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I am not sarath, but for some reason serverFault thinks I am. I have never logged in as her, nor know who she is. But now I can post as her. The same thing happened about 4 months ago.

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  • 2
    Clear your cookies ffs
    – Chopper3
    Mar 12, 2014 at 15:23
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    Actually if he/she is not Sarath this is a issue. If Sarath never used that computer/browser that shouldn't be possible and is a major issue. Mar 12, 2014 at 15:33
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    Who are you supposed to be? Mar 12, 2014 at 15:47
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    Are you, by any chance, on a shared (or even a computer lab) computer? Mar 12, 2014 at 20:01
  • Did this happen on the mobile site or the full site? Mar 12, 2014 at 20:27
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    How do you know sarath is a girl?
    – TheCleaner
    Mar 12, 2014 at 21:48
  • I am not on a shared computer, None except me has ever logged into serverfault or related site.
    – eos
    Mar 14, 2014 at 15:09
  • Well, Sarath starts with Sara, so I guessed a girl, and I feel like a girl writing this, but you are right, it could be anyone.
    – eos
    Mar 14, 2014 at 15:10
  • Looking at the account, the email is [email protected] where XX is a number i wont reveal, and the "real name" is my name. I have no idea what that email is - perhaps the account has been hacked, but if so, could they have changed my username to sarath, but kept my session on my Machine?
    – eos
    Mar 14, 2014 at 15:15

1 Answer 1

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Every time this happens, it's one of two things:

  1. You're sharing a computer and forgetting to log off. Maybe you're logging out of the site but not your OpenID provider, or you're still logged in to other sites. Log off of everything, or get used to using your browser's "private" mode on shared machines.

  2. Your ISP sucks. Some internet providers set up caching proxies that are extremely poorly configured, and do stupid stuff like caching pages that we tell them not to cache. Assuming you've eliminated #1, contact your ISP or network administrator and yell obscenities until they start crying politely ask them to fix their network.

Update: Ah, I see the problem now - and don't worry, you're don't have access to anyone else's account. Way back in November of 2012, a moderator merged an unregistered account into yours. I don't know why - the reason is no doubt lost in the mists of time. Presumably he thought they were the same account. It later turned out that this was not the case, and the merge was reversed - but for some reason, the name stuck. Since it was an unregistered account, you don't have access to any personal information and the original owner of that account doesn't have any access to yours. There may be posts or comments that weren't automatically disassociated though - if you find something attached to your account that you didn't write, just flag it and request that it be disassociated.

Sorry for the confusion!

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  • Its not a shared computer. The ISP is telefonica in Spain. In 10 years with them, I have never seen this issue on another site.
    – eos
    Mar 14, 2014 at 15:11
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    Ah, I found the problem - seems I didn't look back far enough, assuming this was due to something that happened recently. See my edit for details.
    – Shog9
    Mar 14, 2014 at 15:23

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