# Where to get discourse\_org\_access\_key?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547
**Category:** Site feedback
**Tags:** discourse-hub
**Created:** [May 11, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547 "2013-05-11T02:06:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@zachlatta](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zachlatta)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/1 "2013-05-11T02:06:09Z")
Hello everyone.
I just set up a Discourse installation on my VPS. I’d like to check usernames against the Discourse Hub. Where can I get the `discourse_org_access_key` required for this (if it exists)?
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Sander78](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Sander78)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2013, 6:02am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/2 "2013-05-11T06:02:46Z")
IIRC that isn’t working yet. Only `try.discourse.org` and How to Geek have this connection now.
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### Author:  [@neil](https://meta.discourse.org/u/neil)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/3 "2013-05-11T16:03:47Z")
My goal is to finally get this done next week (unless @codinghorror has more urgent stuff for me). For now, make sure your contact\_email site setting is set to an address where we can reach you.
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### Author:  [@zachlatta](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zachlatta)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/4 "2013-05-11T19:00:39Z")
Great! Looking forward to it!
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### Author:  [@brandon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/brandon)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2013, 7:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/5 "2013-06-18T07:13:39Z")
Any updates on this? This is the only thread I can find about it on the whole internets.
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### Author:  [@neil](https://meta.discourse.org/u/neil)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/6 "2013-06-18T15:49:18Z")
> [@Neil](#):
>
> (unless @codinghorror has more urgent stuff for me)
^ That. Giving out discourse\_org\_access\_keys isn’t a priority right now.
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### Author:  [@Lee\_Ars](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lee_Ars)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/7 "2013-11-21T03:44:43Z")
Hey, as of this evening’s git pull, suddenly I’ve got a big splat in my admin console:
I would just toggle “enforce\_global\_nicknames” off, but there’s a warning next to that flag saying to not change it except during initial setup. Should we ignore the warning, or is there a way to get disourse access keys for forum owners?
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### Author:  [@illspirit](https://meta.discourse.org/u/illspirit)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/8 "2013-11-21T05:22:43Z")
I ignored the warning and turned the global nicknames off. 😮
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### Author:  [@neil](https://meta.discourse.org/u/neil)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/9 "2013-11-21T20:33:01Z")
That’s a new warning. Since you didn’t have a key, it wasn’t doing anything anyway. I should actually change the default value so all new installs don’t see that. We’ll enable it by default when we start giving out keys.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2013, 12:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/10 "2013-11-22T00:13:14Z")
Yeah please change the default on that!
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### Author:  [@pakl](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pakl)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/11 "2014-01-11T21:53:51Z")
Can one apply for a `discourse_org_access_key` yet or is this still in the works?
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2014, 5:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/12 "2014-01-13T05:52:50Z")
I think that would be tough for established forums as they already have userbases. The software kind of assumes you set this value at the beginning, before any users have signed up, correct @Neil?
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### Author:  [@neil](https://meta.discourse.org/u/neil)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/13 "2014-01-13T16:38:15Z")
It does, but turning it on means that some existing users could have duplicate usernames. If they try to change their username, the new username will be checked with the directory. So you’ll end up with a site that has some users with globally unique usernames, and some don’t. When this setting is enabled, we need to check existing users and register them if they are unique, or do something with the usernames that aren’t unique (generate a new username for them and allow them to change it).
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### Author:  [@bcjordan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/bcjordan)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2014, 6:49am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/14 "2014-03-08T06:49:22Z")
Is it possible to get a key for a new forum, or is there another ticket / thread to follow to be notified of when keys become available?
The messaging next to key entry: `The access key used to access the Discourse Hub username registry at discourse.org` seems to suggest keys might be available on [discourse.org](http://discourse.org), so my first thought was to search around there for a bit (then found this thread).
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### Author:  [@Jeremy](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jeremy)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/15 "2014-03-24T15:13:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> @codinghorror[said (on discourse.codinghorror.com)](http://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/please-read-the-comments/1393/99):
>
> For @FichteFoll and @jeremybanks – it turns out most communities are more interested in local namespaces than global ones.
>
> In other words, in your own clubhouse you demand the right to be referred to as @dave and @harry. Seems reasonable to me.
Makes sense, and it’s understandable that it wouldn’t be worth investing time in polishing a relatively undesired feature to prepare for public use.
Does this still have a decent chance of being implemented at some point in the future?
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### Author:  [@neil](https://meta.discourse.org/u/neil)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-to-get-discourse-org-access-key/6547/16 "2014-07-16T16:33:23Z")
This topic is now closed. New replies are no longer allowed.
Username integration with the hub has been removed since no one really wanted it anyway. So there’s no need for an access key anymore.
Main discussion for Discourse Hub continues here:
> [@Revitalizing the Discourse Hub](https://meta.discourse.org/t/revitalizing-the-discourse-hub/15029):
>
> The original basic idea of the Discourse Hub have a reserved @username across all Discourse instances, so when someone sees @username on any Discourse forum, they’ll know it is (probably) you! … seems like kind of a bad idea in retrospect. Why? Well, if you run your own Discourse, and your name is @david, you probably want to be called @david, even if some other David reserved the name in Feburary 2013 here on meta. It is your community, after all, who are we to tell you that you can’t use y…