Disable user deletion

[wolverineblues]

I know very well that this is supposed to be a right and all that, but more than that this is creating serious problems in the forum.

Most of the users who deleted their accounts eventually repented after a while and are now demanding their postscounts restored and/or all their previous links and stats linked back to their new accounts.

Not even mentioning the fact the convos where 2 or more deleted users have participated become a total mess that is hard to follow.

At the very least, is it possible to keep the previous names their accounts had despite they're deleted as opposed to just "deleted member"? Not only I'm getting complaints about repented users wanting their stats back, but the other users are having issues to follow old topics.

I understand it's their right to off their accounts, but isn't also the right of everyone else to be able to follow old topics correctly, as opposed to a unidentifiable orgy of "deleted" replying to each other without knowing who's who?

[Retread]

May 4, 2020 10:02:04 GMT -8 wolverineblues said:

At the very least, is it possible to keep the previous names their accounts had despite they're deleted as opposed to just "deleted member"?

wolverineblues

It's my understanding the removal of previous usernames attached to posts where the author's account has been deleted, came about due to new privacy laws.

I don't think it would be possible to do what you're requesting. And even if it was possible, it would not be permitted. But I'll tag Michael and perhaps you'll get an official confirmation.

[wolverineblues]

May 4, 2020 10:32:51 GMT -8 Retread said:

May 4, 2020 10:02:04 GMT -8 wolverineblues said:

At the very least, is it possible to keep the previous names their accounts had despite they're deleted as opposed to just "deleted member"?

wolverineblues

It's my understanding the removal of previous usernames attached to posts where the author's account has been deleted, came about due to new privacy laws.

I don't think it would be possible to do what you're requesting. And even if it was possible, it would not be permitted. But I'll tag Michael and perhaps you'll get an official confirmation.

I understand why. But I also want to bring to your attention the mess it causes. 

Older threads become basically impossible to follow. It's just a big disordered orgy of "deleted" where it's very hard to determine who is who.

I know that individual rights of erasing your account are important, but to what extent are they more important than the collective right of the rest of the users to be able to follow older threads correctly?

I'd be fine with this privacy function if at least the user names remained even if the accounts associated by them were deleted. Most other forums do this if they even allow users to delete their own accounts at all. Actually, not even the exact user is necessary, their account number would be more than fine since at least you can tell apart "User 156" from "User 32" and so on.

This way privacy is respected without screwing it up for the rest of us. This privacy consideration as it now creates a huge mess on older threads.

[elli]

A user's right to delete their own accounts supersedes your "right" not to feel confused about forum content. These two things are not equal in the slightest. Do you really mean to imply that they are, or are you being facetious?

The changes that ProBoards has made to their service are required by law, both the GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act. I can almost guarantee that their answer will be "NO" on this issue.

You'll have to find another way to resolve your confusion.

[wolverineblues]

May 4, 2020 11:16:07 GMT -8 elli said:

A user's right to delete their own accounts supersedes your "right" not to feel confused about forum content. These two things are not equal in the slightest. Do you really mean to imply that they are, or are you being facetious?

The changes that ProBoards has made to their service are required by law, both the GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act. I can almost guarantee that their answer will be "NO" on this issue.

You'll have to find another way to resolve your confusion.

What makes you think I'm being facetious? There is no need to act uppity. No need to act all condescending, I am merely trying to solve what I consider a valid problem.

I explained clearly what is the problem. Some users which deleted their account have registered back and are demanding their stats back. However this isn't my main issue, they should have known better before doing it.

The main problem is that many of the older topics have been rendered unredeable because it just says "deleted". You literally can not tell who is who. Are you saying this does not pose any problem at all?

I understand the care for privacy and laws, but I don't think at least leaving "User 32" or "User 1112" is a breach of privacy in any form. In fact, even leaving their nickname would not do much to breach privacy since no one is using their real names or actual personal info. Yet it truly solves the problem at hand of not knowing who is who.

This also has nil to do with my personal rights, I never spoke personally. It's the rest of the users (who by all means should be able to follow older conversations properly) who are having an issue with it. 

Are you telling me that if 10 posters who have over 3000 posts delete themselves so it leaves us with 30,000 messages whom we can't know who posted them (at least enough to know different people posted them, not necessarily their former identity), is merely a facetious or minor issue?

Moreover, a banned user would lack any of these "rights" you're speaking of since it would not be able to access the forum to delete his own account once it's IP banned. His username would be bound forever to his posts. So in this case its "rights" are truly worth less? If this is the case then I don't see any valid reason of why anyone wanting to delete his account (or rather, the distinction between other deleted users) would be more valid than the active or new users who want to read old conversations properly.

[Retread]

May 4, 2020 10:48:41 GMT -8 wolverineblues said:

I understand why. But I also want to bring to your attention the mess it causes.

Fair enough.

May 4, 2020 10:48:41 GMT -8 wolverineblues said:

I know that individual rights of erasing your account are important, but to what extent are they more important than the collective right of the rest of the users to be able to follow older threads correctly?

To the extent that conforming to privacy laws is mandatory. By definition, everything not required by law comes second.

May 4, 2020 10:48:41 GMT -8 wolverineblues said:

Actually, not even the exact user is necessary, their account number would be more than fine since at least you can tell apart "User 156" from "User 32" and so on.

I have no clue as to whether that might be possible or how difficult it would be for the developers to write such a thing into the software.

But on the surface, that does seem as if it might be worthy of consideration. idk. But in any case, it wouldn't be a coding issue. It would have to be built into the software.

[wolverineblues]

May 4, 2020 12:07:19 GMT -8 Retread said:

May 4, 2020 10:48:41 GMT -8 wolverineblues said:

I understand why. But I also want to bring to your attention the mess it causes.

Fair enough.

May 4, 2020 10:48:41 GMT -8 wolverineblues said:

I know that individual rights of erasing your account are important, but to what extent are they more important than the collective right of the rest of the users to be able to follow older threads correctly?

To the extent that conforming to privacy laws is mandatory. By definition, everything not required by law comes second.

May 4, 2020 10:48:41 GMT -8 wolverineblues said:

Actually, not even the exact user is necessary, their account number would be more than fine since at least you can tell apart "User 156" from "User 32" and so on.

I have no clue as to whether that might be possible or how difficult it would be for the developers to write such a thing into the software.

But on the surface, that does seem as if it might be worthy of consideration. idk. But in any case, it wouldn't be a coding issue. It would have to be built into the software.

Thanks for replying reasonably. I hope it's taken into consideration since it's a "minor" thing that would truly help a lot.

I don't intend to keep my users as prisoners for petty reasons like the other user replying seemed to think, nor I want to breach their rights. However the issue at hand does give serious problems to forum functionality.

I just don't want their remaining content (of which there is a lot) to become an unreadable mess.

The most annoying part for me as an admin is that at least half of these have already returned, so this means whatever privacy concern they may have had was not permanent or very serious.

[Lynx]

I highly doubt they (PB) will change this:

Apr 13, 2020 8:33:00 GMT -8 Scott said:

Apr 13, 2020 2:41:14 GMT -8 stanley75 said:

I'm having the same issue as the OP on my ProBoards forum. I'd prefer it if it showed the username rather than just 'deleted' and unclickable.

This would not be possible for an account that has been deleted.  This was all explained in this thread. Please read the whole thread.

The reply above is (as of this post) the last reply in the thread. You can read the whole thread here: support.proboards.com/thread/660993/members-show-deleted

[Michael]

Hi,

Unfortunately "User 113" or any other numbered user name would not be truly anonymous.

[wolverineblues]

May 4, 2020 14:13:06 GMT -8 Michael said:

Hi,

Unfortunately "User 113" or any other numbered user name would not be truly anonymous.

But there's no way to trace them since no profile or other info is attached to it. All it tells is that it registered before. I also recommend users to not use personal e-mails or anything. 

I seriously would not be posting this if I didn't think this causes serious issues.

Those of us who were present during those discussions may be able to infer who posted what anyway. So just showing "deleted" does not really help their privacy in such extent. It does in regards to new users, but it also screws the old topics for them since they can not know what posted what, so it looks like a huge convo of someone talking to himself.

Do you seriously not see any, however slight, functionality problem with all of this?

Moreover, the reasons the returning users listed had nothing to do with privacy, more so with "addiction" or "lack of interest".

[Michael]

May 4, 2020 14:24:03 GMT -8 wolverineblues said:

May 4, 2020 14:13:06 GMT -8 Michael said:

Hi,

Unfortunately "User 113" or any other numbered user name would not be truly anonymous.

But there's no way to trace them since no profile or other info is attached to it. All it tells is that it registered before. I also recommend users to not use personal e-mails or anything. 

I seriously would not be posting this if I didn't think this causes serious issues.

Those of us who were present during those discussions may be able to infer who posted what anyway. So just showing "deleted" does not really help their privacy in such extent. It does in regards to new users, but it also screws the old topics for them since they can not know what posted what, so it looks like a huge convo of someone talking to himself.

Do you seriously not see any, however slight, functionality problem with all of this?

Moreover, the reasons the returning users listed had nothing to do with privacy, more so with "addiction" or "lack of interest".

Hi,

With deleted members being numbered it would be possible to compile a list of posts and identify information about an individual.

While this does present problems we must act within the spirit and letter of the law.

[wolverineblues]

May 4, 2020 14:32:51 GMT -8 Michael said:

May 4, 2020 14:24:03 GMT -8 wolverineblues said:

But there's no way to trace them since no profile or other info is attached to it. All it tells is that it registered before. I also recommend users to not use personal e-mails or anything. 

I seriously would not be posting this if I didn't think this causes serious issues.

Those of us who were present during those discussions may be able to infer who posted what anyway. So just showing "deleted" does not really help their privacy in such extent. It does in regards to new users, but it also screws the old topics for them since they can not know what posted what, so it looks like a huge convo of someone talking to himself.

Do you seriously not see any, however slight, functionality problem with all of this?

Moreover, the reasons the returning users listed had nothing to do with privacy, more so with "addiction" or "lack of interest".

Hi,

With deleted members being numbered it would be possible to compile a list of posts and identify information about an individual.

While this does present problems we must act within the spirit and letter of the law.

So say, if the top 10 posters deleted their account all the forum becomes a mess, and there's nothing we can do it to at least keep it readable?

It's a comic and anime forum so true personal information is scarce. I even have the "location" profile field disabled since months.

Moreover, other users may not do this due to privacy but to spite other users or the forum itself. Most of the deleted users who came back did not do it out of fear due to their privacy, but because they got bored or felt they were addicted.

I'm sure you recognize that while having good intentions, and wanting to follow the laws, this feature could be abused to disastrous consequences?

I understand that you are obligated to allowing users to terminate their accounts by law. But that users can be tracked by a mere "User 111" seems to be a personal qualm or idea of the proboards administration. Even with just "deleted" there may still be cases (not in my forum tho) of users who shared pics or links to other pages they visited.

If the real issue with including a number is that they could "make a list of posts and track them" then the same can be done even without it. You'd have to delete the entire post history for truly erasing all tracks of them-