Managing Users Who Ask To Leave

[Steve Freides]

I'd delete the user because that's their right. Not their posts, just the account if requested

But deleting the user is like the proverbial tree falling in the forest that no one hears - there is no functional difference in deleting the account or not if the user choose not to login any more.

-S-

 

[Alpha1]

If the person uses an identifiable account name then it will come up in Google and will be found by potential employers, etc, etc. If the user has posted something unflattering or if your forum covers sensational or sensitive topics then this can cause trouble to the user. To resolve that matter we offer name changes.

 

[Steve Freides]

If the person uses an identifiable account name then it will come up in Google and will be found by potential employers, etc, etc. If the user has posted something unflattering or if your forum covers sensational or sensitive topics then this can cause trouble to the user. To resolve that matter we offer name changes.

That's a good and an interesting point. We have found users requesting to change _to_ their actual names on our forum of late.

-S-

 

[Anthony Parsons]

To resolve that matter we offer name changes.

Us too. We don't delete an account once activity has happened.

 

[Divvens]

We have a zero account deletion policy on our community. Our terms contain the following;

Oro Jackson and its Team reserve the right to remove or modify any content submitted for any reason without explanation. Requests for content to be removed or modified will be undertaken only at our discretion. We reserve the right to take action against any account with regards to their usage of Oro Jackson at any time. Access to Oro Jackson is not guaranteed to you and access may be restricted or removed at any time if you violate our set guidelines or for any other reason.

We have a zero account-deletion policy. Your account will not be deleted unless and until it is a crucial situation or demanded by Law. We do not entertain account deletion requests.

Crucial situation relates to a demand personally due to personal indentity reasons, such as an employer asking for the employee to not have an account (we've had one such situation) and for "demand by Law" is any sort of court order.

You can find our complete terms here: http://orojackson.com/pages/rules/

 

[Robust]

But deleting the user is like the proverbial tree falling in the forest that no one hears - there is no functional difference in deleting the account or not if the user choose not to login any more.

-S-

Sure, by that's their choice.

We have a zero account deletion policy on our community. Our terms contain the following;



Crucial situation relates to a demand personally due to personal indentity reasons, such as an employer asking for the employee to not have an account (we've had one such situation) and for "demand by Law" is any sort of court order.

You can find our complete terms here: http://orojackson.com/pages/rules/

Technically for most forum policies I've seen, a user has legal right to request closure of their account. Not their posts but the account and any data stored of that user. And I don't know why you wouldn't just delete the user, you keep the posts and nothing valuable is lost.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

delete the user, you keep the posts and nothing valuable is lost

Actually what you create is broken links throughout your entire site, for every link from a post from that user, quote, so forth, linking to their profile... all now dead links which are not ideal for Google. Keep doing that, before you know it you have hundreds of thousands of dead links. Google will not love your site as a result. This is an old, established, still current policy of Google.

You can set a users account to private and it completely shuts it down from public or member viewing. Same achieved without the broken link issues.

 

[Mr Lucky]

Also, you can just rename the user to something anonymous like Ex member #42 etc. That way if they do later want to rejoin, the account can be revived.

 

[Martok]

Also, you can just rename the user to something anonymous like Ex member #42 etc. That way if they do later want to rejoin, the account can be revived.

This is what I do for any who request account deletion. I also remove all personal details from their account and profile (including signature and avatar), make their profile unavailable to members plus change the email address and password. The account is then lying dormant on the off-change that the user ever changes their mind and returns.

I too have a statement in our About Us section:

Member Accounts
We only delete member accounts that have zero posts after 60 days. We do not delete accounts of members who have made posts and other content and later decide to leave the community. Accounts and content will remain intact. Staff may consider renaming accounts of members who leave if this is requested.

 

[Steve Freides]

You can set a users account to private and it completely shuts it down from public or member viewing. Same achieved without the broken link issues.

I didn't know this - I'll try it for the one user who has asked me to leave.

Actually what you create is broken links throughout your entire site, for every link from a post from that user, quote, so forth, linking to their profile... all now dead links which are not ideal for Google. Keep doing that, before you know it you have hundreds of thousands of dead links. Google will not love your site as a result. This is an old, established, still current policy of Google.

If I may ask, why would Google care if a post is connected to a user profile on a XenForo forum? Wouldn't that require Google understanding and working with the inner workings of the forum? I assume it just sees the posts and indexes their content.

-S-

 

[Steve Freides]

Forgive me, but I don't see how to set a user account to Private - where in ACP does one do this?

Thanks.

-S-

 

[Martok]

Forgive me, but I don't see how to set a user account to Private - where in ACP does one do this?

Thanks.

-S-

In the ACP, edit a user and then untick all options in the privacy tab.

 

[Mr Lucky]

Actually what you create is broken links throughout your entire site, for every link from a post from that user, quote, so forth, linking to their profile... all now dead links which are not ideal for Google. Keep doing that, before you know it you have hundreds of thousands of dead links. Google will not love your site as a result. This is an old, established, still current policy of Google.

I just checked a site on which I'd done this, and there were no actual links. The post has the user name, but is not a link

If I may ask, why would Google care if a post is connected to a user profile on a XenForo forum? Wouldn't that require Google understanding and working with the inner workings of the forum? I assume it just sees the posts and indexes their content.

I believe it is quite possible that a lot of dead links can be detrimental to Google's ranking of pages as these days Google takes into account user engagement. A lot of dead links can be bad for that, for which reason I have been in the process of deleting dead links from my forum.

I know from my eprspective when searching on Google, if I land on a site and immediately click a link that takes me nowhere, I will leave that site straight away

= high bounce rate in Google.

However as noted, I'm not sure deleting a user does actually create broken links now.

 

[Steve Freides]

In the ACP, edit a user and then untick all options in the privacy tab.

That's it? The idea I took from the earlier message was that this was a switch somewhere.

Thanks.

-S-

 

[Martok]

That's it? The idea I took from the earlier message was that this was a switch somewhere.

Thanks.

-S-

Yes, that's it, there is no single privacy 'switch'. It's only a few checkboxes to untick though.

 

[Steve Freides]

Yes, that's it, there is no single privacy 'switch'. It's only a few checkboxes to untick though.

Very good - just unchecked everything there for the user in question.

Thanks very much.

-S-

 

[Anthony Parsons]

The post has the user name, but is not a link

Correct, the username, however, all quotes that contain the username and all tagging, equals all broken links. Delete a popular member of your site with 20k in posts, suddenly you may have created 10k in dead links to a profile that no longer exists.

 

[Divvens]

And I don't know why you wouldn't just delete the user, you keep the posts and nothing valuable is lost.

As long as you see every member as 'just another member' then sure, nothing valuable is lost. But when a user decides on a whim or in the heat of the moment to request a delete, you proceed with the delete, later he/she wishes it back it's impossible to restore a deleted account.

A delete would also result in lost connections between members, friends wondering what happened, other tags that come along with the social aspect of a community.

So the "valuable" aspect can be argued from community to community and depending on how you view your members.

 

[naia]

Accounts are generally a matter of record for me and I am hesitant to delete them. As long as:

• The member isn't in any trouble (warning points, etc)
• The member has a decent reason

I generally honor deletion requests. I do not, however, delete posts.

 

[Robust]

As long as you see every member as 'just another member' then sure, nothing valuable is lost. But when a user decides on a whim or in the heat of the moment to request a delete, you proceed with the delete, later he/she wishes it back it's impossible to restore a deleted account.

A delete would also result in lost connections between members, friends wondering what happened, other tags that come along with the social aspect of a community.

So the "valuable" aspect can be argued from community to community and depending on how you view your members.

Facebook has closer communities than a forum and often they actually know each other in real life. They also allow account deletion. Make it a period until permanent deletion where the user can restore an account. If they want their account deleted, they want it deleted. It's not our position to say: "you're making a mistake" - you might come across as arrogant saying that.