Inactive Accounts - Delete or not to Delete?

[veggiegirl]

Did you try to email them and explain their account will be deleted if they are not active?

[Ms. Anonymous]

For my forum, I don't delete members. I simply disable their accounts if they haven't logged onto the forum within a three month period. I know some of my members are lurkers, like I once was, so I don't put pressure on them to post but in the same token I make it known that if you haven't logged on in three months then their account will be disabled with out notice and that if they would like to get their account enabled that all they would have to do is e-mail me. I also advertise and invite people like crazy to keep the forum active. Sometimes people accept my invitation to join, becoming active members, and some don't

[>>Phoenix<<]

If by "inactive" you mean accounts that have yet to be activated: I remove those within 36 hours of registration.

If you mean accounts that are never or seldom used, I remove those after approximately 1 year. I am assuming that if a member cannot find time to at least visit within that time frame that they are not returning.

[addie186]

I dont,from time to time,I send them Emails telling them to be active,I do that maybe once a month or so.

[♠ Pear ♠]

I don't like sending out e-mails to members - I used to be a member of a site that filled my inbox with pretty useless e-mails about inactivity, so I know how annoying it is.

If your forum really means anything to the person you're e-mailing, you shouldn't have to e-mail them to prompt activity in the first place.

Anyway, on the topic of inactive accounts, I delete them after a few months of no activity at all. I'm more likely to delete them if they have no posts, especially if they're not activated. I don't see the point of joining a forum if you're not even going to activate your account and post something - I've known guests more committed than that.

[HoudiniDerek]

Apr 23, 2008 8:25:56 GMT -8 ♠ Pear ♠ said:

I don't like sending out e-mails to members - I used to be a member of a site that filled my inbox with pretty useless e-mails about inactivity, so I know how annoying it is.

If your forum really means anything to the person you're e-mailing, you shouldn't have to e-mail them to prompt activity in the first place.

Anyway, on the topic of inactive accounts, I delete them after a few months of no activity at all. I'm more likely to delete them if they have no posts, especially if they're not activated. I don't see the point of joining a forum if you're not even going to activate your account and post something - I've known guests more committed than that.

I agree that the email feature can be torture on a member, especially if abused. However, I sent out an email once and I got several members back who had been busy and could not remember the site address. I think it can be useful if done in a tactful and respectful way.

[filmgal]

There are people who are spammers or others who want to harvest email addresses who join just to access your members' email accounts. That's why as soon as someone new joins I immediately make their emails "hidden" to others. I get quite a few people who join with strange sounding hotmail accounts for instance and these immediately raise the red flag that they might be joining for other reasons than actually contributing to the board. If these new people don't post anything in a month I delete their accounts.

[Shinigami Deception]

Feb 16, 2008 21:12:30 GMT -8 Enchant said:

In other threads, we have touched on the topic of inactive accounts. In this thread we will discuss the topic a bit more in depth. How important is it to have an accurate member count? Do you keep your inactive accounts or do you delete them? If you keep them, is it for the appearance of a higher member count or some other reason? If you delete them, how often and why?

it is utterly important to have an accurate count of Active members in a board it wouldnt matter if your counter showers 100 memebers if only 5 of those 100 are active or even come back to that board. i delete inactive members that way my memebers know im serious about my board and that im maintaining it even if it is memeber deletion this way there is more space for new active members and if a name happens to be taken by an inactive member there deletion gives some new member the change to take and fill that space

[~Akira~]

Its equally important to keep an accurate member count. It shows the guests how many members the board actually holds. And I have another thing to add if I may. Admins have to be active with their boards as well. It shows that they are serious about getting new members and the like. I had to send a warning email to my members on my Harry Potter forum about inactivtiy. A few weeks after that I had went to delete them. Soon I had to delete the entire board as well. Members should join if they have a reason-and that is to rp. To join and not be active is wasting time, on the members and the admin.

[dirtkartracing]

I am an admin and no active members are not a problem as long as user log on a view boards they don't necessary have to post they may not be in a talking mood. and send emails to their email accounts is wrong/annoying and considered spam if you do npt write the most approperate email.

[Matt [Malfoy250]]

Feb 16, 2008 21:12:30 GMT -8 Enchant said:

In other threads, we have touched on the topic of inactive accounts. In this thread we will discuss the topic a bit more in depth. How important is it to have an accurate member count? Do you keep your inactive accounts or do you delete them? If you keep them, is it for the appearance of a higher member count or some other reason? If you delete them, how often and why?

I personally delete my inactive accounts. I usually have it done quarterly. If not it falsifies the forums actual posting stats. It makes the forum appear to be less active then it is. I would rather have low member count with high posting, then high member count with low posting. I do give notice via, post, pm and email when the time arrives.

I do the same with my forum, infact I just finished doing so five minutes ago. Every couple of weeks I check to see who had not logged on in more than two weeks and send them an email, warning them that they have three days to log in before their account is deleted.

I personally believe that this is a good idea because that way you rule out inactive accounts and keep your member count based apon how many active members you have. Not doing so could make things a bit crazy, especially when you own a big forum with lots of members.

[nowsaynever]

With RPG sites, monthly activity checks do the trick for me, or even weekly ones - your members get ample time to post in a thread and too bad if they don't do the smart thing and tell the staffers that they'll be gone on that day or for that time, etc. - that's why they have absence/back threads. I personally don't like getting e-mailed constantly about activity checks either, and if there are accounts that don't have any posts or the person doesn't log in/do anything for a really long time, those could just be deleted too.

I find that some (but not all) people become consumed all about the member count, that just because they have a lot of members means that their site is complete and active. But what good is a high member count when you have around only 20 members that are actually active? Quality of your members should go over quantity. I think that the deletion of inactive accounts does serve as an accurate showing of your site's activity level, and also the dedication of your members.

[Jaded Sammy]

Yea I usually keep an eye out for latent members and give them a message either by email or aim to see if they want to stay sometimes they come back and stay active other times i dont hear back and i'll delete em a few days after that.

[Kai]

How important is it to have an accurate member count? While you may want to have many members, you don't want alot of inactive accounts. They help the site die. More members will relize that there aren't alot of active accounts and therefore, I personaly would want to quite the forum.

Do you keep your inactive accounts or do you delete them? I delete my inactive accounts, they help my site to die. My old forum died quickly because of inactive accounts.

If you keep them, is it for the appearance of a higher member count or some other reason? Even if you do keep them for a higher member count, sooner or later other members will find out and eventually become inactive aswell. I highly recomend deleting inactive users.

If you delete them, how often and why? I delete inactive members after a month of not posting or logging on, unless they contact me and they are going away. I don't want my forum to look dead, and I want them all to be active so I can have others to talk to on my forum

[Asha Li]

you should delete the accounts with forums that havn't been used in over a year.