Yes, I'm aware: per the recycling policy on the website, "Once you have changed your name, the abandoned usernames will be held by Twitch for a minimum of 6 months"

But they're clearly not being recycled. I've been waiting on an old name since the policy was announced, and it had already been changed for at least a year when it was. I had changed it as part of an effort to rebrand some aspects of creation, which has changed directions since then.

Six months is absolutely a reasonable amount of time, but these names are clearly not being recycled. If you're not going to recycle them in a timely manner, please allow us some manner to request old names if available rather than telling us you can't help and we just have to wait when asked.

How about you speak to your parent mega rich company Amazon and see if they can employ some more staff for your support team because in all my life I've never witnessed such dreadful support simply because there is none. Almost 2 months of emails and tweeting Twitter support and still not 1 single reply. I think it's a disgrace a company as big as this has no support especially when you're a business that can charge money. What's even more of a disgrace is the fact I'm a moderator for a stream and someone made several accounts and reported my username for being offensive and I'm auto banned! This is this second time this has happened and to prove my username isn't offensive, you guys actually emailed me the first time to say it was a mistake and not offensive!!!! So how can I be banned for the same reason again??????? I would like to add that I understand there's a worldwide crisis, but at least send me an auto response email to let me know this is the reason I'm getting no support. Do you realise how frustrating it is getting no response what so ever from a company especially when you shouldn't be having the issue you're contacting them in the first place for!!!

Guys please read all of this and vote if you want this to happen. Much Appreciated.

There is a problem for years with any other TWITCH STREAMER especially who are AFFILIATES that they want a USERNAME of their choice but its been taken and used already by any other viewer who is not a streamer or anything. So, to solve this problem here is an idea and I know we all want this. So the idea is that when somebody SIGNUP on TWITCH they will get a RANDOM USERNAME including of random numbers and random alphabets generated by TWITCH. They are normal account and they can do anything like STREAM or WATCH other STREAMERS but they just have random username and if they STREAM, once they get AFFILIATE then they will have the OPTION to have their own CUSTOM USERNAME of their choosing or liking and this thing also implies on EXISTING ACCOUNTS that are NOT AFFILIATES. This can solve the username not available problem for AFFILIATE STREAMERS. and the VIEWERS who just WATCH other streamers DON'T need a CUSTOM USERNAME because they don't need any kind of visibility or exposure they are on twitch just to watch but a STREAMER who is AFFILIATE need exposure and visibility and a CUSTOM USERNAME of their choice. So please TWITCH make this happen and its a problem for many years and many AFFILIATE STREAMERS are facing this issue including me and all of this suggestion or idea I think is the thing we all need and its a valid idea and I love to hear on this from you guys please TWITCH make this happen. I LOVE STREAMING ON TWITCH. LOVE and THANK YOU TWITCH.

Reduce the amount of cooldown after a name change, I have had to wait for 6+ months to get my name changed after I accidentally changed my name. I didn't get a reply from support after 6 months either, so I had to wait it out.
Even when you change your name you might not even be able to get the name back, which is ridiculous in my opinion. Having to wait 6+ months to get your name back and yet not be able to get it is something that needs to be changed when I accidentally changed my name the Twitch.tv website crashed at the time and that's why I had to refresh the site and then it was logged into the wrong account, so it changed my name on my main account and not my alt. Therefor stuff like this should be reduced so it won't happen to anyone again.

The recycle program needs a massive overhaul.

There are far to many people waiting on unused usernames that are not released in a timely fashion.

I have been watching two names for years now. One is simply completely inactive with zero information on the profile and has never followed anyone, for years. That account also has never responded to private messages to even suggest someone logged in. **** I'd buy their account name from them if there was anyway I could contact them.

The other has the "Unless you have a time machine." message and may be an old twitch staff, or previous partner, but i have no way of knowing that. Can't they supply some reason to why I can't change to that name?

Such as: "This username is unavailable and is exempt from the recycle program"

Then in the FAQ they can just state the names that fall into this category are the old staff, partner.. etc names. So we know we won't get it. Transparency! And it wouldn't be difficult, Twitch I'm sure already has a list of names it will not release in its database, just tell us why.

I would like to suggest that there be way when we go to change our name and it says its "unavailable" for name change, that we can request a flag on it. That it can then be checked for activity and if it is actually inactive within the username recycle programs guidelines it can be put in an upcoming recycle. I'm sure this can be automated, Twitch can see if a name has logged in within six months or a year and if not then flag it, and actually do this, not like right now where inactive names MAY be recycled but probably won't be in any timely manner.

Inactive accounts under threat of recycle don't have to be deleted, you could just append the name with a bunch of random characters in case the owner comes back and you can be sure to send out multiple emails letting them know what is about to happen if they don't log in. Though this would defeat the purpose of clearing up space due to inactive accounts, at least you wouldn't be worried about someone not returning later because their name is gone.

They should also in some way be required to actually use the name. Why are some names taken but are not in use? Is there protection from possible name sellers? (Not that i've ever seen one for Twitch but its common in other areas, such as website urls, mmos usernames, social media handles) What if someone has taken a name and only logs in once a year on that alt account but that account has zero activity, they don't chat or watch any videos? Is that fair or right? Why is that allowed? Shouldn't that name be available for someone who will use it?

The current system suggests that inactive accounts will be recycled but it could take as little as six months or it could take years. We have no way of knowing when that will be or even if the name we want is eligible for recycle. I had a **** of time just getting twitch to tell me if Curse usernames from when Twitch bought Curse and automatically created accounts for them would be eligible to recycle. I was told all those names have already been recycled, but it took multiple emails and explaining on my end as the twitch staff responding just wanted to send me copy paste responses that never addressed my question.

Of course partners/affiliates and old staff names should be exempt from this to avoid possible fraud/impersonation.

I've seen this requested feature a lot, option to add a display name? (just like with Twitter, there's a display name, and an @username)

Good way to deal with username snipers, generic words & common names such as "Jake" or "Jacob" are already being used of course, but if someone named "Jacob" creates a username such as /Jacob_535455 then it just looks messy for a channel name, so yeah, a display name should be an option too (it's already on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, Steam, you name it, so it'd be a good idea for here too)

For LIVE notifications, it should still say "@Jacob_535455 just went LIVE" (or something similar) to prevent confusion with someone else named Jacob

Here's an idea. Actually recycle the inactive user names like you said you would. I've been on Twitch for 7.5 years now WITHOUT my correct handle because someone with 1 follower is "using" it. As long as my fans are searching for my page this account will be "active" because it's getting traffic from my followers. PLEASE allow attention to this and other cases like this instead of sending generic response as if we didn't already research why this is happening. As a 7.5 year Twitch streamer it's crazy to me that myself and others are still waiting for our correct handles because some inactive account is not being recycled.

Long Story Short: Recycle Usernames