Twitch changed their username policy and hasn't made ANY announcement whatsoever here and on the uservoice. The new article mentions NOTHING about recycling usernames. Stupid how most inactive names are locked to 2% of users, partners.

I was waiting patiently for an inactive username to be recycled since 2018, today I found out that a Partner stole it, who then told me he just sent one email.

Unfair that Twitch violates their own name recycling policy for Partners. "We also do not take requests for specific usernames to be recycled."

So stupid. If they changed the policy to say they allow Partners to request usernames that would make it acceptable at least but they outright say they don't take requests...

Lesson here is don't hunt for an inactive username because if a Partner wants it, they can get it with a simple email and you don't even get a fair chance of getting it after checking it monthly for 6 years. Just give up guys, Twitch doesn't care about you.

I 100% agree. I'd also like to add that the 1 year with no login/viewing activity policy is kind of unhelpful and can easily be bypassed considering the fact that a user can just login once a year for a couple seconds and log out to refresh it. Why not impose new policies to distinguish username hoggers from real users that genuinely use Twitch? This could include a mandatory watch time goal to prove you're a real user of Twitch. Perhaps an obligatory 1 week watch time that you would have the entire year to complete. This way, users cannot just simply log on and log out, they have to actually use the website for entertainment.

Please look into this, Twitch. Been wanting my username since 2018.

I had just finish creating my Youtube and Instagram accounts which allowed me to have my channel name and my name on it so naturally I thought I could do the same for twitch but when I changed the username to what I wanted my channel to be called I soon found out the display was not for another name but just for capitalization purposes. I was completely astounded to find out not only could I not change my name for 2 MONTHS but that I couldn't reclaim the name that I JUST changed for at least 6 MONTHS!!! If I would've been aware of these overly long waits I would've never tried to alter the name. It is ridiculous to have to wait, half a year, to try to reclaim a name that you just changed a few minutes after discovering twitch's lack of channel/profile customization. The more I read the comments plus the impersonal email twitch sent me the less confident I feel of getting my name back. I feel this system needs an overhaul badly since this seems to be an occurring problem.

bumping this post^ PLEASE, please take this into consideration Twitch.

PLEASE LOOK INTO THIS TWITCH

3 years ago, I created StillVill as a new user name to secure it before I changed mine.

I deleted it and waiting 6 months to change it.

Nothing, still hadn’t released and no user has picked it up.

3 years later I STILL CANT USE THAT NAME.

Give us a request system to reclaim old user names ESPECIALLY if it was an account we created.

Deleting the old account and renaming ours to it will save storage on your servers, and make your users happier with the ability to me more discoverable.

It appears as though my deleted account's username is still not available for use (Finn_Aura, so now using Fin_Aura), it kinda sucks since I also know others facing the same problem. It's been probably like a year but if there is nothing to be done, it is what it is.

I wish I could bump this post. The username I want, the person was banned in 2014. I don't understand why they won't recycle the username. It's not a bad word or anything. The person who had just got banned. Unfortunate.

Ana, what if I became partnered? Can a resolution be met with that user? Maybe reaching out to see if they were okay with losing that name? If they don't respond in a certain time frame then consider them inactive?

This has been said many times before but I want to say it again, because it doesn't seem to be getting across Twitch personnel at all. PLEASE fix this, usernames that haven't been in use since I started streaming 3 years ago will not be removed!

I literally made my account 3 years ago and wanted the name Avenir but instead the username was taken by an inactive account apparently YEARS ago. No uploads, no videos, no past streams, NO FOLLOWERS, and yet I still can't get this username to go inactive.

On top of this, I submitted a ticket to you guys multiple times about this issue and the same annoying automated response comes back to me: "User must be inactive 12 months consecutively in order for a username to go back into the pool" IT'S BEEN 3 YEARS.

Twitch, please fix this so we can stop bombarding this forum with the same request repeatedly.

VOTE ALL USERNAME REQUESTS FOR INACTIVE USERNAMES UP!!! They have to see this eventually!

I have been wanting to do an overhaul of my channel for awhile now, and want to get rid of the numbers on the end of my username. Since there is someone that has held onto the username I've wanted with no progress or anything on their channel since 2014, I don't think its fair for them to hold onto that! They should be released after a period of time!

Marcos

Although it has already been proposed, I believe that profiles/usernames should be reset/deleted/deactivated due to inactivity. This proposal has been reviewed and is currently being used to a certain degree. I believe the length of inactivity until the account is deactivated should be shortened to maybe 6 or 8 months instead of an entire year-- preferably 8 months. Consequently, I believe the length of time necessary for the abandoned usernames to be recycled and returned should also be shortened. Perhaps, 3 or 4 months instead of 6 months. I believe this will prove to be more efficient and would satisfy the desires of twitch users.
Thank you,
H.H., Nautical.

Agree

This is a horrible idea. And will cause a lot of hate within the community.

Just take this to the console side on Xbox Live and PSN (even though they are not related to Twitch). Xbox Live nor PSN do not have expiration dates for usernames. Why? Because people are probably absent for X amount of months/years due to work, family issues, and/or active in the military. So now, what if one day you came back from the military, you sign back on Xbox Live or PSN 4 years later to play Video Games with your friends and it says "Sorry, you were inactive for over 1 year and someone took your gamertag. Free of charge on us, you can now pick a new Gamertag/id."

Best way to go around this is to go by cleaning up accounts that have signed up on the site with fake emails aka bots and delete their username/account.

If you are mad that someone took your username. Then make a better one because its not original then.

While it's a good idea for twitch to clean up fake/inactive/bot accounts I don't think this is the way to do it as this could end horribly for certain streamers. Some professional gamer streamers will go on tour for months at a time hell some even go away for a year to partake in tournaments and such. It would suck if they come back and your account is gone. Not to mention companies who only do an event once a year or once every 2 years.

A great ideea sir. Twitch needs to clean up their stuff.

Twitch name is very important for streamers, but often times many of the great usernames are already taken, sometimes by people who don't even use Twitch anymore. It would be great if there was a 6-month/1-year expiration time for usernames if they stop logging in, so that potential new streamers or users can capitalize on them. Think of it as website domains. Also some streamers are forced to add numbers to their desired name making it harder for viewers to remember, which is unfortunate. Lastly, I despise that RagingHamster user with 0 followed channels with the fury of a thousand suns!! >:O - Regards, Raging_Hamster