Can members delete accounts on your forums?

Nebulous

Nebulous

Well-known member
Can members delete accounts on your forums?

How do you feel about deleting accounts? How do you handle it?
 
No, if someone wants to delete on my forum they can request it and I'll wipe their account details and change their username to "Deleted User [idnumber]", so the posts remain but the account is obscured.
 
No way
I need to keep a handle on my members
If a member wants to leave they can ask me
I am using XF so I don't delete them
I just change their profile name to Ex-Member and then I "Ban" them
That way I can re-in state them if they want to return.
Also that helps me keep track of any members trying to come back under another member name
 
I don't delete. At the time of posting, they agree to have their content on the board. It adds value to the forum. If they want to leave they are welcomed to do so, but deleting content or member accounts is not something I allow.
 
I don’t allow my members to delete their accounts themselves. As stated in our rules, if they wish to have their account deleted, they would need to contact a staff member who will do it for them. I would delete their account and any personal information linked to that account. The only thing we keep is the content and that’s providing it doesn’t have any personal information in it.
 
Members have to contact staff to get their account deleted. Legally (in Germany) they have the right to request this and we have to document we did it. According to forum rules we do not delete content, as it ads value and deleting would destroy the correlation inside threads. But personal media has to be deleted due to copyright issues. So we make the users delete their images in the gallery (which they can do by themselves), we delete all media uploaded as attachment and we delete possible newsletter entries of the specific email address. Member name will then become "deleted user [random number] as XF offers in the process.

Of course, all that after a cooling off period, as Lee said before. Would we not tell them to wait 24 hours and then request again, we would have lost valuable members over a tantrum which is over the day after.
 
Yes, I allow it.

The old ways of running a forum would reject the ability. We got to change with the times. Privacy is big deal and being able to delete your account is a part of that.

So, the option is there. Now if it gets abused, that's a different story.
 
Deletion of personal data is a legal requirement in my country - but I don't have to delete 'the account', I just have to be careful to houseclean what I remove.

Pseudonymisation is a complicated subject under GDPR so just emptying the details might not necessarily be enough (depending on other factors).

I also prune IP addresses after a regular fashion in all account cases except for bans.
 
I've seen a lot of people over the years request a account deletion and then later regret it and make a new account. That's why I don't delete accounts right away. I'll tell the member we'll revisit the topic of account deletion at a later date. If they are persistent in their request then I'll grant their wish eventually.
 
Nebulous said:
I've seen a lot of people over the years request a account deletion and then later regret it and make a new account. That's why I don't delete accounts right away. I'll tell the member we'll revisit the topic of account deletion at a later date. If they are persistent in their request then I'll grant their wish eventually.
Click to expand...
That's what I do.
I tell them that I will put their membership "on hold" but they will always be able to return.
So then technically - I gave them a Title of "Ex Member" and then I go into the ACP and "Ban" them.

This way they are still on the XF database.
But they are shown to other members as having left.
 
DigNap15 said:
That's what I do.
I tell them that I will put their membership "on hold" but they will always be able to return.
So then technically - I gave them a Title of "Ex Member" and then I go into the ACP and "Ban" them.

This way they are still on the XF database.
But they are shown to other members as having left.
Click to expand...
But that way... every post that they have posted on your forum will look that it was made by "Ex-Member" who is banned!
Right?
 
Bastty said:
But that way... every post that they have posted on your forum will look that it was made by "Ex-Member" who is banned!
Right?
Click to expand...
Yes
They all show as "Ec-Member"

I don't like to differentiate between those who asked to leave, as against those I banned for bad behaviour.

What do you think?
 
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