Why can’t I change my original ID handle? I’ve already searched, and it doesn’t look like anyone else is currently using this username. ![]()
By itself, the error 404 doesn’t indicate whether an username is free or not. https://exercism.org/profiles/fomkkgmkreoferlgmelrmgegrgref and https://exercism.org/profiles/kytrinyx both result in a 404. The first one is a gibberish username I wrote, but the second one is a valid user with a non-public profile.
It sounds like you’re trying to change your Exercism handle. You can do that in Exercism at the bottom of Account Settings in the Change your handle section. If you’re having issues there, it’d be useful to know what if any error messages you’re receiving.
I just figured out the issue myself: it turns out I couldn’t make the change because of the “core” keyword, which is flagged as sensitive. However, what really puzzles me is this: if the problem was indeed caused by a sensitive keyword, why did the system still display the generic error message “unable to change handle”? If the system had clearly indicated the specific nature of the error, I wouldn’t have had to go to such great lengths—or even come here to post about it.


