Inactive Accounts - Delete or not to Delete?

[imawhinger]

Hi there. Haven't read all the posts but I will do in a minute. I've recently gone through my members list and and have emailed those whose accounts have not been activated.

I have given them a deadline date to reply or active their account and if not have stated their account will be deleted. Seemed a good idea as it may persuade a few to join.

I don't particularly like just keeping the numbers up artificially but then again if someone is thinking of joining your site and it hardly has any members then is may be less attractive to them.

[Kami]

Apr 29, 2008 1:56:21 GMT -8 imawhinger said:

Hi there. Haven't read all the posts but I will do in a minute. I've recently gone through my members list and and have emailed those whose accounts have not been activated.

I have given them a deadline date to reply or active their account and if not have stated their account will be deleted. Seemed a good idea as it may persuade a few to join.

I don't particularly like just keeping the numbers up artificially but then again if someone is thinking of joining your site and it hardly has any members then is may be less attractive to them.

But how more attractive is a forum with 2,000 members and only 500 posts? [Just an example]. A high member count with a low post count shows that people sign up, and never bother to come back.

I've found that people are more likely to join a forum that does member sweeps, because the activity more accurately portrays true members to post ratio.[/font]

[Matt [Malfoy250]]

Apr 29, 2008 2:07:27 GMT -8 Kami said:

Apr 29, 2008 1:56:21 GMT -8 imawhinger said:

Hi there. Haven't read all the posts but I will do in a minute. I've recently gone through my members list and and have emailed those whose accounts have not been activated.

I have given them a deadline date to reply or active their account and if not have stated their account will be deleted. Seemed a good idea as it may persuade a few to join.

I don't particularly like just keeping the numbers up artificially but then again if someone is thinking of joining your site and it hardly has any members then is may be less attractive to them.

But how more attractive is a forum with 2,000 members and only 500 posts? [Just an example]. A high member count with a low post count shows that people sign up, and never bother to come back.

I've found that people are more likely to join a forum that does member sweeps, because the activity more accurately portrays true members to post ratio.

[/font][/quote]

Indeed - I agree. It's much better to keep your number of accounts accurate, otherwise it would be just like lying to get people to join. Tons of advertisers for various products in the real world do this, and for those who actually try it find that it's just a waist of money. The same thing happens with proboards accounts. Admins should encourage their members to post if that is the case.

Also, Admins no longer have the option of choosing whether to update their member count anymore. Whenever an account is deleted, the member count automatically recounts itself (According to Version 4.5) so we may find a lot more forums not deleting accounts just for that reason.

[HoudiniDerek]

Apr 29, 2008 11:14:29 GMT -8 Matt [Malfoy250] said:

Apr 29, 2008 2:07:27 GMT -8 Kami said:

But how more attractive is a forum with 2,000 members and only 500 posts? [Just an example]. A high member count with a low post count shows that people sign up, and never bother to come back.

I've found that people are more likely to join a forum that does member sweeps, because the activity more accurately portrays true members to post ratio.

[/font][/quote]

Indeed - I agree. It's much better to keep your number of accounts accurate, otherwise it would be just like lying to get people to join. Tons of advertisers for various products in the real world do this, and for those who actually try it find that it's just a waist of money. The same thing happens with proboards accounts. Admins should encourage their members to post if that is the case.

Also, Admins no longer have the option of choosing whether to update their member count anymore. Whenever an account is deleted, the member count automatically recounts itself (According to Version 4.5) so we may find a lot more forums not deleting accounts just for that reason.[/quote]

I prefer accurate member counts too and I am happy to see that the new version takes that into account so it is not something manually done anymore.

I have been on sites that do not delete inactive members and I can see their point. On one site I am on, some members will be gone for two years and then pop back in. Since that is the case, I can see their point. Plus, they never started with the stipulation that you had to post or get deleted.

Anymore, most sites state it one way or the other and that lets members know that they need to be active and that is more helpful overall. One thing that I think should always happen is that duplicate accounts should be deleted...especially if the person has not been banned or whatnot. I see no reason to have more than one account, especially if the first is active. Once they are in an account, delete the others to make it more accurate overall.

[spookygrl]

Feb 17, 2008 7:34:11 GMT -8 Deputy Fife said:

I never do because it makes me feel like I am trying to blackmail my members into being active, threats never work. You never know, you might terminate a members profile who might have just posted and BEEN an active member 3 weeks down the road but now won't because they are ticked off about being told what to do.

This reminds me of a situation that I was in once. I had been very active on a board, had at least 3,000 posts invested in it. But things happened in my life and I was real bogged down for time and was away for about 7 months. Much to my chargin, when I came back, my account was deleted and I was expected to do a new one. I was not a very happy person especially when no where on that board did it ever indicate or warn that this is the action that would be taken on wayward users, not even in the toss. I pointed this out and told them I will not be back.

So I don't really like to delete either. But on the other hand I can see the side that the post author gives and they have some valid points too. So I guess in the end, I would rather leave the member count alone and look a certain way than to upset registered members who just couldn't find the time to come back as fast as I would have liked. But this may not work for all boards, some may really need to keep track of inactive posters and flush them. I guess personal disgression is the key but I would never ever delete some one who had put a lot of time in posting on my board. If I deleted it would probably be people who registered to lurk rather than contribute at all.

[ombrel]

<sup>I used to be really nit picky in Site Attendance; I would do random (practically once a month) Roster Check Up and delete the person that did not sign up. But I started to become inactive myself for many reasons (Real Life, Burned Out in Posting, ect). I didn't see it as fair just because I was the creator or the person was a site staff so when I revamped my site; I changed a few things.

Depending on the time of year I will not do a random attendance sign up roster; I know many of my members are students still in grade school and I rather have them doing school work then worrying about their character being deleted and starting from scratch. Now I will still do the random check up for site activity but again in regards to the time of year.

The only real time I delete a member is if they did not activate the account or if activated and have not posted an application and or just keeps logging in and logging out. Makes me feel suspicious on the idea of them joining an RP site yet haven't posted in over a month. If the player has an active account and an accepted application; I am in regards into placing the members account in an inactive category but I still don't know yet really.</sup>

[Tumbleweed]

This is more of a statement than a question but I wonder how many of you who delete members on a regular basis belong to another site that you don't really post on but like checking out what is happening now and then. I know I do.

Another consideration. If someone joined and posted a few times and then disappeared for a while and you delete his account don't you end up with a lot of "guest" names in posts. If I'm correct, that would be a big warning for me not to join because the Admin may be ban happy.

BTW: I would never join a Role Playing site if there wasn't a large member base. Oh, gosh it would be very discouraging to think I'd have to play with the same people over and over again. I would join if I saw there was a large member base because in the back of my mind I'd assume some of these members are gone for a bit but may be back to take on a role. In fact, the larger the member base the more likely someone would pop back in to take on a role. But the chances are slim to none if they popped back in to only find their account was deleted.

Oh, one last thing. It is pretty common knowledge that most web sites member base far out weighs active members and knowing that shouldn't turn off anyone. It's just the way things are.
Interesting topic, btw.

[gimel]

i try to have a balance between the number of members and accuracy. i delete people who havent logged on either ever, or in months, but try to keep my totals up while doing it. ive also started only deleting people who have few to 0 posts. sometimes i email people, sometimes i dont. if im doing a mass cleanout, i probably will. i used to try to delete a few once a month, but i havent been doing that for a while.
there are members who show up and post in the c-box,without actually logging in, which is fine.it shows they are still interested in the site after all. aslong as i see them stopping by in some way, im fine.

i do take into account real life when deciding too. i know ive had an active member quit posting because he enlisted in the military and well, couldnt get on,and he warned me that would happen too. and other members have lost the link to the site, only to find it later at some point, to come back and start posting again. im lenient, and hate deleting people, so im careful about who i do delete.

[Bloody Hell]

I'm sort of OCD ( Obsesive compulsive disorder) I have that problem so I have to have a activity check at least once a month give them a week to reply to it and if they don't I delete unless they have a reason and tell me in a PM or someone else who tells me.. or the post in the absent board....

I don't like it when I have all these members and none come on it bugs me I guess...

Thats why I join sites more then own them so other people can deal with tha..

[Dana]

On my dog-lovers forum, I have very specific rules about activity. (Such as, if you go X amount of time without posting X times, your account will be deleted, etc.) But unfortunately, that forum has lost quite a bit of its activity as well. I've deleted a few of the inactive accounts. I do occasional ativity checks, where I remove the accounts that have broken the activity rules. It's difficult to find a good way to keep activity up. On one site that I just recently joined, I was inactive for about two weeks due to internet problems on my computer, and when I finally got back my account was deleted. So, it's hard to decide your activity guidelines and follow them.

[spookygrl]

May 5, 2008 8:28:51 GMT -8 Tumbleweed said:

This is more of a statement than a question but I wonder how many of you who delete members on a regular basis belong to another site that you don't really post on but like checking out what is happening now and then. I know I do.

Another consideration. If someone joined and posted a few times and then disappeared for a while and you delete his account don't you end up with a lot of "guest" names in posts. If I'm correct, that would be a big warning for me not to join because the Admin may be ban happy.

BTW: I would never join a Role Playing site if there wasn't a large member base. Oh, gosh it would be very discouraging to think I'd have to play with the same people over and over again. I would join if I saw there was a large member base because in the back of my mind I'd assume some of these members are gone for a bit but may be back to take on a role. In fact, the larger the member base the more likely someone would pop back in to take on a role. But the chances are slim to none if they popped back in to only find their account was deleted.

Oh, one last thing. It is pretty common knowledge that most web sites member base far out weighs active members and knowing that shouldn't turn off anyone. It's just the way things are.
Interesting topic, btw.

Certainly good points! This is why I guess there is no right or wrong answer to this, but it depends on the individual needs of a board at a particular time.

[HoudiniDerek]

May 5, 2008 8:28:51 GMT -8 Tumbleweed said:

This is more of a statement than a question but I wonder how many of you who delete members on a regular basis belong to another site that you don't really post on but like checking out what is happening now and then. I know I do.

I don't. I have never seen what the point of joining a forum is if you do not plan to be active in it. I am active on every forum I am a part of...unless there is no one else there. I still log in and play with my profile and post new things and such, but I cannot do much more than that if I am the only one there.

I rarely delete either. I do a purge maybe every year or two and see if people are active. If you have posted even once, you tend to be safe because that implies some form of activity. If you joined and did nothing, I send out a mass PM. If that still does nothing, within a month, you are probably gone. (That is the RP site though. All others, it depends on the rules I have in place).

BTW: I would never join a Role Playing site if there wasn't a large member base. Oh, gosh it would be very discouraging to think I'd have to play with the same people over and over again. I would join if I saw there was a large member base because in the back of my mind I'd assume some of these members are gone for a bit but may be back to take on a role. In fact, the larger the member base the more likely someone would pop back in to take on a role. But the chances are slim to none if they popped back in to only find their account was deleted.

I am not sure why this is relevant to the thread, but I would rather have an active member base on an RP than a large member base. Yes, there is the chance that a larger member base offers you more potential people to RP with, but that does not guarantee it, especially if they are inactive.

Oh, one last thing. It is pretty common knowledge that most web sites member base far out weighs active members and knowing that shouldn't turn off anyone. It's just the way things are.
Interesting topic, btw.

On most sites, I will admit that is the case. Look at this forum.

Most of mine are small and very fan-driven such as old TV shows or are invite-only...so that helps my member counts and activity stay constant. ;D

[mixedlachick]

This is a great idea. Im very anal when it comes to my board as well. I will let the newbies know that they have about a week to post, and if they dont, their account will be deleted. It seems to help, because they post immediately. But I notice every now and then I will find someone who has never activated their account and i simply just have to delete it.

Sometimes you will get the straglers, but if you keep up with it, your forum will be more active and its more controlled when its smaller compared to a larger forum with tons of members.

[Kirsty geek]

May 5, 2008 21:42:33 GMT -8 @mixedlachick said:

This is a great idea. Im very anal when it comes to my board as well. I will let the newbies know that they have about a week to post, and if they dont, their account will be deleted. It seems to help, because they post immediately. But I notice every now and then I will find someone who has never activated their account and i simply just have to delete it.

I totally agree all newbies I will normally try and get to post there application as soon as they can within a week or at least start it I don't demand it to be finished staright away becasue some people do tend to take a long time writing Apps out like I used too when I first started RPing.

But I don't really 'fake' my member count because it might turn people away from the site if there is load's of people and/or too little people on it, I genrually just let the meber count grow at it's own pace so to speak.................

I don't delete people just for not posting unless it's been over a week or so and they have been logging on on a regular basis and they just don't post because they can't be bothered.

[Cori Lynn]

I just did a site clean up and I deleted all accounts that have joined but only did like half of a post or joined and haven't done anything. What I really don't like is the people that will only fill things out after I join theirs, I had two of those on my site, but I do once a week thread clean up and put them into a vault, and then I do once a month activity checks and site clean up. Which means any threads that haven't had a reply in three days or more get moved to the vault, and any members that don't do the check without a valid reason to not be on will be deleted, people some how always think that means banned, just deleted not banned they can still get on, and then I put the characters up for adoption for a week if not claimed by then then the model gets stripped off the claim and the character moved to the vault.