AIM screen name question

[Rallispec]

how long (if ever) does it take for a screen name to be deleted if it is never used. There is a screen name i want but has been registered already. I've had that name on my buddy list for 4 months now and never seen them sign online.
I'm hoping that after sometime of not being used AOL will delete that account and let me register that name.

 

[im2smrt4u]

I am wondering the same. I forgot the password on my original AIM account and I guess I used a BS email because I can't recover it!

BTW, it has been YEARS!

 

[toant103]

i don't think it's going to be deleted like MSN.

 

[thawolfman]

This is the most I could pull off of AOL...there was nothing else about an inactive name...

 

[Platypus]

I think it remains in their database. I doubt they ever let you reregister a name.

 

[Rallispec]

<< i don't think it's going to be deleted like MSN. >>

damn


thanks for the link thatwolfman... looks like i'm gonna be up all night guessing passwords

 

[TheVrolok]

I know AOL SNs are incapable of being used for 6 months after they are deleted. Perhaps 6 months of inactivity for IMer SNs? Just a guess, could possibly be never, but that seems like an awful waste of space for AOL to have every name ever made stored..

 

[GooberPHX420]

I think its after 6 months of complete inactivity it kills the name. Unless that person has an AOL account and has the name registered still and doesnt plan on killing their acct any time soon...

 

[Rallispec]

okay-- i think have aol figured out.

after 6 months of inactivity, AOL just kinda clears the name or something. I had an old screen name that i hadnt used in years and went to the lost password screen and it gave me a "this username is not valid" error... but i remembered the password anyways so signed on using that name and it worked. I went back to the lost password screen and tried that same old screen name and suddenly it let me recover the lost passwrod that i never actually lost.

however, my buddy list and everything else had not been saved. So... i guess names really never get erased.. they just get set aside or archived i guess. However they're still usable.

back to guessing passwords.

 

[erikiksaz]

Well, i've had some screen names from seventh and eigth grade, and they still work fine....

 

[Nocturnal]

k, this is the facts. they say they'll delete the name in 6 months if no one uses it and its deleted from the master screen name. this usually does not occur for about 2-3 years sometimes. if youre lucky they dump the screen name in one year from its deletion.

now if you registered a aim name, youll never get that aim name again. unless you know someone from aol who can release that aim sn for you.