Code Review Stack Exchange account:
{profile url}
I think the profile below also belongs to ...
- 160k
8
votes
Accepted
Merging Accounts Question Roundup
No, that is not remotely true, and we have never asked anyone for screenshots of the accounts before. Depending on what accounts need merged, what information you have, and which accounts you can ...
- 190k
8
votes
Accepted
Banned from asking questions due to connecting a Google account that associated questions with my current account?
Well, first of all, you aren't even allowed to create a new account to circumvent the question ban (example: here). That you 'got away' with it is just luck; that luck has ended now. As described in ...
GlorfindelMod
- 256k
8
votes
Questions about merging sock puppet accounts
Suspension for voting fraud (in your case, upvoting your own posts using sock puppets) usually leads to deletion of the offending account(s). This is why you see the "Join this community" ...
- 9,644
8
votes
Accepted
Can't open a ticket for merging accounts; Error occurs even though all fields are included
Thank you so much for reporting this issue! This was happening as a result of a refactor that changed every place where we reference the 'OtherProfileLink' except for one that continued to reference ...
- 5,073
7
votes
Accepted
Can I merge only questions from another account?
Can I ask a moderator to merge all the questions (only questions!) from my second account to this account?
It is not something that's possible. Merges are full merges - there is no "only merge these ...
- 155k
6
votes
Accepted
Unable to merge with previous account because I don't know the profile ID
J.D. your account number is 583848 here on Meta, your network profile number is: 15751701. The second number is the one to use for the "Contact" link.
- 17.9k
6
votes
Accepted
Posts made by new accounts that are later merged into established accounts still show as "new contributor", contradicting the user card
This is fixed now. "New contributor" status on posts will be cleared when the post owner is changed as part of a user merge.
new contributor
but not after user merge
post status renewed
- 64k
6
votes
Accepted
How can I choose which account to remain when merging user accounts?
You cannot. We always merge accounts into the lower network account Id and there is no override for that, even for staff. If you'd prefer a particular display name to be kept, you should change it on ...
- 190k
6
votes
Accepted
Re-awarding badges after merging accounts?
It means exactly what it says. We don't copy the badges over on a merge. But the process that awards badge will give it to you again if you're still eligible for it at the time it runs. So if you ...
- 190k
6
votes
Accepted
Can I link my account to one that I deleted?
No, once deleted the account is lost for good and can't be viewed by anyone, not even high rep users. Moderators do see some stats for deleted accounts, but also not the full profile.
Account ...
- 175k
6
votes
Merging an account caused my username to change on a site
When the merge took place, your other account has profiles on the following sites too:
Super User
Web Applications
Arqade
Information Security
Merging the network account together causes a merge to ...
- 190k
6
votes
Accepted
What would happen if someone who is suspended created a new account and tries to have it merged it later?
Requesting that the new account be merged into the old one would bring to the moderators and, more specifically, the community team that they'd created an account to evade a suspension. This could ...
ChrisFMod
- 101k
6
votes
Accepted
Problem with merging accounts
18993 is your user ID on Mathematics. The email always lists your main stackexchange.com profile for the merge procedure, not a per-site profile, which will use your network account ID that will ...
- 190k
5
votes
I think I found some user accounts that should be merged; what do I do?
Mods haven't been able to merge accounts for a while - it is extremely messy when it goes wrong and there's very few situations where accounts need merging - commonly unregistered accounts with lost ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible