I use the same handle on many sites I frequent: "chuckmoulton" (my
name).

There are two big sites on which I was unable to get that handle:

AOL Instant Messenger
Yahoo!

It's likely that neither handle is actually in use today, but rather
they were registered long ago then forgotten about.  The Yahoo profile
for chuckmoulton hasn't been updated since 1997 and a friend of mine
added the AIM handle to his buddy list many years ago without ever
seeing this person come online.

I have repeatedly tried emailing chuckmoulton@aol.com and
chuckmoulton@yahoo.com offering to buy the handles from these people,
but I have never received a response.  Likely that is because the
handles are no longer used, as I hypothesized before.

Neither AOL nor Yahoo recycle unused handles.  This is probably due to
the fact that they want to inflate their membership numbers to attract
more advertisers.

I've tried contacting AOL and Yahoo too, but neither have been at all
helpful.  That doesn't make much sense to me since I'm a longtime
stockholder in both companies, have been a customer for years, and
explained to them how it makes poor financial sense for a company to
refuse money offered to them.

I would be willing to pay a reasonable sum of money to the legitimate
owners of the handles if I could just get in contact with them to do
so.


My question is:

How can I go about aquiring the handle "chuckmoulton" on AIM and
Yahoo?


An acceptable answer would either tell me how to successfully get in
contact with the owners of those handles or how to take ownership of
the handles some other way.

Thanks.

---

Clarification of Question by chuckmoulton-ga on 12 Mar 2003 02:03 PST

Even if someone is able to give me solid advice on how to go about
aquiring only the AIM account or aquiring only the Yahoo! account,
that would be an acceptable answer.

You might be the first to raise this question, out of thousands that
wanted to.

Go to the media - newspapers, TV. This is a great human interest
story, with a touch of tech. It might sound like I'm joking, but I
ain't.

This has Internet, personal identity & frustration... This is a story.

Hmm, interesting suggestion robertskelton. I don't know if I see many
major outlets championing this cause, though.

Anyway, I thought Yahoo had an inactivation period, around 4 or 5
months. It may just be that the owner of the account logs-in
frequently (or infrequently) but doesn't see a need to update their
profile (I, for one, don't update it very often at all, even though I
check the account semi-regularly).

There are (legal) ways to determine whether or not someone has read an
email you sent, but they're not fool-proof and a negative response
could mean that they either ignored the email (maybe deleting it
straight away) or that they don't check the account.

I think that the following site may help answer your question. I
suggest that you do NOT use those tools available there, however you
might find the information interesting.
Please feedback if you find this answer acceptable.

http://www.hoobie.net/brutus/index.html

robertskelton-ga, I think it's absurd to consider this a human
interest story.

jdog-ga, they do not have inactivation periods, though they do provide
a way for users to voluntarily delete their accounts.  I have had a
Yahoo account inactive for well over 5 months and it still works.

As for legal ways to determine whether an email was read, you're right
that there are ways of doing that.  I have considered sending an email
to each address with a small image referenced on my server.  This is
commonly called a web bug.  However I find it quite unlikely that the
email addresses are used anyway and it does seem a bit seedy, so I'm
not in any rush to do that before hearing other brainstorms.

shadycraig-ga, password crackers usually require access to the local
files on the machine of the password you're trying to crack.  Most
crackers that claim to work without such access are either fakes, or
worse trojans that will attack you when you install them in your
system.  Anyway, such a thing would be highly illegal, which is not
something I'm looking for.

so if you suggest NOT using the cracker found there...exactly what
information opn that site is supposed to help?

I would usually agree with you that bugging an email is a little
underhanded, but this case seems slightly more justified (though still
not completely kosher). Regardless, it probably wouldn't help much if
you did it, so you're right to look for other ideas.

I knew AOL doesn't inactivate old accounts, but I thought Yahoo did;
apparently, I was wrong. Still, it's possible that one or both of the
accounts is still in use. In fact, it may just be that the AOL user
has blocked anyone not on their Buddy List (or even AIM, as opposed to
true AOL, users), which is why your friend has never seen him
(presumably) online.

I know you're looking for more than some speculation, but it seems
that, in the current situation, there might not be more that we can
offer. I guess we'll have to wait to see what other researchers say.

This is a longshot, but an idea.

Let's assume for a moment that both of the e-mail addresses are no
longer being used. There is a possibility that chuckmoulton uses the
same handle with another ISP.  I've changed my e-mail addresses
several times over the years and, given a choice, always choose the
same one (if available).

I did a search for "chuckmoulton@" and one entry came up -
chuckmoulton@cox.net.

No guarantee this account is active either, but why not write to him
asking him if he used the handle for yahoo and aol.  The worst he will
say is you've got the wrong person.

Also, you are incorrect about yahoo.  They do recycle Yahoo ID's. 
They wait 90 days from the time you delete it (in case you change you
mind). After that, its available for anyone to use.

Good luck.

https://edit.yahoo.com/config/delete_user