Regained my identity

[ghostlymoron]

Just before Christmas I lost my identity as ghostlymoron and had to set up a new one as gentleman of leisure. I don't know why This happened but I had great difficulty sorting out as my registered mail address was one I no longer have access to as I've changed my broad band provider.
I had all sorts of problems with BT regaining access so that YBW could send me a reset code but have now achieved it.
The moral is, if you change email address, make sure you change your contact details on all accounts as you will have the hassle that I've experienced. It's surprising how many accounts you'll have to change; Amazon, Google, PayPal, YouTube, eBay, YBW etc.
Anyway, glad to be back. When someone stops posting you do fear the worst.

 

[Cantata]

Good to hear that you're not truly ghostly, then!

 

[Paulg25]

Had a hotmail account since the dawn of time for that very reason.

 

[Daverw]

Same here, I’ve had a separate AOL account for ever, any new accounts I need to have are bounced to this one so never tied into broadband provider, too much grief to change

 

[The Professional]

I've never paid for an email address, too many free ones out there

 

[JumbleDuck]

The moral is, if you change email address, make sure you change your contact details on all accounts as you will have the hassle that I've experienced. It's surprising how many accounts you'll have to change; Amazon, Google, PayPal, YouTube, eBay, YBW etc.

Welcome back. I have my own domain, so I have kept the same email address (myname@mydomain.org) for twenty years although it has in that time pointed to at least six different mailboxes.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I've now got a Google mail account so no longer linked to my broadband provider. Whilst I don't regret changing to Plusnet, which is owned by BT, it's proved very difficult to sever all links with the parent company.

 

[bedouin]

This is the main reason that puts me off from changing Broadband provider. I have had my current email address for 20+ years and I hav no idea about all the accounts that have that address associated with them.

I did set up Outlook/Gmail accounts a year or so ago with the intention of gradually switching over but I haven't made much progress with it

 

[James_Calvert]

I had a Freeserve email account which I stuck with through the corporate evolutions into Wannado and Orange but the latter finally pulled the plug on it a few year's ago.

All transferred eventually to new Gmail account with an outlook one in reserve. Except that is for a Morrisons More card,which is stuck on my old account and an old address. Of course I've no idea what my password was either. Helpline says I can cancel it by logging in, they can't.

 

[Poignard]

This is the main reason that puts me off from changing Broadband provider. I have had my current email address for 20+ years and I hav no idea about all the accounts that have that address associated with them.

I did set up Outlook/Gmail accounts a year or so ago with the intention of gradually switching over but I haven't made much progress with it

Same with me.

 

[longjohnsilver]

This is the main reason that puts me off from changing Broadband provider. I have had my current email address for 20+ years and I hav no idea about all the accounts that have that address associated with them.

I did set up Outlook/Gmail accounts a year or so ago with the intention of gradually switching over but I haven't made much progress with it

same here, I also set up gmail accounts a year or so back but have never used them. You can move away from bt and keep your bt email account but they charge about £7 pm for doing so.

 

[RichardS]

I had the same email address for 30 years even though I had changed ISP many times during the decades. In 2017 they pulled the plug on their email servers. I started to switch to a gmail address which I obtained 16 years ago but had never used. The negative fallout from the change in email address continues to this day, with a new issue cropping up on a weekly basis.

Richard

 

[A1Sailor]

Just before Christmas I lost my identity as ghostlymoron and had to set up a new one as gentleman of leisure. I don't know why This happened but I had great difficulty sorting out as my registered mail address was one I no longer have access to as I've changed my broad band provider.
I had all sorts of problems with BT regaining access so that YBW could send me a reset code but have now achieved it.

How did you convince YBW that you were indeed the original ghostlymoron and not somebody wishing to hijack ghostlymoron's account?

 

[Graham376]

I also set up gmail accounts a year or so back but have never used them.

I changed to gmail last year and had lots of problems, including having to change my identity here and when the forum recently upgraded, gmail thought it was spam. I use Windows Live Mail on W7 so I can see all may various accounts on one page and read off line. I have four different computers in different locations and, when I swap, gmail often tells me it has blocked an unauthorised attempt to log in.

 

[Richard10002]

Anyway, glad to be back. When someone stops posting you do fear the worst.

Perhaps this is the reason we haven’t seen mountain for a while, and he’s not been locked up in a Cyprus jail

 

[LadyInBed]

I had a Freeserve email account which I stuck with through the corporate evolutions into Wannado and Orange but the latter finally pulled the plug on it a few year's ago.

All transferred eventually to new Gmail account with an outlook one in reserve.

Same here. Now I use my Gmail for general / social and Outlook for personal / household.
It took a bit of time and effort to change over but I got there in the end.

 

[ghostlymoron]

How did you convince YBW that you were indeed the original ghostlymoron and not somebody wishing to hijack ghostlymoron's account?

That was the problem, they sent a new password link to my old BT address which I couldn't access. I contacted BT and after a couple of long conversations they sent me a link to my old account, I was able to refresh the password and, bingo, I had access again, could use the YBW link and restore my identity.
Apparently the old BT mail account hasn't been deleted and still accumulates messages from subscribers who I haven't notified. It seems your accounts continue for ever. I wonder what happens to these things when you die because no one will notify them.

 

[ghostlymoron]

This is the main reason that puts me off from changing Broadband provider. I have had my current email address for 20+ years and I hav no idea about all the accounts that have that address associated with them.

I did set up Outlook/Gmail accounts a year or so ago with the intention of gradually switching over but I haven't made much progress with it

ive started to review all my site logins and passwords but it's a long job and there s always more interesting things to do

 

[NormanB]

I cannot manage account usernames (usually but not always an email address) and passwords effectively AND securely so have delegated the task to a ‘password manager’. I use one called One Password which I am very happy with, but there are plenty of others, they all allow you to generate much more complex passwords than you would ever have a hope of ‘remembering’. Currently, I am managing 157 accounts via this ‘app’ which at least gives me visibility of all my accounts should I need to inform of a change of email address - it would still be a pain in the arse - but still an achievable task.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Iv

How did you convince YBW that you were indeed the original ghostlymoron and not somebody wishing to hijack ghostlymoron's account?

I've only just seen this question but have no idea as to the answer - sorry.