Delete my account

iu


Three pages already...
 
Chdamn said:
Well not really. We did this in the beginning. But we found out that it does a great deal of harm to the site.

It basically acts like a virus to delete all their posts etc.

One can delete their own posts and then ask to be banned.
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It has to do with the indexing that XF uses under the hood. If you delete the first post in a thread, it deletes the whole thread. On their support forums the developers acknowledge that itā€™s a commonly requested function, say no, and then say they assume most site operators will adopt the policy that any content is theirs anyway.

One former member of this site tried deleting his content from a site I administer and wound up deleting 2/3 of the site, including a lot of other peopleā€™s stuff which made them angry.

In response, I did some experiments performing SQL surgery and I think it can be done. You basically need to drop the individual entry in the table and then iterate through the table using the alter function to change index number. Finally in the thread master point the thread index to the new top post. It appears to work, but whether or not things go squirrelly is a real possibility. I didnā€™t see any cross linking in the tables or notice side effects, but I donā€™t recommend performing it on your production database.

I think it would be possible to script the procedure and then iterate it over the selection of a particular users posts.

However, it still does not delete where theyā€™ve been quoted, which is another complication.

TLDR; best thing to do is change their username to something like guest123 which anonymizes their content and quotes, and then lock it as disabled.
 
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noway2 said:
It has to do with the indexing that XF uses under the hood. If you delete the first post in a thread, it deletes the whole thread. On their support forums the developers acknowledge that itā€™s a commonly requested function, say no, and then say they assume most site operators will adopt the policy that any content is theirs anyway.

One former member of this site tried deleting his content from a site I administer and wound up deleting 2/3 of the site, including a lot of other peopleā€™s stuff which made them angry.

In response, I did some experiments performing SQL surgery and I think it can be done. You basically need to drop the individual entry in the table and then iterate through the table using the alter function to change index number. Finally in the thread master point the thread index to the new top post. It appears to work, but whether or not things go squirrelly is a real possibility. I didnā€™t see any cross linking in the tables or notice side effects, but I donā€™t recommend performing it on your production database.

I think it would be possible to script the procedure and then iterate it over the selection of a particular users posts.

However, it still does not delete where theyā€™ve been quoted, which is another complication.

TLDR; best thing to do is change their username to something like guest123 which anonymizes their content and quotes, and then lock it as disabled.
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image.jpeg
 
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noway2 said:
It has to do with the indexing that XF uses under the hood. If you delete the first post in a thread, it deletes the whole thread. On their support forums the developers acknowledge that itā€™s a commonly requested function, say no, and then say they assume most site operators will adopt the policy that any content is theirs anyway.

One former member of this site tried deleting his content from a site I administer and wound up deleting 2/3 of the site, including a lot of other peopleā€™s stuff which made them angry.

In response, I did some experiments performing SQL surgery and I think it can be done. You basically need to drop the individual entry in the table and then iterate through the table using the alter function to change index number. Finally in the thread master point the thread index to the new top post. It appears to work, but whether or not things go squirrelly is a real possibility. I didnā€™t see any cross linking in the tables or notice side effects, but I donā€™t recommend performing it on your production database.

I think it would be possible to script the procedure and then iterate it over the selection of a particular users posts.

However, it still does not delete where theyā€™ve been quoted, which is another complication.

TLDR; best thing to do is change their username to something like guest123 which anonymizes their content and quotes, and then lock it as disabled.
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tenor.gif
 
874737 said:
See?? Typical ā€œyou can check in, but you can never leaveā€ bullshit. Why canā€™t one just delete their account?
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As someone who used to help moderate a social Q&A site several years ago, it always amazed me when people posted questions like this.

It's almost as if they never read the Terms of Use (or similar) of the website in question.

I'm not a moderator here, so I won't speak for them or how they specifically moderate this site.

When you create an account and post on a social forum website, what you post is no longer technically "yours". It becomes the property of the site and the site may do with it what they wish as allowed by the various laws.

They can delete it, censure it, or otherwise edit it as they see fit. They can also allow the person who posted it to do much the same, within limits...or not.


Deleting accounts:

There are varying levels of this, and not everybody understands this. Some people think deleting an account means all content ever posted in that account is automatically removed from the site. Not necessarily so. It could simply mean the account is locked, it could mean the account is locked and the User Name is changed to something else (like "Anonymous" or something), it could mean a block placed on the IP (or IPs) associated with the account, or it could be a complete removal of all content.

The people who moderate and own the site decide how to best approach this, because outright deleting all content of a user can have adverse consequences to the site. It could disrupt the continuity of threads, for example, making much of the content "nonsense" as a result. It could cause problems with various links. Whatever...but it's never as simple as the people who want accounts deleted seem to understand (or want to understand).


Hard feelings:

I never understood this. You have a lot of control over your own personal account. You can simply walk away and never return. You can edit your profile and change your User Name to "Retired", "Gone Home", "No Longer Here" or some such, and delete much of your profile information...and then just never log back in. You can selectively delete certain postings of your own as you see fit.

Social websites don't put food on your table, a roof over your head, or otherwise pay the bills. You have nothing of material or fiscal substance invested which you could lose. So...just leave.

The bottom line is that you, as a member of any given site, are an adult (or otherwise charged with behaving like an adult IAW the Terms of Use) and should therefore act like it. You read the rules...and if you didn't, then that's a problem with YOU and not the site. you are still charged with knowing, understanding, and abiding by the rules.

It's pretty simple, really. And getting upset only gets your own stomach in knots, not anybody else.
 
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