Frequently Asked Questions

The NearlyFreeSpeech.NET FAQ (*)

Our Service (*)

Q. Can I change the name of my _____?

Here is a summary of what can and cannot be changed:

Memberships

NearlyFreeSpeech.NET memberships are held by individuals, must not be shared or transferred, and must use your legal name. (I.e. The name on the government-issued photo ID you would show us to regain access if you ever got locked out.)

If you have legally changed your name (for any reason), you can submit an assistance request to have us update it in the system for you.

If you gave us an invalid name when you signed up, and you are now prepared to fix it, you can use the same assistance request, but there will be a nominal fee to process the change.

If you were interested in changing the name because you want to transfer control of your hosted services to someone else, stop and see this FAQ entry instead. If you're interested in changing the name because someone gave you the login name and password to a membership with their name on it, stop accessing our system immediately! Contact them, and tell them to transfer things to you properly.

You can request a change to your login name at any time for a nominal fee (waived for subscription members) through the same assistance request. No reason is required.

Sites

You can add and remove aliases from a site at any time through our member interface.

The short name of a site cannot be changed without creating a new site, moving the content over, then deleting the old one.

Accounts
The account name can be changed at any time from the Account Information Panel in our member interface.

The account number (e.g. A1B2-C3D4E5F6) cannot be changed.

MySQL Processes

MySQL process names (DSN's) cannot be changed. You must create a new one, move any needed content, then delete the old one.

MySQL does not provide a builtin way to rename databases, but tables can be renamed using the RENAME TABLE SQL command.