Since I don't use my real name in forums people using the same username as me can post whatever they like - good, bad, legal or othetwise - and it will make no difference at all to DannoLeftForums in the real world so I wouldn't have a need to explain anything.
If I used my real name in forums then of course that might be a different matter.
Yes, but not everyone operates in the same way as they do. As I said, some people invest quite a lot of themselves in their internet brand. It takes all types...
I get good info here sometimes. This thread caught my eye for some reason. The first person asks what looks like a fair question then gets good help from the admin person Alansh. Then like so many times the high post member takes the post off track and people argue. Then the site Team member bob points out the problem then makes it worse. I like the site and read but less now for these distractions. hope it gets better. Thank you
Sorry if you think I made it worse. It would be really useful to me if you could help me understand how - then I could try to avoid doing it.
@bobn2,
Yes I did agree with Alan that it’s not a good idea that someone could take up a deleted user’s name.
But I have no idea how you came to the conclusion that I was disputing what Alan had said. I wasn’t and instead I was clearly saying that it would be best if once a user name has been used and the account deleted then it could not be re-used. Perhaps by checking email addresses ete if someone else tried to use it?
Also please note that I made a clear differentiation between Dave Surrey, which I assume is quite a common name and davesurrey as a user name, which isn’t common.
If I were to delete my account and then someone else uses it for illegal proposes, as you suggest is a possibility which I agree with, then I think it would be your site and not me who would be in more trouble. But I wouldn't want my name sullied either.
So I can only ask you to consider again a way to stop deleted accounts being taken over.
That’s it from me.
In general I agree with you. Imo it is a huge flaw in this forums data model if the usernames of deleted accounts can be reused by new members.
On the other hand if you left these forums with your account being deleted and someone subsequently registered as Dave Surrey it would be totally reasonable for anyone to initially assume davesurrey and the new Dave Surrey are the same person.
That is the point I was trying to make.
That's how it came across. I know it's not what you meant. But the reader reading it differently from the writer intended is how these miscommunications occur.
Will come back to that at the end.
Noted.
The question is that had you established some reputation on the internet under a particular ID, which you used across platforms, then you would not want someone trashing the reputation of that identity. I know that not everyone feels that way, but some certainly do. We've had to deal with just that situation, where someone felt that someone else had taken over their identity when joining this forum, and was trashing their reputation. As you say, you wouldn't want your name sullied.
The way we do it is to advise people as Alan did. Generally, we don't have this as a public discussion. We don't delete accounts in response to requests on a public forum. The process is to send a private message. You suggest that linking IP and ID would do this, but if we delete an account we no longer have either. If we keep them, we aren't deleting the account.
It's a problem with every forum's data model. If the site retains the ID and IP of deleted accounts then the accounts haven't been deleted.
Gents,
It doesn't matter if it's a real name or a made up one. If userXXY makes some posts, then asks to be deleted - we do that. Someone else comes in and registers with the UserXXY name and makes some posts. The natural assumption for others (especially if the username is memorable) is that it is the original user.
Now, is this a problem? Possibly, if the second UserXXY's posts are contentious or malicious. It could cast aspersions on the original user.
So, we request (we don't force) that the user asks for his account to be made dormant. It has nothing to do with keeping user numbers high (personally, I couldn't care less about that as long as the people who are left are all getting along).
Does that make sense?
Alan
You can always ban that username in admin panel in addition to deleting the account. Should be also doable with a plugin.
Problem with holding a record of historic usernames is that now you hold a record of personal data that you propably shouldn’t have kept as per GDPR deletion should be final.
But same GDPR leaves provision for service providers to maintain a record of offensive users so they can avoid future service violations, so maybe the ban should be in clear here.
OK. Thanks. I'll think about it.
And sorry...didn't mean to start an argument :)
Yeah with forums I decide to leave, I just go.
That way in the future if you want, simply go back if things change along the way. It's not a big thing really.
Ok, then it depends on your definition of deleted.
You can replace the displayed username of "deleted" accounts in their posts with something else while retaining the usernames in the database thus preventing anyone else from registering a new member account with those usernames.
So, don't delete your account. I have no idea why people feel the need to delete accounts. Just log out for the last time and ride off into the sunset. How hard can that be?
That would require changing a whole load of the logic in the SW. Posts are associated with a user by an internal key. If that key doesn't find a user in the DB then it's displayed as 'deleted'.
You didn't.
So we have now gone full circle and returned to my earlier comment -
"Imo it is a huge flaw in this forums data model if the usernames of deleted accounts can be reused by new members."
Obviously this flaw is something you "inherited" from the software platform these forums are built on and so not of your doing.
It should have been thought of and dealt with in the software from its very beginning when the forum's data model was being designed.
@AlanSh,
I am shutting down online accounts that I don't frequent anymore, of which this is one. It's a good site but I don't spend time here anymore.
Thanks in advance
Steve
Steve, just PM me a message.
I will disable your account which stops anyone else inheriting it.
Alan
