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How to delete account?


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Ah, okay. That makes sense. I guess it would destroy a lot of threads if an account was deleted.

 

I'm not interested in deleting my account(!), I was just going through all the settings and wondering where it was.

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  • 3 months later...

Hello,

 

I'd like to delete my account but recently found out that deleting accounts isn't an option here... I know that it is possible to ban members so - out of curiosity I was just wondering why it isn't possible to delete accounts too...

 

I understand that deleting old posts of members that want to leave would be problematic but I've always wondered what forums do with the inactive accounts when they start piling up?

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How much data does an account contain?

 

Looking at my profile, including pictures, avatars and all, that's about 2 MB?

 

Assuming that's the average: On a 50 euro, 500 GB harddisk you can store 25.000 accounts. That means that 1 account represents a whopping 1/5 of a cent (0.002 euro).

 

I guess that's how much motivation there is to delete stuff.

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A consistent, and well maintained database is a happy one. Datacentres like whevereverthehellSFNlives would use very big, very fast HDDs but processors in general can only be so good - so the important thing is more often how good a database is rather than how compact.

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It doesn't matter if the database is a good one or a bad one; they all have overheads (of various type) and any opportunity to reduce those is well taken. So yeah, "a consistent, and well maintained database is a happy one."

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  • 3 years later...

new note to self: Don't sign up to any websites where you cannot delete your account, and where you cannot read the instructions on how to delete your account before signing up!

 

Every web site has a way to delete accounts, and yes their posts are removed.. so what?

 

This is just a crooked way that websites can claim "millions" of users so they can charge more for adds. Like the song goes, "Once you check in, you can never leave"

 

very dishonest.

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new note to self: Don't sign up to any websites where you cannot delete your account, and where you cannot read the instructions on how to delete your account before signing up!

 

Every web site has a way to delete accounts, and yes their posts are removed.. so what?

 

This is just a crooked way that websites can claim "millions" of users so they can charge more for adds. Like the song goes, "Once you check in, you can never leave"

 

very dishonest.

But this is a discussion forum. If your account is deleted, it removes your part of the conversations. If everyone who leaves gets deleted, the threads would be extremely difficult to understand.

 

Very confusing.

 

We have a single line at the bottom of the front page that lists total posts, total members, newest member and most online at a time. I'm offended that you feel we do this to be dishonest. We're a science site. Data, sharing, observation, experimentation over hype and marketing.

 

I'm sorry you're not having a good experience here.

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Every web site has a way to delete accounts, and yes their posts are removed.. so what?

 

This is just a crooked way that websites can claim "millions" of users so they can charge more for adds. Like the song goes, "Once you check in, you can never leave"

 

very dishonest.

If every web site has such a function, none of them can exist to claim "millions of users".

 

Anyway, it's also dishonest for people to show up and later pretend to not have said things they actually said, which is what deletion would be doing (as Phi said) It's a big invitation to troll. So we don't give them that option. We can ban people at their request, but that's the same as just not showing up anymore. Those who have asked to be banned have an interesting tendency to soon register a new account. I think most of the staff would prefer to simply not have to deal with the hassle.

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  • 4 years later...

Surely it would be an option to allow users to delete their accounts without deleting their posts and answers. I'm sure other websites manage this; it just means said user's profile is no longer viewable and their email isn't plugged into the website and linked to the account. 

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Maybe usernames could be manually changed by an Admin to “ALUMNI-NoLongerActive” or some similar. That would allow posts to remain and thread continuity to persist.

Perhaps profile info could be wiped clean, email removed, login deactivated  

But why?

It’s. A. Private. Site. It’s not a government database. Not a corporate interest. No commercial activity has occurred. No PII collected. 

You agreed to the T&Cs upon registering. If you weren’t comfortable with those, you shouldn’t have clicked Agree and proceeded. 

Edited by iNow
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8 minutes ago, iNow said:

You agreed to the T&Cs upon registering. If you weren’t comfortable with those, you shouldn’t have clicked Agree amd proceeded. 

If that's the official position of scienceforums.net then I suppose that is that, then, isn't it. As you hold no corporate interests or responsibility in that sense, it may not be in your interest to provide your users with peace of mind or the option to opt out of being associated with your site. 

 

10 minutes ago, iNow said:

Maybe usernames could be manually changed by an Admin to “ALUMNI-NoLongerActive” or some similar. That would allow posts to remain and thread continuity to persist.

Perhaps profile info could be wiped clean, email removed, login deactivated  

But why?

I can think of many reasons as to why somebody might no longer want their email address attached to one of their old accounts. The reason as to "why" someone wishes to leave seems redundant from a user-friendliness perspective.  Also, if it is possible then "why not?" also comes to mind. Too much effort, I guess? Just seems bizarre that people can never leave. 

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I’m not representing the site. I’m just anothe user like you. 

If email is your worry, you can unclick “Allow members to contact me via email” and shutoff all notifications... or just edit it and change it to nonsense. 

You've not convinced me of the benefit, especially given how many multiple options that exist for you personally to manage your privacy without any intervention whatsoever from site staff. 

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I'm not attempting to convince you, I'm posing a question which it seems several members are also interested or concerned about. 

 

Seeing as you're just another user like me, feel free to ignore my query so that it can be answered by someone more appropriate who isn't just another user like me. 

 

 

But remember: No. Public. Site. Is. Private. 

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2 minutes ago, Iota said:

But remember: No. Public. Site. Is. Private. 

If this is your concern, then you should note that even if the admin here deleted your posts from the local server a copy of your activity still already exists in multiple places elsewhere and would be unaffected by that action. 

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4 minutes ago, Iota said:

I'm not attempting to convince you

If you’re looking to alter the way the site is run, or to gain support from others for your position so they join you in advocating for this effort, perhaps you should start.

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5 minutes ago, iNow said:

If this is your concern, then you should note that even if the admin here deleted your posts from the local server a copy of your activity still already exists in multiple places elsewhere and would be unaffected by that action. 

And will be statutorily held for a minimum of two years, in Europe, by an ISP.and search providers, who have crawlers.

Edited by StringJunky
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