Merge OLD account information into NEW account.

[paulfxh]

HibrI signed up for a GMail account last Friday and my experience so far has been very good.brHowever, I had been using Google Groups (Usenet) for some time under a different Google account (Yahoo email address).brNow that I have a GMail address, this has automatically substituted the Yahoo address I had been using in Google Groups.brThere are three serious consequences to this:brbr1. I no longer receive alerts to new posts to threads in which I had been involvedbr2. I can no longer readily access old threads to check something or other (not available in My Profile)br3. The total number of posts shown in My Profle has dropped from nearly 400 to zerobrbrI have contacted Google Help a number of times about this problem asking for the information in my old Google account be merged with that in the new account. However, I have as yet not received a reply.brbrSurely this cannot be an intractable problem?brbrI would really appreciate it if somebody could let me know how I can extricate myself from this difficulty and retrieve this valuable information.brbrTIAbrPaulbrbrbr

[mondine]

It would just be your browser cookies that automatically signs you in to Google Groups under your new (Gmail) ID.
If you wished to continue using your old one, you could sign out of Google, and sign back in using your old Google account.

You will not, however, be able to merge the information for the two.

[paulfxh]

Hi Mondine
Thanks for your reply.
However, I'm afraid that Google Groups no longer recognizes my old username/password. It appears they have been completely substituted by my new GMail address and password.
Therefore the only way I can access all of my old threads is by doing what any other user would have to do.
Plus, I am missing out on alerts to the threads in which discussions are ongoing.
Is there really absolutely nothing I can do to merge this information into my new account?
If not, how can I get back to using my old username/password that Google Groups seems to have discarded?
Yours in desperation
Paul

[mondine]

What actually happens when you try the old log-in?

And is your current user name in Groups the same (nickname) as you used before? Or your entire (new) address?

[paulfxh]

Thanks for the quick reply, Mondine
When I login with my OLD username/password, an error message appears stating that the name and the password do not correspond. This is surprising as the username shows up as one of two choices that I can click after typing only one or two letters. Thereafter, the password appears without any need to type anything (as has always occurred).
And, yes, I am using EXACTLY the same nickname as before (I think you may have hit the nail on the head here).
However, where to next as I don't want to change my nickname?
TIA
Paul

[mondine]

Well, I'm not sure what your options are, at this point.
If you want to try to recover the old account, I'd try this:
Log into your Google Account with your new ID, go to Google Groups account settings and change, or blank out the user (nick)name.
Then sign out, and try to log in with the old Google account ID. Don't use the autocomplete password that your browser suggests.
Make sure you type in your old password that corresponds to that account.
In fact, you may want to clear your cache, and remove all Google cookies before this step.
If you get the same error message for your old account, try using the "forgot password" link.
This way, you can establish , at least, if your old account still exists, and hopefully, be able to resume using it.

[paulfxh]

Hi Mondine
I tried your various suggestions, for which thanks, but none of them worked.
It just seems that my old user account name just cannot be opened in the normal fashion.
What I find strange, however, is that I can go into any NG through Google Groups in which I have posted under my old username. By clicking on See Profile for my posts, I am brought to all of my old posts including the number of posts and when they were posted.
Indeed, the only thing missing is that I don't get alerted to any posts to threads I have already contributed to.
Given that the OLD account apparently still exists, how can I get the alerts when there is a new post? In addition, how can I get my pld profile data merged into my new profile?
Am I the only one to have been affected by this particular problem?
If not, has nobody else figured out how to get around it?
TIA
Paul

[mondine]

Well, I think there's a piece of information missing here, somewhere.
Now, you said that you've used the same user name in the same groups in which you'd posted with your old account?

See, this is not supposed to be possible. If you try to post with a different account, with the exact same nickname,
what would generally happen is that you'd be told that name was in use, and prompted to select a different one.

So, I'm as confused as you are, at this point, I'm afraid.
Although, the fact that those posts are archived, and you can see a profile for them doesn't necesarilly mean that that (old) account is still active.
I'd ignore the issue of the new ID, and simply treat it as an attempt to recover the old account.
But if no method has worked thus far, I don't know what to suggest other than wait for support to get back to you.
Sorry.

[paulfxh]

Hi Mondine
Thanks for your reply.
Perhaps what has happened does sound strange, or even implausible, but it is totally TRUE.
Indeed, you can even check it yourself if you have both the time and the interest. My user name in Google Groups is exactly the same as my user name on this forum; paulfxh
This is what it is now with my new GMail address and this is what it was with my old Yahoo address.
If you want to check this out you could look in this group (microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript) and see in the Profile for paulfxh that the email address I have now is different from the one I had one week ago ALTHOUGH THE NICKNAME IS UNCHANGED.
Weird, huh?
Also, I should mention that this change in my Google account details just happened. It wasn't something that I actively (or even knowingly) participated in. So, I did not have any hand in choosing my "new" nickname.
On the topic of waiting for Google Support to get back to me, it really looks as if I'm not going to get anything other than a "rubber stamp" reply here, if even that. So, I'm not going to hold my breath.
Ok, so it's a bit of a pain, but it's not a tragedy and I can live with it.
Thanks for worrying along with me for a while
Paul

[mondine]

Yes, it appears that we're out of theories.
It seems rather a large oversight, though, that they'd automatically 'marry' your existing account to your new address
without transferring the ability to move your email notifications to the new address.
Gotta love those betas, eh?

I'm just curious, at this point, what would happen if you changed the alternate address in your Google account to the one you had been using.
(Not that I think it would do any good. I'm just curious to see if they'd let you, or say that it's 'in use'.)