Is it bad manners or etiquette to claim a name of an inactive user or pet? I find it safer for those who had left for more than 3 years, but since even I took a two year hiatus from the site, I'm not sure.

Nope, most people just go right ahead and take them! They are up for grabs anyway ;)

those aren't accounts that are just on hiatus though, those are accounts that have been officially deemed as 'inactive' because of an extended period of complete inactivity (it's currently one year). At that point, rather than completely clearing/deleting the account, the system makes all of the names available to be taken by others. But the account still technically remains intact in case the user comes back eventually. So they're considered to be free and clear, up for grabs. It's the same as a clearing on other sites; Subeta used to have clearings but now each individual inactive account clears on it's 365th day, and this process happens daily at 3pm Subeta time.

If it would be frowned upon I'd be one of the worst bad boys on here. No, it's totally fine to take names from inactive accounts.

The user will get a free pet name or username change upon return, IF the person ever signs back on. Take the name, it's fair game.

The only thing that'd be bad is trying to pry it from someone who rightfully took any inactive names. Turns out it's not uncommon for the nicer names that come due up and someone uses it that others feel the need to bug the person who took it because they "wanted it so badly". Reality is there's ONE of each name and if there's 15 people after it then 14 miss out. I personally am glad they have this new system of getting to keep things you've earned and if you do get to a point of names taken you can hunt out and use other names to replace the taken ones for free.

Otherwise there's no harm in stalking a name that you've seen will clear and hope to get it upon the day of clearing.

If you don't take the name you're eying, there's a good possibility that someone else will.

if you take a inactive account do u lose your pets

No, because you don't "take" the account. You take their username.

Well you can't /take/ an inactive account. You can only change your username to that of the inactive user. The account will still be there but the name will have changed to show it's been taken.

do u only get the name or do get the pets too

You only get the name, unless you create pets by the same name of those on the inactive account

so if i change a pet name to the one on the inactive account u can get the pet

Well, no. You would get whatever type of pet you created, with the name that used to be on the inactive account. If you take the name Sparkles of a Bloodred Montre and create a Common Kumos with it, your pet will be Sparkles the Common Kumos.

oh ok thanks everyone

You won't get the exact pet. The pet will not be transferred to your account. It will simply change the pet name you are taking to the word or name you took followed by an underscore and 3 random numbers when you take it. (Which is much less desirable.) You are allowed to use names on inactive accounts for name changes or creating new pets.

---edits--- Oops! Somebody answered the question while I was typing... >.<