Changing the default System account user name

Support
1

Each time the Discourse container is rebuilt the System account user name reverts to “system”. Is it possible to change it permanently to something else?

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2

Changing the system username isn’t recommended, it may lead to problems such as site breakage, my question is why do you want to change it?

3

Since the default System user sends automated messages to other users, I wanted do give it a more friendly name. Should I rather create a new user and list it as “site contact username”?

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4

That’s what the setting is for!

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5

Is the setting safe? @Noah751’s comment here and an earlier topic both mention potential problems, though it isn’t clear if those problems actually still exist:

I can see that I can do it, but I’m not confident that it’s safe to do so. Does anybody have any more recent info on this?

Thanks.

6

I haven’t heard much discussion about this in a while, I still don’t think it is safe to change the system username.

7

Specifying an alternative account is safe, altering system is not.

Be aware that if you specify a new user that isn’t a person you will need to check the PMs and stuff, otherwise users could interact with it and never get a response.

Part of why system is looks and is named the way it is serves to deter such stuff.

8

Our discourse is in spanish and system doesn’t look friendly at all. I created a new account with our community name and it looks like system (deters interaction) but more friendly.

I see that system has PM enabled, so anybody can send messages to that account. Maybe a global renaming could be an great adittion to take in mind.

Just MHO.

9

You can rename the system account.

EDIT: OOps. But you can’t.

I guess what to do is change site contact username, which I guess is what you did.

10

But I read that’s not recommended and I see that every rebuild changes the name back to system.

Yep, I did it but system stills showing in some important topics like tos or guidelines.

I think that global translation, at least, could be great for non-english users, in order to keep that account safe (without renaming it). Using a new account could motivates some interaction that we don’t really want (pms, mentions, etc).

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