Aquiring an inactive twitter name

Where do you request it?

Actually this link says 9 months, and they are currently NOT manually releasing usernames. http://help.twitter.com/forums/10713/...

How about a robot releasing the inactive usernames that have been inactive for 9 months? The username I was looking at used to be visible, but not any longer...so I went on another pc and tried to get it for myself, BUT it's not available, how can that be, it's like they are in warp space? If a robot was able to remove the inactive account from showing, how is it then that the username didn't go back into the pool?

Is there any news on this? There is an account that has been inactive for one year now and the page at http://help.twitter.com/forums/26257/... says Twitter is working on "bulk-releasing all inactive usernames".

So where do we request the Inactive Username, I want a username with 0 following and 2 status updates, from aug 2008. This is so difficult. Twitter needs to get on the ball.

Yes I want a link to request an inactive username. Thanks.

Same Here: I need my products' twitter name...

I gave up and went with something else instead.

any updates on this?

No, I wish I knew... :)

Same problem here... dang it... is anyone there Twitter??? Can you hear us??

I have received the following official response from Twitter:-

Twitter is only releasing usernames in cases of trademark policy violation. We do plan on bulk releasing all inactive/suspended usernames in the future, but have not yet set a time frame for doing so. For more information about Twitter's policies regarding trademarks, please refer to the following support page:

http://help.twitter.com/forums/26257/...

I would really(times infinity) like to change my Twitter name to @MRV but this is currently being used by a name squatter. I went through the proper channels and got a ticket (#901817) for my name change request from @stardynasty to @mrv but to my shock this ticket is now listed as resolved when there has actually not been any movement on this issue. I know that Twitter mechanics are probably working day and night to get a functional automated system which purges squatters after 6 months or whatever...but surely there should be some immediate solution! Do i have to first register my handle as a copyright before they'll listen? Very disappointing!

Wish this feature would get implemented...

Also waiting on news from Twitter about this. The account I want has been claimed in September 2006 and has had no updates whatsoever....

How about we all email Twitter about this...say, once a day?

FYI - patience is key... and keep trying... Twitter finally released the name i wanted... and i was able to grab it!

It was annoying to realize that the username i wanted had already been taken... and even more annoying to realize that it was not in use... i tried contacting the people at Twitter and consult a few topics here on Get Satisfaction... however... i was frustrated with the lack of support Twitter offers in releasing username... though i understand their hesitation... as a web developer... i have had clients accidentally let there domain names expire and i would act as a middle man ensuring they get their domain back... if domain registrars let domains go too soon... they would have a lot of unhappy people... anyway... i've done nothing but wait and check for my username every week or two... and last night when checking Twitter... the username i waited months for was available... it's now mine... whoa-who!

there is hope... just be patient and keep trying!

@Hyperdelicious How long has the account name you were after been unused? Like I said, the username I'm after has not been used ever and is 3,5 years old... will Twitter only delete it after I open a ticket about it, or will they only release it after 4 years of inactivity?

not sure... greater than six months... perhaps as much as a year... when i first searched for the desired username... Twitter said it was unavailable... when i checked to see who and how it was being used (twitter.com/desiredusername) i was confronted with a "sorry page not found" page... i waited a few days/weeks/months and again attempted to reserve the username... however unsuccessful... then about six months ago i began seeking support via Twitter and here at Get Satisfaction.

also not sure if Twitter has varying stages of deleting and releasing names... i notice some people want name that are still live though inactive... perhaps it takes Twitter a few months to realize that an account is inactive... when it does they might send the user a notice allotting them a few more weeks/months to respond and get active... after more time of inactivity Twitter might send another notice warning them the account will be deleted in a few weeks/days... after more time of inactivity Twitter might then delete the account and inform the user it was deleting offering yet one more chance to retain the username... however not releasing the username to public... perhaps then after not being claimed Twitter will finally release the username.

I can't offer much help or advice other than be patient and keep trying... also note any happenings with the username's url (twitter.com/username) is it live and inactive, do you get a page not found, are they adding followers or following others, perhaps the user is making one post every two months, enough to annoy the snot out of you yet satisfy Twitter, or maybe they only use the account to follow people and you are not seeing their activity, if you are desperate perhaps you can contact the user ask for or offer to buy the name.

Anyway... i must get back to work... i wish everyone luck in getting the Twitter name they want... seems Twitter, Facebook, MySpace usernames are getting just as hard to come by as a good domain name... if you think of a good one you better grab it now... before it's too late.

I'm as frustrated as the rest of you with Twitter's lack of support.

I work for a big brand in the U.S. and want to change their Twitter handle to a name that is already in use by someone else. We have contacted that someone else and they've said we can have the name. So if they "officially" release the name to us WHY ON EARTH does it take 9 months for it to become active?

Thank you all for this thread. It was here that I found a link that had on its bottom a link to the "submit a request" to Twitter page - which is also not easy to find.

Argh.

This is completely ridiculous! It wouldn't be that difficult to implement some sort of system for holding usernames that have been inactive past a certain time period. Even if it was like "pay $1 a month" or a year or something like that, people that actually wanted to keep the names would keep them. Otherwise, the names would be free.

Whatever it involves, obviously something in their policies and system needs to change.

I would register an inactive account (created in march 2007, never used!!), but i can't because twitter doesn't consider inactive this account!

From Twitter's Inactive User Names policy page:

How does Twitter determine inactivity?
Inactivity is based on a combination of tweeting, logging in, and the date an account was created. Please note that you may not be able to tell whether an account is currently inactive, as not all signs of account activity are publicly visible.

Read the whole thing here: http://help.twitter.com/entries/15362...

Hey
I think if you put the mail to twitter that the acc is inactive may be twitter wont give any reply or will not take a strong action becoz u both are the user of it and such large organisations care for each one same. so they will not make that username available to u

2nd way: find out the email id of that person and contact him to change his username and then it will be available for you...plz give me the url of the that inactive profile..

Regard'
Sachin Kalambe
SEO SEM SMO
Follow me on twitter:
http://twitter.com/sachinkalambe
http://noupesolutions.com
http://webmasterarticles.co.cc

Hi Everyone,

It is good to see everyone else is having the same problem as me!

Can anyone point me in the right direction of how i can submit a request to Twitter to reclaim a name.

Thanks

They won't give you anything unless you are a big company and until the release policy is released.

I gave up on trying, an if you are from outside US is even worse.

@ Louise let me know if twitter respond your request.. :)

I don't see much point in even bothering to comment, but I tried to fix, in my ignorance, a mix-up in two different Twitter accounts/email addresses, and ended up not being able to use either one. As I have had both virtually forever, odds are I just won't use Twitter again. Not that they could even conceivably care. They were getting so there were constant "overloaded" messages, but what earthly reason could there be for me not to be able to create another account with my email address?? It just doesn't make sense.

Twitter respond to ANYTHING? I can't even imagine it. Why should they bother?

Is there a way to actually get an email account of a user or at least send them a message that goes to their registered email account? I really want my actual name but someone already has it, and from all I can tell, is completely inactive. I tried to contact him over twitter to get the name, but he has yet to respond or do anything to imply he actually ever looks at twitter. It's...awesome.

I pitched in a vote to this complaint months ago and have been noticing in the email updates that the number of complaints seems to be increasing. Perhaps we should step it up a notch. Twitter ignores emails, ignores this feedback system but we know one thing they don't ignore, trending topics.

So here's an idea. What if everyone with this complaint sent out a tweet with a predefined tag every week on a particular day we may be able to build up momentum to get twitter to actually care and fix whatever is holding them back from releasing unused twitter id's in a timely manner.

So here's the plan:
- every thursday send out a tweet about how you're fed up and want that perfect name, include the tag #releasethenames

- timing: if you can, send the tweet out at 6pm eastern (that's 3pm pacific and 11pm in the UK). Sorry if you live in Asia but we have to pick a time so we get on the trending topics that hour and this is a time everyone can do. If you can't, consider using something like hootsuite to preschedule your tweet, or send it anyways, every little bit helps.

- if you find articles or blog posts mentioning the trend (or ahem, if you write one) post the link here. Lots of people are fed up with this, there are articles out there already, eg. http://twittercism.com/inactive-usern...

I'll pre-set up an explanation for the topic on whatthetrend and I'll keep doing it for at least four thursdays, even if I'm the only one.

thanks

Mark

I'm in the same boat - let's get this resolved - liked the idea of a bot releasing names based on time and inactivity.

I want a name for my upcoming baby (fun!) - the name I want hasn't been used since Nov 2009!

Come one Twitter!

Yeah. It's pretty crummy. I've had the same identity on the internet for about 5 years. Now twitter wants me to change it because of a glitch?

I asked them for a name that had been suspended. To my suprise they realeased it and in 2 second someone snapped it up. This is totally unfair as Im the one who put in the enquiry and they shld have given me the chance to get the name first. Im so pissed!!