# Can't change mail address on Meta
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-change-mail-address-on-meta/41343
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [2016 年 3 月 21 日午前 12:04 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-change-mail-address-on-meta/41343 "2016-03-21T00:04:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sander78](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Sander78)
#### Post date: [2016 年 3 月 21 日午前 12:04 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-change-mail-address-on-meta/41343/1 "2016-03-21T00:04:50Z")
I’m trying to change my mail address from `info@mydomain.ext` to `mail@mydomain.ext` but I get the error that the address is in use already. But it’s not… I checked with a lost password link.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2016 年 3 月 21 日午前 12:35 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-change-mail-address-on-meta/41343/5 "2016-03-21T00:35:13Z")
Hmm any ideas here @zogstrip ? Is this a staged account?
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### Author:  [@Sander78](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Sander78)
#### Post date: [2016 年 3 月 21 日午前 12:47 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-change-mail-address-on-meta/41343/6 "2016-03-21T00:47:49Z")
Ah yes, it must be. I replied from my new address in the last few weeks and got an notification error in the mail of course. But I never got to change the address.
But then again: this is a real case. A user changes address, replies to a Discourse mail before changing the mail address on Discourse and then: you’re stuck.
Solution: when user changes mail to existing TL0 address:
- first have user confirm the new address
- remove TL0 user and replace address
Another solution: don’t create a TL0 user when it’s a reply to a `discourse+{key}@domain.ext` address from an unknown sender.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2016 年 3 月 21 日午前 1:03 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-change-mail-address-on-meta/41343/7 "2016-03-21T01:03:13Z")
I think staged accounts which are not used (for email replies) should be auto deleted eventually maybe after 30 days of inactivity? What do you think @zogstrip?
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [2016 年 3 月 21 日午前 4:21 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-change-mail-address-on-meta/41343/8 "2016-03-21T04:21:56Z")
The bug here is that it should still allow you to change emails to a staged account email if you confirm it, and then merge the 2. I have seen quite a few “dupe” accounts over the past few weeks.
- Change email
- Confirm new email
- If it belongs to a staged account take over all content
deleting is not ideal cause it does not resolve the case where the staged account actually has content.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2016 年 3 月 21 日午前 4:47 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-change-mail-address-on-meta/41343/9 "2016-03-21T04:47:33Z")
Account merging seems like a giant thing to bite off this close to release. Not recommended.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [2016 年 3 月 21 日午前 4:48 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-change-mail-address-on-meta/41343/10 "2016-03-21T04:48:44Z")
We can wait till next release on this, no rush
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2016 年 3 月 21 日午前 4:56 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-change-mail-address-on-meta/41343/11 "2016-03-21T04:56:11Z")
Perhaps one obvious thing to do is provide more info in the error in the login dialog @zogstrip, **say that it is a staged account matching that user so we have the info in the error message UI** versus a “real” user who conflicts. Staged users are basically stubs (or “mocks”, for @sam) of real users 🙂
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### Author:  [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [2016 年 3 月 21 日午後 6:45 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-change-mail-address-on-meta/41343/12 "2016-03-21T18:45:41Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> Perhaps one obvious thing to do is provide more info in the error in the login dialog
Done 🍾
[https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/afacc70fbeb01f589ff246b1e19d966f53039462](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/afacc70fbeb01f589ff246b1e19d966f53039462)
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [2016 年 3 月 21 日午後 6:48 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-change-mail-address-on-meta/41343/13 "2016-03-21T18:48:35Z")
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### Author:  [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [2016 年 3 月 22 日午後 4:38 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-change-mail-address-on-meta/41343/14 "2016-03-22T16:38:39Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> Account merging seems like a giant thing to bite off this close to release. Not recommended.
I think it should be simpler here, because the account being merged is guaranteed to have no bio, no avatar, no preferences, just posts, right?