[Mediawiki-l] Re: Delete user without losing the pages

[Kate Turner]

Denny Schierz wrote in gmane.org.wikimedia.mediawiki:
> hi,
 
> how can i delete or disable the user "admin" without losing the pages
> from user "admin".

there's very little reason to ever actually delete a user, and attempting to
do so is likely to cause problems.  you can block them (to prevent them
from editing) by visiting Special:Blockip and entering the username (you
will need to enable $wgSysopUserBans first). alternatively you can change
their username using the following SQL:

update low_priority user set user_name='NewUsername' 
        where user_name='OldUsername';
update low_priority user_newtalk set user_ip='NewUsername' 
        where user_ip='OldUsername';
update low_priority cur set cur_user_text='NewUsername' 
        where cur_user_text='OldUsername';
update low_priority old set old_user_text='NewUsername' 
        where old_user_text='OldUsername';
update low_priority archive set ar_user_text='NewUsername' 
        where ar_user_text='OldUsername';
update low_priority ipblocks set ipb_address='NewUsername' 
        where ipb_address='OldUsername';
update low_priority oldimage set oi_user_text='NewUsername' 
        where oi_user_text='OldUsername';
update low_priority recentchanges set rc_user_text='NewUsername' 
        where rc_user_text='OldUsername';

replacing OldUsername and NewUsername appropriately.

> cu denny

kate.