Feedback / Idea Account deletions

[Wetling 1,174]

It looks like there's been a wipe recently and I wonder why not only the accounts but also all their contributions are deleted. I think this is harmful to the forum, not only because content is valuable, but also because it destroys existing threads, which often make no sense after half of the posts were removed. Most other forums either keep the posts as guest / unregistered under the original poster's name or asign them to an anonymous ghost user.

Another thing I noticed is that accounts were deleted even if they had been actively posting weeks after their deletion request. Maybe there should be a rule that deletion requests are only fulfilled if the user stops participating after the requests. Otherwise we might lose members on mood swings.

What do you think?

[gldenwetgoose 20,205]

Some good points there - I’ll answer from a staff perspective (and @Sophie or @Scot_Lover are welcome to add their knowledge or corrections). 

Generally deletions take place because a member has requested to leave, and more often than not it is their wish that anything they’ve posted - images, clip links, memories and experiences are removed to ensure their anonymity is secure.

Those deletions are processed by @Admin as site owner, tying up any loose ends. In normal terms they are fairly quickly actioned although Admin just of late things have been taking a bit longer.

My understanding was that posts can be shown as ‘guest’ posts here on Peefans too.

There is another situation of members disappearing where they have unfortunately earned themselves a restriction (ban) from accessing the site. In this situation their content remains, unless Staff deem that it is not appropriate for the site. 

Hope that helps. 

[Scot_Lover 1,777]

I know no nothing about the form software, not able to help with that, so I don’t know if there is such a function to allocate ‘orphaned’ posts to a generic listing.

As @gldenwetgoose has indicated, people that want the account deleted, usually want everything posted to go as well. 

As moderators, we ask if people really want to do this, giving an option of walking away, thus leaving posts/threads intact. 
 

I do see your point though.