XF 2.2 How to delete messages from a user already deleted

[MediaFolSupport]

Hello,

we have deleted a user account on his request.
now he see messages in the forum with his name, (as a guest, of course), and he asked to us to delete all his messages...

From admin control panel i cannot find any more nor his account nor his contents... how can i find/delete content from a deleted account?
thanks.

 

[zappaDPJ]

I don't use that system on my forum as it's an Australian forum.

GDPR can potentially apply to anyone in the world but regardless, you have your own Privacy Act to adhere to.

 

[Suzanne O]

GDPR can potentially apply to anyone in the world but regardless, you have your own Privacy Act to adhere to.

It's for uk based users mate.

 

[zappaDPJ]

It's for uk based users mate.

That's not the case. GDPR applies to any organization that processes the PII of EU citizens regardless of where the organization is located and the UK is an outlier because we are no longer part of the EU although we do still adhere to GDPR.

As far as Australia is concerned privacy is governed by the 13 Australian Privacy Principles (APP), part of The Privacy Act 1988 and while Australia currently has no absolute 'right to be forgotten' law, APP 2. Anonymity and Pseudonymity gives individuals some rights in this area.

But this is going off-topic. I would also like to see tools in the ACP to help deal with the scenario outlined in the OP. Having to resort to SQL queries is a bit of pain.

 

[Neilski]

Indeed I agree those posts may be disputable, but this thread is about all posts.

Yeah, that was kinda my point; I simply chose an example of a post containing personal info to illustrate how a forum owner would likely find a court compelling them to do something which went beyond the terms of service of their forum.

Whether a court might compel them to delete stuff that wasn't personal info...? Well, I don't know (like I said, not a lawyer), but there's every chance that this question has already had an answer in a court decision somewhere or indeed that the Xenforo devs have had legal advice that it's OK to take the approach they've taken (whereby deleting a user basically leaves behind their posts).

The reason I say disputable is that I believe the privacy laws are about information held (ie account details) not information freely posted to the public realm by the user. It would be stupid of someone to post PII publically. Maybe privacy policies should advise people against posting email addresses, phone numbers, DOB, mothers maiden name, bank details, social security numbers etc. But in those cases I would delete the content if requested, not because I have to but out of courtesy as it’s a reasonable request.

Oh hell yes, it is stupid to post PII in public, but I'm sure we have all seen users doing it anyway And then there are the brigade who don't understand that profile posts are public

First you need to create a temporary new user, because you will convert the deleted member into a real member in order to delete their posts. Afterwards you then delete this newly created member.

Ahh, nice! I was wondering if you could simply directly delete the posts from xf_post, but I guess that would likely break other stuff. (Oh and it'd leave behind the threads too!)

 

[Mr Lucky]

(Oh and it'd leave behind the threads too!)

With the method above you can choose to delete posts OR threads started by the user.

 

[zappaDPJ]

Oh hell yes, it is stupid to post PII in public, but I'm sure we have all seen users doing it anyway

I can recall multiple occasions where I've suggested to members in private that they are posting too much personal information only to be rebuffed. A screenshot of their front door taken from Google street view usually drives the point home.