Wikipedia:SUL conflict

Prior to SUL finalisation, the same name could be used on two or more Wikimedia projects by different users. This was known as a SUL conflict or Single Unified Login collision.

If a single-user login had not yet been created, the user with the most edits held the "claim" to the SUL, and other users with the same name would be unable to create an SUL account with that name. If a single-user login had been created, unattached accounts owned by others would hinder cross-project work by the SUL owner. The global account browser could be used to check for SUL conflicts and determine the owner or claimholder.

To reduce the frequency of SUL conflicts as well as enhance collaboration and foster good will across the various Wikimedia projects, English Wikipedia global renamers processed requests to "usurp" unused or inactive local accounts made by SUL owners expediently and with relaxed consideration.

For the same reason, renamers typically declined to process requests by local users that would create new SUL conflicts or have the effect of allowing a local user to take over the claim from an active user on another project, even if the SUL account had not yet been created.

While renames were ultimately subject to a global renamer's discretion, a few rough guidelines were used to determine whether to grant a particular request by a local user where the name already existed on another project:

• Has the SUL already been created?
• Has the other-project user been active in the last year?
• Has the other-project user made more than 25 edits per year of inactivity?
• Does the other-project user appear to have worked on multiple projects?
• Does the other-project user have regular gaps in their editing that suggest they will be back eventually?

If the answer to one or more of the above was "yes", the request was generally declined with a suggestion to gain consent of the other-project user.