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Hi,
I am in the process of moving from DAP to eMember and eStore. One of the major drivers was that DAP chose people’s username for them – a combo of first and last name – but many of my members didn’t want their full name appearing as their username in the forum and there was no way to change it.
I want to import my DAP members into eMember and was planning to use the member > import function (they’re currently there as WordPress users). However, I notice that this process also imports the old DAP-set username and won’t then allow it to be changed – defeating one of the main benefits of moving to eMember.
Is there a way of importing these members to allow them to choose their own username?
I guess I could export them to CSV, delete them all (scary!) from the WordPress user list and then somehow import them. Is there a way to do this that would allow me to explain a customised email to them, explaining what was going on and allowing them to register?
Thanks!
Clare
How many users might want to change their usernames?
Since you are using a CSV as an intermediary, what you might try doing is having an “open enrollment period,” on the old system, in which users can tell you what they want for their new user name. After the period ends, make the changes to the CSV and then import that. Of course, this might get messy if you have a large number of users, or if the existing usernames also exist as WP users. You must also get the logistics of the operation planned, so as to minimize down time.
Once the members have been imported, there is no way to change the usernames:
https://support.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forums/topic/change-username-in-cms
Update: I just saw your *other* post. The above probably will be too messy for you to handle.
Hi,
Thanks for the reply!
Yes, as per the other post, there are about 700 members…
I was hoping to find a way to import them and have them click the ‘registration’ link, as though they were first-time users. Is there a way of doing this? As you say, the username is pivotal in the eMember database and can’t be changed.
Is there a way for me to import them that would allow me to explain in a customised email to them, explaining what was going on and allowing them to register (once I have deleted them from the current wordpress database), choosing their own username?
Thanks!
Clare
Well, since you are going to delete them from the WP database, this just might work…
1. Send out your email, asking if anyone wants a new username. Give them a cutoff date.
2. As the responses come in, you must manually ensure that no conflicts will occur, that the choices are acceptable, etc.
3. Create a spreadsheet with the old and new choices.
4. After the cutoff date, plan some kind of membership freeze. Do not accept new users under DAP.
5. Export the users to another spreadsheet.
6. Join/Merge/Align the 2 spreadsheets together to create a third spreadsheet; that contains the final usernames that will be used.
7. Use that as the CSV data for importing.
Most of the effort will be logistical.
Here is another possible approach you could take.
Don’t bother importing the old users (since you don’t want those usernames and stuff).
Create a new page on your site and use the following shortcode in there:
Broadcast to your users and request them to go to this page and fill in the form (they get to choose the username and password and everything). After a few days most of the users should have done this and you can take down that page.
Another thing you can do is the following:
Import your users as usual (which you have already done). Then change the usernames (for the ones that want it changed) in the database. You can do that via PHPMyAdmin. Check this tutorial that will teach you the basics of using PHPMyAdmin (if you didn’t know about that tool):
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