2022-03-30: GitHub flagged my account:
Your account has been flagged.
Because of that, your profile is hidden from the public. If you believe this is a mistake, contact support to have your account status reviewed.
2022-06-18: I finally got a reply from GitHub Support to my ticket asking that my account be un-flagged. My account is still flagged, for how much longer I can't guess.
Methinks my account was either reported by some goody-two-shoes woke asshole, or was picked off in the sweep of an update to GitHub's algorithm.
So, a recap of what happened. At the end of March, a banner appeared on GitHub saying my account had been flagged, with no explanation whatsoever what for. I filed a ticket immediately. Weeks passed and zero reply. As I waited I opened, intermittently, several more tickets for the same request to un-flag, in case the older tickets fell through ignored. After nearly three months, GitHub Support sent me a reply, enlightening me why they immured my account in solitary confinement for the duration (for being flagged means your account virtually disappears from GitHub, all links to your account or repositories returning 404, all your issues, comments and whatnot, hidden from everyone.)
Guess what sin I committed? My username was WRONG!
Here is the reply that took GitHub three months to send:
Hi lolilolicon,
Thanks for reaching out. Your account was actioned following reports that some of its content may have been in violation of the following prohibition found in our Acceptable Use Policies:
We do not allow content or activity on GitHub that:
is sexually obscene or relates to sexual exploitation or abuse, including of minors;
You can read more about our sexually obscene content prohibition here:
GitHub Sexually Obscene Content
Specifically, the content or activity that was reported included your username, which we found to be in violation of our Acceptable Use Policies.
Kindly amend your username via: https://docs.github.com/en/account-and-profile/setting-up-and-managing-your-github-user-account/managing-user-account-settings/changing-your-github-username
Kindly let us know if you need any assistance.
Kind Regards,
GitHub
My username! Which I have used since I registered at GitHub in 2009! Now it's suddenly offensive, obscene, unacceptable, must be changed.
I will forbear discussing the nature of my username (which besides I made up casually, years ago, on a rhythmical pattern) or the justice of forbidding it. Suffice it to say, I disagree with the accusation and the verdict.
So like the powerless pissant I am, I went to the account settings page to change my username. Guess what again? The "Change username" button is grayed out: "Please contact us if you'd like to rename your account."
Goodness! Shall I go through that again, and wait another three months?
2022-06-19: I had my username changed, account un-flagged. I'm now @ropery, (which is a cooler name; I mean I could have asked for @gigogigolo or @dildodildolong for continuity and shits and giggles, but would it have been accepted? And in this climate, why risk it?)
Fortunately, GitHub Support replied to my follow-up question in the original ticket, offering to assist me in changing my username without my having to open a separate ticket. (You more often get pleasantly surprised if you set your expectations low, natch.)
The renaming of account took eight hours after I sent my request.
@lolilolicon is dead; hang on @loli, @lolita, and especially @lolicon (Pray, motherfucker!) Now it's clear, given the survivors, some bluenose yellow back-stabber reported on me. Who among you cowards reported on me‽ A pox on that roperipe! And this woke-ity-woke bullshit? It's a shame.
And shame on GitHub for their inhuman tardiness. They obviously need to hire more people to do support. But in this particular case, the whole thing could have been automated: so they decide my username is a violation, cool whatever, just tell me that immediately after (or better, before!) flagging my account, giving me a way to DIY-change my username, upon which my account is un-flagged automatically. What actually happened, the whole thing was stupid, and shows GitHub up for the lumbering fritzy bureaucracy it's become. Shame.