I would argue that anyone looking to "start over" with a name change should do exactly that. Start from the beginning, no rank, no merit, no post history.
Ratimov aka Symmetrick wants to start over, but with no remaining evidence of his plagiarism, no evidence remaining of his Trust abuse and also with 11000 merits and +18 Trust score. Like a
baws.
the point is now with the name change it feels like he is trying to hide the past.
You can bet on that. He want to look innocent like a baby. Perhaps he also hopes that if anyone would make searches for "Ratimov plagiarist" or "Ratimov Trust abuser" that person would obtain fewer relevant links now, after he purged almost all his copy-pasted / plagiarized topics combined with the change of name.