When your over the hill [Archive]

nurizeko

Jul 6, 2006, 03:21

This issue was brought to my attention recently upon trying to cancel my membership on the Eupedia forum.

It occurs to me neither forum has a function which allows people to delete their own account, which I reckon could be remedied.

A few people, like me, prefer to be able to kill old accounts when no longer in use or unwanted, thats just common sense, I had to ask Mac to ban me on Eupedia, yet i can still log in on that account (even if i cant really do anything).

So yeah, something for the council of leaders to considor, adding the delete account feature, to whipe it clean and remove it from existance deal.

Thanks for considoring my lil idea.

RockLee

Jul 6, 2006, 07:44

That would mean ALL posts and threads that are related to your account have to be deleted too. It's not possible, that's why Maciamo said he can either ban the account or you don't log in and don't post anymore.

Mars Man

Jul 6, 2006, 08:20

Yes, I understood that, so I closed down what I could, and of course will never ever click that space or turn those pages again.

changedonrequest

Jul 6, 2006, 08:34

Just because a member delete's their account should not affect the posts that they made other than changing their status to Guest other than the usual title underneath the name.

Instead of banning a person, which to the casual viewer puts the notion that the person got banned for some offense, allowing the owner to delete their own acount lets them go in peace and not ruin their reputation or the reputation of the board.

I know of many other boards that have that capability installed it would be a nice option for people to use on Europedia and here if they so choose. Instead of members having to ask the Admin to ban them which seems kind of childish to me, you give members more power to make their own choices.

Dutch Baka

Jul 6, 2006, 08:35

I don`t understand why you want to ban yourself, or be deleted.

Just don`t come on the forum anymore, and no problem...

Right?

changedonrequest

Jul 6, 2006, 08:39

I don`t understand why you want to ban yourself, or be deleted.

Just don`t come on the forum anymore, and no problem...

Right?

I dont know about the OP, but it seems like the polite thing to do. How would you feel if you PM'd a member that no longer posts on a forum or replied to the same members post, expecting a reply, but none was forthcoming. Or if you were a "sometime" poster that was carrying on a conversation over time, you might expect that non-participating member to reply.

It tells everyone that the member by their choice has quit the board. I would say that is showing good manners and respect for the other participants of the board.

Dutch Baka

Jul 6, 2006, 08:46

I agree to you about that ( I dislike Lexico for that hahaha.. Miss you )

But yeah, when you delete a member you also delete all his messages... and there is the big problem...

( I do think that some members in here should be deleted. because there are over 10.000 members in here with less than 10 posts.... )

but I guess that is good for business, that you can show you have 18.000 members on your forum.

Mars Man

Jul 6, 2006, 08:50

I don`t understand why you want to ban yourself, or be deleted.
Just don`t come on the forum anymore, and no problem...
Right?
No that's not so right. (and please notice, 'SO', meaning it does have some 'right' in it)

The thing to keep in mind (and Hachiro has answered well, and I can't really add to that) is an element of dissapproval which can't be given if things are just left as they are.

RockLee

Jul 6, 2006, 18:57

Just because a member delete's their account should not affect the posts that they made other than changing their status to Guest other than the usual title underneath the name. I think when a member chooses to leave, it shouldn's say "banned" under their nickname but something in the lines of "not a member anymore" or something. Like I said, everything is related, so deleting an account means everything would have to be deleted, and that would be not possible.

Instead of banning a person, which to the casual viewer puts the notion that the person got banned for some offense, allowing the owner to delete their own acount lets them go in peace and not ruin their reputation or the reputation of the board.Referred to that in the first part :)

I know of many other boards that have that capability installed it would be a nice option for people to use on Europedia and here if they so choose. Instead of members having to ask the Admin to ban them which seems kind of childish to me, you give members more power to make their own choices.I think there should be an option to "disable" your account, I'll see if the admin's can do that.

changedonrequest

Jul 6, 2006, 19:32

Like I said, everything is related, so deleting an account means everything would have to be deleted, and that would be not possible.

Are you sure about that? It may be an Admin function that moderators do not have access to.

Depending on the capabilities of the board itself that may not neccessarily happen. Other message boards with 1/3 the capabilities of this one, have the delete member function and all that happens is the user's account is no longer active and the posts that the user made change to either "no longer a member " or "guest"

nurizeko

Jul 6, 2006, 19:58

I dunno about the finer details of the post but every other forum I've been to allows one to totaly clean themselves from it after their done, some people simply dont like leaving old accounts just sitting there in cyberspace doing nothing, when I leave a forum or a web-site I need to sign up to, I just like to delete my account and make sure its all cleaned up and I'm not leaving some ghost account.
I also dont understand why the posts have to be deleted, I'm not a forum technician but ussually when I go onto forums and someone deletes their account the posts are still there, either under that name still, or as guest.
Anyway I just think its a courtesy to afford to members, if we have the freedom to sign up, we should have the right to remove ourselves once we feel were done.
And I agree with Hachiro, asking for a ban seems a bit daft, it doesnt help a forums image to have a high number of "bans" that are actual leaving members.
I know its ussually taboo to speak of leaving on a forum, but most forums provide that delete function.
Just an idea for the Mods and stuff to considor.
I think there should be an option to "disable" your account, I'll see if the admin's can do that.
That sounds and acceptable solution if the Forum software for whatever reason cant allow a deletion.

RockLee

Jul 7, 2006, 01:23

nice gaijin

Jul 7, 2006, 01:42

removing a user's posts en masse is called pruning, and while it's effective, it also screws up all the threads where other members have replied to the user in question. So long as the posts weren't completely worthless spam or flagrant flaming, they are an integral part of the discussions of the forum, and removing them would be like removing several paragraphs from a newspaper article; readers would just be confused when trying to read the thread. Also, pruning doesn't address posts that quote and reply to the user's posts, meaning there would be some instances where a user who (for all intents and purposes) doesn't exist gets quoted and responded to.

If one didn't want their contribution to last, they should have thought twice about what they were saying in their posts. Completely removing all traces of one's presence on a forum is pretty much out of the cards.

RockLee

Jul 7, 2006, 02:36

Thanks for explaining so eloquently Nice Gaijin !! I couldn't have said it better :)

changedonrequest

Jul 7, 2006, 07:29

Because the forum uses a database, and in that database threads/posts are related to a useraccount. In a database you work with relations, it's easy to update everything. My major is IT, so I think I have some credibility don't you think? :P

Is this a reply to me? You obfuscate the situation by providing unnecessary information. All forums use a database and like I wrote other forums without nearly the same capabilities as this one have the option available.

In nice gaijin's reply he states it very well what would happen if all the posts were removed. That's fine, however if the member wants to delete their own posts that should also be an option left to them. Not like here when a moderator gets it into their head that a members posts get too hot for them to handle, they end up playing God with members posts and cut and delete in some cases without cause.

Another thing Rock Lee, people, including you are assuming that a member can not delete their account without removing their posts. Once again as I am repeating myself here again, it may be an Administrative function that Mod's do not have access to. Until an Admin comes on here and tells everyone that this function is not available as a function of this board, no I am not going to accept your credibility, for the reasons that I previously stated.

If one didn't want their contribution to last, they should have thought twice about what they were saying in their posts. Completely removing all traces of one's presence on a forum is pretty much out of the cards.
In a utopian world that would be the case, yet since we do not live in utopia people do like to change things that they have written or in some cases delete it in it's entirety. To save continuity in a thread that option is not available here, well and good. But if a member was determined enough they could always go back and edit their posts out if they so chose. Giving the option of "not a member anymore" or "guest" heading would save many headaches.

RockLee

Jul 7, 2006, 08:34

changedonrequest

Jul 7, 2006, 08:59

If it were possible, don't you think Maciamo would have mentioned it before when he replied to the other thread Nurizeko made on Eupedia?

http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/ Here you can find the manual of this boards engine.

Click "The Admin Control Panel" , then click "An Introduction to the Admin CP Sections" and there you will see the options. As I said before, there is no such option available as "delete a user".

Anyways, i'm not going to bother repeating myself for naught.

No you are quite right, BUT if you use the terminology that nice gaijin provided prune=delete it is possible.

http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/users_prune

Thank you for providing the rope..........

Oh and another thing I have only logged on to Europedia a few times so I don't read the threads there, to assume that someone does is your mistake.

So now that we all know that it is possible to delete an acount OH sorry about that prune:okashii: an account, what's to stop it from happening? It also says nothing that I can find as of yet anyway, that the threads from the pruned account will be lost as well.

And you want to people to believe your credibility? Just because Maciamo didnt mention it doesnt mean that he didn't know, I am not going to read the thread or replies on Europedia either.

As I have been saying all along it very well may be an admin function and it is.

Oh and to add a user also can be allowed the capability of deleting their own posts;

http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/vb2_manual_cp_modformperms

So it seems that the functions that the administrator allows is all that matters.

Elizabeth

Jul 7, 2006, 09:06

I think there should be an option to "disable" your account, I'll see if the admin's can do that.
There actually have been members who have had their JREF accounts "deleted," smurf (first time) and nzueda are two that come to mind. The posts have been selectively excised leaving the threads they posted in still intact as far as I can tell. This doesn't say anything about their PMs or 'other traces' -- there is simply no longer an accessible link to their account or postings. Nothing is really 'messed up' except replies that don't make sense out of context.

So they must have deleted all these posts individually at their own initiative ? :?

thomas

Jul 7, 2006, 09:47

This is our official policy on deleting posts, threads and users (please read the paragraph relating to the Japan Forum, we'll add that to the Forum Rules soon)

=> http://www.jref.com/contact/

The default version of vB does not allow users to delete their accounts, and we are not going to offer that option in the future. The problem is that if you delete a member all threads *started* by that member will be deleted entirely as well.

The only "members" that are pruned on a regular basis are users who have failed to confirm their email address (around 30 a week). Oh, and as far as I know, nzueda had just asked us to change her username, so her posts must still be available under her new handle.

:-)

Elizabeth

Jul 7, 2006, 09:48

As I have been saying all along it very well may be an admin function and it is.
Oh and to add a user also can be allowed the capability of deleting their own posts;
http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/vb2_manual_cp_modformperms
So it seems that the functions that the administrator allows is all that matters.
I'd be interested if anyone knows other cases a JREF user's posts (threads I don't think will be deleted with other member replies) have been so 'pruned.' In the case of smurf, I was always a little curious when he came back he had to begin a new account because the previous one, as he said, had been deleted...perhaps a technical error or some sort ? since it was presumably without his knowledge or permission.

[EDIT]Thanks for the quick reply, Thomas ! A nonworking mail account must have been what happened here.

changedonrequest

Jul 7, 2006, 09:53

Elizabeth

Jul 7, 2006, 10:12

Oh, and as far as I know, nzueda had just asked us to change her username, so her posts must still be available under her new handle.
:-)
Yes, I checked and they are. :relief:
So when a member is pruned for an invalid email, the account is removed from the database and what else ? All their posts are presumably left intact ? :?

thomas

Jul 7, 2006, 10:27

Yes, I checked and they are. :relief:
So when a member is pruned for an invalid email, the account is removed from the database and what else ? All their posts are presumably left intact ?

As far as I know, Elizabeth, "members awaiting email confirmation" are not able to post. Usually we are not pruning any members who have posted in the past. Even if we did, their posts would be left intact.

nurizeko

Jul 8, 2006, 04:17

I wasnt really planning on starting an argument over deleting peoples posts, its just a simple request, other forums allow account deletions by the user without effecting the posts.

I think some forums use this forum software but hack it up to hell and back to get that function though.

I agree that if deletion isnt the case, is it possible to have a ban where it says deleted member and stuff and disables avatars and sigs?.

And its not about deleting regretted stuff, its just a thing a lot of people do, which is clean up after themselves when their finished on a forum for whatever reasons, not to delete posts but just to close up the account.

Hach, if you want to fight with RockLee about the finer details of thread deletion, thats probably grounds for a new thread of your own. :cool:

Glenn

Jul 8, 2006, 13:55

How about deleting your avatar, signature, all info in your profile (aside from the stuff you can't delete), and turning off PMs, as well as putting "no longer a member" for your custom user title (and/or in your signature, if you want)? I think that would have the desired effect.

Dutch Baka

Jul 8, 2006, 14:15

Mike Cash

Jul 8, 2006, 16:24

but I guess that is good for business, that you can show you have 18.000 members on your forum.

I suspect that is more of the real reason than any technical considerations.

Elizabeth

Jul 8, 2006, 19:05

And its not about deleting regretted stuff, its just a thing a lot of people do, which is clean up after themselves when their finished on a forum for whatever reasons, not to delete posts but just to close up the account.
Did you ever really get started ? Obviously it isn't like any of us chose to join Eupedia and even if it was against all of our original will and a moral issue not to want to be associated with that type of forum, with 2-3 (last count ;)) regular posters it isn't as if your name is going to come up often enough to really warrent this amount of consternation. :cool:

nice gaijin

Jul 8, 2006, 19:25

I wasn't aware that there was a feature of vbulletin that deleted a user account but preserved all their posts, other than banning. If the goal is to make it no longer accessible to the user, either change the user title and create a new random password, or simply request to be banned.

If the goal is indeed to remove all traces of one's presence from the board, I think it's a rather ridiculous request. If all users did this when they stopped posting here, there would be holes in threads, or no threads at all. Searching through the archived threads would be even more meaningless, as you could never find an entire discussion on any given topic. Like it or not, your posts are as much an integral part of the atmosphere and community here as, well, anyone else's. Giving users the ability to prune their own posts would be a destructive move.

Also, a bit of clarification: pruning is not synonymous with deleting an account; it simply removes posts by the user. There are many options in pruning, and it is done to existing accounts. However, it can be a very taxing process on the server, since you could be removing a large amount of data. As I said, it is a very rarely used tool.

nurizeko

Jul 8, 2006, 20:47

I was mention if it was at all possible to delete accounts while maintaining the posts, even if under guest, gaijin, I apologise if I've given the impression of wanting to prune my posts clean.

Since its been mentioned a few times now the software doesnt allow this I reckon its case closed, delete what profile and account stuff you can, change name to no lnoger a user in the title bar, and change the password to something you wont remember.

thanks for the responses to this query everyone. :bluush:

Elizabeth

Jul 8, 2006, 21:12

I was mention if it was at all possible to delete accounts while maintaining the posts, even if under guest, gaijin, I apologise if I've given the impression of wanting to prune my posts clean.
Since its been mentioned a few times now the software doesnt allow this I reckon its case closed, delete what profile and account stuff you can, change name to no lnoger a user in the title bar, and change the password to something you wont remember.
thanks for the responses to this query everyone. :bluush:
It's also technically possible to request a change to your user name to something no one else can figure out.