Could someone direct me to instructions on the right way to delete a member account please?

Community Building

AI-generated summary

The original poster, McBlu, requested instructions on how to delete a member account. JagWaugh provided options for deleting an account and McBlu chose to anonymize the user.

The discussion then shifted to the implications of anonymization and the rights of users regarding their content. James_Higginson raised concerns about the site’s responsibility to delete user-generated content upon request, citing the site’s ToS which grants a Creative Commons license.

JagWaugh recommended anonymizing the user, which was later confirmed by codinghorror as the extent of the obligation under Creative Commons. codinghorror stated that deleting content is up to the site owners’ discretion if it won’t leave holes in old conversations.

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Could someone direct me to instructions on the right way to delete a member account please? Thanks in advance.

1 Like
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It depends.

Do you wish to:

  1. Stop that member from posting anything new, but retain their existing posts?
  2. Stop that member from posting anything new, and remove all of their existing posts?
  3. Remove all trace of the member’s name, but retain their posts? (different from 1)?
  4. Get rid of the account, before they post anything?
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Option number three.

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Anonymize them. Go to the admin page for that user, It’s down at the bottom on the right hand side.

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Thanks. I was thinking that might be the way to go from looking through posts here. I am simply deleting a dummy account I set up.

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How do we stand with the remaining content when using anonymize? If a user insists upon deletion of all of their posts is this a request we must yield to?

The standard Discourse ToS do not specifically state that user generated content is owned by the site, or does it?

3. User Content License

User contributions are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Without limiting any of those representations or warranties, Survive France has the right (though not the obligation) to, in Survive France’s sole discretion (i) refuse or remove any content that, in Survive France’s reasonable opinion, violates any Survive France policy or is in any way harmful or objectionable, or (ii) terminate or deny access to and use of the Website to any individual or entity for any reason, in Survive France’s sole discretion. Survive France will have no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts previously paid.

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Maybe send a “compensation for lost product value” statement, and once paid delete the posts? It would not be easy estimating what that value might be, but as long as the amount is fair they should be agreeable.

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That’s an option but if word got around that this was our policy I think I would lose members in droves!

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No, anonymization is all that creative commons grants. If they plead their case and deleting their content won’t leave onerous long-term holes in many old conversations, then it’s up to the site owners to decide that.

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Thanks @codinghorror

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