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Policy on this seems to have shifted in the last 1-2 years.

I’ve asked personally in the last 12 months for a couple situations and been declined by GitHub Support.

Looking quickly on Reddit mine isn’t an unusual experience.

It was good while it lasted!

Same experience for me. 3 years ago I was able to claim an inactive username (the actual process was that you filed a complaint about an inactive user, they renamed the account, then said "it's available now, good luck you better be quick", so it was not an official transfer process).

Tried again about 12 months ago for a different username/org and was told this is no longer possible.

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