Inactive Accounts - Delete or not to Delete?

[blc]

Some forums need an accurate member count and some don't. Some want to prevent multiple accounts per user. I think it depends on the forum.

[killjoy62]

I'd personally add a thread to allow people let the staff know that they're going to be away for a set time. If someone doesn't post there, I'll give 30 days before deleting. as for those that haven't activated their accounts, chances are, they didn't get their activation email(Happens every now and then), I'd email the person(s) then wait 15 days before deleting the account.The reason for waiting 15 days for the later is due to the chances of the address having an error somewhere(I've done such a thing myself).

[Nightingale]

I personally thing they should be deleted, but in a certain process. Like, staff pm's the account asking if they may delete it or if they still want the account, and if they say yes, delete it. If you do not get a reply for a certain amount of time, then you can be certain they won't be going on the account anymore, if ever, so of course, delete it. I think it is important to have an accurate member count, but I still think that people have the right to decide whether they keep their own accounts, active or not.

[kfander]

I think it depends on the type of board. Although my board includes several discussion areas, it is primarily a support board for a few other sites that I operate. Although a lot of people visit just to read updates, I encourage them to register an account because I'd like them to participate, and someone is more likely to participate if they already have an account. In other words, while reading something as a guest they might think about replying but if they have to register for an account at that time, they are less likely to bother than if they already have one that they simply have to log into. Plus, I'm not overly concerned about comparing forum stats with anyone so I generally just let them go. Every once in a while, I might go through the user rolls and delete those who haven't even logged in for a long period of time but I don't have a hard policy on that.

[Mid]

Jun 29, 2014 19:03:27 GMT -8 kfander said:

I think it depends on the type of board. Although my board includes several discussion areas, it is primarily a support board for a few other sites that I operate. Although a lot of people visit just to read updates, I encourage them to register an account because I'd like them to participate, and someone is more likely to participate if they already have an account. In other words, while reading something as a guest they might think about replying but if they have to register for an account at that time, they are less likely to bother than if they already have one that they simply have to log into. Plus, I'm not overly concerned about comparing forum stats with anyone so I generally just let them go. Every once in a while, I might go through the user rolls and delete those who haven't even logged in for a long period of time but I don't have a hard policy on that.

I agree with this.

Running a roleplay forum is different, though, because having many accounts that have never been posted with or only logged into once can make it look like no one's roleplaying. With that, I have rules set up on my forum, because I can't tell you how many accounts are made and then never used. Quite disappointing, really.

If a new member does not make a single post in a week, I assume they're not interested (maybe they read the rules after joining and decided they didn't want to be a part of the community, which I think is a silly thing to do. Always read important threads before you join so you can be sure you actually want to take part in the forum), so I delete their account.

When it comes to older members, they get a month (unless they stated that they'd be gone, whether indefinitely or not, in which case I usually give them about a year), sometimes longer depending on how active they've generally been in the past and how long they've been on the forum.

I don't like deleting accounts, but if I didn't, my forum would have over 1,000 mostly unused, space-wasting accounts.

[Former Member]

Replying to the thread title, I don't think old forum accounts should be deleted for multiple (sneaky) reasons.

1. It'll stop Staff from being confused if an account is deleted and someone registers with that same username
2. Easier track of who-is-who/who is active or not and a chance to contact inactive users reminding them of their account
3. If you have board stats on for guests, multiple members, whether active or not, will make the forum look better. If I had 10,000 members and say 3,000 were inactive, I wouldn't delete because their post history is needed for threads to make sense and it makes the forum look even more like an active community. This theory is moreso for smaller/newer forums though.

*If an old member who has an account that is inactive can't remember the email nor the password, I'll set up a contact page on the forum that would allow them to get through to Administration so things can be sorted out. 

[Mid]

Jul 3, 2014 20:49:14 GMT -8 @hadesolympian said:

Replying to the thread title, I don't think old forum accounts should be deleted for multiple (sneaky) reasons.

1. It'll stop Staff from being confused if an account is deleted and someone registers with that same username
2. Easier track of who-is-who/who is active or not and a chance to contact inactive users reminding them of their account
3. If you have board stats on for guests, multiple members, whether active or not, will make the forum look better. If I had 10,000 members and say 3,000 were inactive, I wouldn't delete because their post history is needed for threads to make sense and it makes the forum look even more like an active community. This theory is moreso for smaller/newer forums though.

*If an old member who has an account that is inactive can't remember the email nor the password, I'll set up a contact page on the forum that would allow them to get through to Administration so things can be sorted out. 

See, I disagree with the third one. If I see a forum with 10,000 accounts and 3,000 are inactive, I'm going to think it's somewhat inactive. I'd delete those 3,000 inactive accounts because most of them probably won't be returning (especially if they've had their account for a year and never made even a single post, only logging in one time and never returning) so the active:inactive ratio is a bit smoother. Sure, 7,000:3,000 isn't too bad, but most forums don't have it that good member-wise.

keeping the quality (the actives in this case) > keeping the quantity (the inactives).

I understand your reasoning for smaller/newer forums, however, and I understand leaving accounts just in case the member comes back. I often leave older members' accounts alone for a while before getting around to deleting them just in case.

[Former Member]

Jul 6, 2014 18:44:05 GMT -8 Mid said:

Jul 3, 2014 20:49:14 GMT -8 @hadesolympian said:

Replying to the thread title, I don't think old forum accounts should be deleted for multiple (sneaky) reasons.

1. It'll stop Staff from being confused if an account is deleted and someone registers with that same username
2. Easier track of who-is-who/who is active or not and a chance to contact inactive users reminding them of their account
3. If you have board stats on for guests, multiple members, whether active or not, will make the forum look better. If I had 10,000 members and say 3,000 were inactive, I wouldn't delete because their post history is needed for threads to make sense and it makes the forum look even more like an active community. This theory is moreso for smaller/newer forums though.

*If an old member who has an account that is inactive can't remember the email nor the password, I'll set up a contact page on the forum that would allow them to get through to Administration so things can be sorted out. 

See, I disagree with the third one. If I see a forum with 10,000 accounts and 3,000 are inactive, I'm going to think it's somewhat inactive. I'd delete those 3,000 inactive accounts because most of them probably won't be returning (especially if they've had their account for a year and never made even a single post, only logging in one time and never returning) so the active:inactive ratio is a bit smoother. Sure, 7,000:3,000 isn't too bad, but most forums don't have it that good member-wise.

keeping the quality (the actives in this case) > keeping the quantity (the inactives).

I understand your reasoning for smaller/newer forums, however, and I understand leaving accounts just in case the member comes back. I often leave older members' accounts alone for a while before getting around to deleting them just in case.

Very good point!

How long would you wait before deleting someone's account?

[Mid]

Jul 6, 2014 18:45:36 GMT -8 @hadesolympian said:

Jul 6, 2014 18:44:05 GMT -8 Mid said:

See, I disagree with the third one. If I see a forum with 10,000 accounts and 3,000 are inactive, I'm going to think it's somewhat inactive. I'd delete those 3,000 inactive accounts because most of them probably won't be returning (especially if they've had their account for a year and never made even a single post, only logging in one time and never returning) so the active:inactive ratio is a bit smoother. Sure, 7,000:3,000 isn't too bad, but most forums don't have it that good member-wise.

keeping the quality (the actives in this case) > keeping the quantity (the inactives).

I understand your reasoning for smaller/newer forums, however, and I understand leaving accounts just in case the member comes back. I often leave older members' accounts alone for a while before getting around to deleting them just in case.

Very good point!

How long would you wait before deleting someone's account?

Because I run a roleplay forum, I generally have to keep up with it pretty strictly. If it were a chat forum, I'd probably be 100x more lenient about it.

Anyway, if a member makes no posts and only logs in for the time they register, it's a week. Really, 99% of those people never return for me. Very unfortunate.

If a member has made at least 1 post, they have a month if they've disappeared without saying anything. Sometimes longer, depending on how long they've been around and how active they've been in that time.

When it comes to members stating they'll be inactive for any reason, I give them about a year, sometimes more, sometimes less.

[Former Member]

Jul 6, 2014 19:57:10 GMT -8 Mid said:

Jul 6, 2014 18:45:36 GMT -8 @hadesolympian said:

Very good point!

How long would you wait before deleting someone's account?

Because I run a roleplay forum, I generally have to keep up with it pretty strictly. If it were a chat forum, I'd probably be 100x more lenient about it.

Anyway, if a member makes no posts and only logs in for the time they register, it's a week. Really, 99% of those people never return for me. Very unfortunate.

If a member has made at least 1 post, they have a month if they've disappeared without saying anything. Sometimes longer, depending on how long they've been around and how active they've been in that time.

When it comes to members stating they'll be inactive for any reason, I give them about a year, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Do you delete lurkers? Minimal to no posts but they log in.

[Mid]

Jul 7, 2014 1:31:11 GMT -8 @hadesolympian said:

Jul 6, 2014 19:57:10 GMT -8 Mid said:

Because I run a roleplay forum, I generally have to keep up with it pretty strictly. If it were a chat forum, I'd probably be 100x more lenient about it.

Anyway, if a member makes no posts and only logs in for the time they register, it's a week. Really, 99% of those people never return for me. Very unfortunate.

If a member has made at least 1 post, they have a month if they've disappeared without saying anything. Sometimes longer, depending on how long they've been around and how active they've been in that time.

When it comes to members stating they'll be inactive for any reason, I give them about a year, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Do you delete lurkers? Minimal to no posts but they log in.

I usually don't because I feel they're probably looking around to get a feel for the forum before joining in. All of our important, need-to-read threads can be read as guests, but some people don't realize that, and they definitely deserve the chance to check that out before deciding if they'd like to be a part of the community or not.

[True Essence]

We delete them, I hate having to do it, especially when they used to be so active. I just deleted some inactive accounts. I've deleted accounts of people (I'm a HP roleplay forum) who joined but then never returned to make an application or anything, or they started an application, I would leave them for a while then send out emails to all of the "newbie" members for encouragement and if nothing happens then I'll delete them.

Members get a bit more attention, if it's a big number of members then we'll hold an activity check and that usually helps bring people out of the woodwork or let us know that they're still around but busy. We just did that, those members who missed it were members who haven't been around since October or September, we were just trying to give them a chance. Then on top of that, we sent out mass emails to them giving them a deadline for a response which ended yesterday (It was a month) and I just did a sweep a couple of hours ago.

I would love for all of my members to keep their accounts, but if they aren't active, especially if they have canon characters (especially ones we need and people want to register for such as Neville Longbottom), then I can't keep them. It just takes up space even though part of me hopes they come back.

[Twilight]

I delete them after they've been inactive for 8 months... But I PM and Mass email every member in risk before sweeping them... I don't delete accounts that have been previously active until a year passes.

[Cuethelaugh]

I delete them after the occasional activity check. Sometimes it's intimidating for possibly new members to come and see such a high character count and they don't realize that half of those may be inactive.

[The girl who waited]

I don't, unless the owner of the account contacts me and says "I am out" for whatever reason, or else I hear from a VERY reliable source that they are gone...

The same with faceclaims---> they stay with that character forever.