# Deactivating users permanently

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/deactivating-users-permanently/37169
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [December 27, 2015, 8:49am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deactivating-users-permanently/37169 "2015-12-27T08:49:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 2

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### Author: ![jomaxro](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jomaxro/32/126216_2.png) [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2015, 9:00am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/deactivating-users-permanently/37169/2 "2015-12-27T09:00:27Z")

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Unfortunately I think suspending the users is the only way you can accomplish what you want here. Based on @sam’s description of the user states I think suspending is the way to go. From the linked thread:

> [@Understanding user statuses, roles, and permissions](https://meta.discourse.org/t/understanding-user-statuses-roles-and-permissions/35171/1):
>
> ## Suspended
> 
> Account suspended from Discourse instance
> 
> - A note is displayed on user page denoting suspension reason
> - Login is not allowed
> - Account no longer shows up in search
> - No emails are sent to user for any notifications (digest, message and so on)
> - As an exception any emails initiated by staff are still sent to user

So this will accomplish your goal of preventing login and emails, unless you (the admin) explicitly initiate an email.

> [@Understanding user statuses, roles, and permissions](https://meta.discourse.org/t/description-of-various-user-states-in-discourse/35171):
>
> bookmark This is a guide for understanding the various user statuses, roles, and permissions within Discourse, including how they affect user capabilities and how they are stored in the database. person_raising_hand Required user level: Administrator Discourse has many built-in user statuses, roles, and permissions. These statuses and roles can be seen for a given user when viewing their profile from the users’ section of the admin dashboard: Permi…

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