Can't access my TH account ( and it got duped )

[Madn3ss795-1283924]

So, I have been a Tom's Hardware member for quite sometime, under the account Madn3ss795. Today when I try to log in my account for the first time after months ( had to spare time for uni ), I simply forgot the password. So I filled in the email, waited for new password to come and finally logged in, but I was greeted with this account instead, which looks like an early clone of my account that haven't got updated for years. Every login attempts of mine ( both by email and username ) lead to this new clone, and I'm sure that the email used for the old account haven't changed at all, as I'm still receiving newsletters from Tom's Hardware regularly. What can be done to have this clone deleted and my rights to access my original account returned? Thanks in advance.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Uh oh. Looks like you originally created two accounts somehow (double pressed the button?), and it's swapped which one you're logging into.

I don't have back-end access, so can't go and wrestle the database into shape, but I think this might work:

Change the email on the account you can log in to. This should mean that the only account with your old email attached is the original account. After that, log out and back in (using the email, not the username).

 

[Madn3ss795]

Took some time for the emails to arrive, but it worked. Thanks!

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Awesome. Probably something changed in the back end that swapped whether it would go for the older or newer account. Can't say what.

 

[jpishgar]

Glad you got it worked out! The clones are relatively few and far between, but we've bumped into a few of them. They are an inevitable side effect of inactivity coupled with two forum platform software overhauls that changed the way users are handled.

-JP