# Can I change my user id # to 1? (I see it's not being used) **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 5, 2000, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056 "2000-12-05T02:19:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![User\_10K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@User\_10K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/User_10K)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/1 "2000-12-05T02:19:57Z")
The first id# that’s valid is \*\*Lynn Bodoni - Administrator \*\* #3 is **Dan Kaplan - Administrator** #4 is **dunl - Administrator** #5 is the first regular member \*\*jkeene \*\*who never posted! #6 is \*\*Ed Zotti - Administrator \*\* : : #11 is the first regular member who posted **VegForLife - member** #31 is \*\*Cecil Adams - Administrator \*\* OK, I guess Cecil gets first dibs on #1, But if he did want it, he would already have it, so it must be available. Can I change numbers? ::wistful looks:: ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/2 "2000-12-05T02:49:43Z")
In a word, **no**. I also fail to see how that is important. I thought you were so happy being #10,000. ---
**Author:** ![User\_10K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@User\_10K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/User_10K)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/3 "2000-12-05T02:51:34Z")
It was a joke! Came up in another thread. Guess you had to be there. But, who was #1 ? (And where is his ghost right now :eek:) ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/4 "2000-12-05T02:59:27Z")
Ah, a joke. I’m one of the cheaper version ModDroids. My humour subroutines are still in the beta stage. No idea who #1 was or is. Maybe some techie that installed the first UBB software package and needed to test it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/5 "2000-12-05T03:17:51Z")
I suspect that the better question is, who is user number 0? Very few computer languages start indexing with 1. ---
**Author:** ![\_hijack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/c0e974/32.png) [@\_hijack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_hijack)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/6 "2000-12-05T03:52:11Z")
The problem with engineers is they are never interested in standards. That’s why discs start with track 0 sector 1. Anyway, the numbers here start at 1. If you substitute the number 1 into the standard link you get this [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=1](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=1) “Invalid user specified.” Substituting Zero gives an entirely different message. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=0](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=0) “No user specified.” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/7 "2000-12-05T04:27:52Z")
#1 is assigned to Patrick McGoohan. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/8 "2000-12-05T04:42:57Z")
I’m not a number, I’m a free man! ---
**Author:** ![barflyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dc4da7/32.png) [@barflyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barflyer)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/9 "2000-12-05T11:55:56Z")
Try to tell that to that evil conspriacy **T.P.C.** - The Phone Company - trying to control the world with brain implant chips. James Coburn tried to fight them off in **The President’s Analyst** (1967) ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/10 "2000-12-05T13:40:55Z")
Yeah, but that’s a movie, this is a **TV show**. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/11 "2000-12-05T13:45:32Z")
wow… Patrick McGoohan was no 1 and no. 6. Ed Zotti is no. 6. most people expected Cecil to be no.1 Cecil knew the straight dope about the prisoner… It all adds up!! I need a vacation… ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2000, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/12 "2000-12-05T16:35:26Z")
Number one is usually set for testing purposes. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/13 "2000-12-06T05:27:49Z")
Interesting. User #666 is one of those ‘ghosts’ who have a nonzero number of posts but no last post. The fellow’s name is maxzmomliz, registered 04-16-1999, three posts. Somewhat odd, I know why it happens (we had a board software switch, and not all the info got saved). User #1313, name bdavis337, registered 06-01-1999, has never posted. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/14 "2000-12-06T10:15:43Z")
Prior to the introduction of vBulletin, the poster id numbers were not available. I’m not sure if they were internal to the program, or created from the registration dates when the switch occurred. Anyways, you will see several members with registration dates in February of '99. These are all administrators, moderators, people at the Reader, or members of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board. They tested the software for a while before the place opened up for the regular folk in March. Cecil is the first on this list. Jkeene (and some others) works for the Reader, as can be seen from his email address. The first among the common folk is Catbiker, who is just after TubaDiva, who is just after Cecil. The idea seems to have been for moderators to have an official screen name and an unofficial one, but it seems to have never been implemented. For example, the user Private has the same email address as Dan Kaplan. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/15 "2000-12-06T23:47:37Z")
\ and don’t ya ferget it either… Bhwawawawawawawawawa ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-change-my-user-id-to-1-i-see-its-not-being-used/44056/16 "2000-12-07T05:43:34Z")
Cat was a Doper from the AOL era, where he was respected and loved, even back in the day. your humble TubaDiva and still is today, as a matter of fact.