Changing my handle from @index created a ghost account

when i first set up my ghost blog to be federated, i used the default address @index@existotherwise.com but then soon after, changed it to @cc@existotherwise.com

two problems

1 - the @index account is still visible as if it still exists, but it doesn’t. so if someone searches for me, they see this empty profile (they also see the @cc profile)

2 - the @cc@existotherwise.com profile isn’t displaying properly (avatar and header images don’t appear, and posts aren’t visible, the profile/account seems to not be updating)

should i not have changed to something other than @index? should i try changing it back?

i am not understanding how Ghost federation works….

Have you tried checking your configuration settings for this? A few things that commonly cause this type of issue:

  1. Check if there are any recent updates or changes to your setup that might have triggered this behavior.

  2. Look at the logs for any error messages around the time this started happening. The specific error codes will point you to the root cause faster than guessing.

  3. If you are self-hosting, make sure your environment variables and config files are properly set. Sometimes a missed setting after an upgrade causes exactly this kind of problem.

What version are you running, and did this start after a specific change?

If you are selfhosting, also try to restart your Ghost instance