Discrepancy in User List Export: Decrease in Total Users

Community Building Data & reporting

AI-generated summary

The original poster, NebulaWhisper, reported a discrepancy in their user list export, noting a decrease from 28,798 to 28,702 users between April and May. RGJ suggested checking the Deleted User logs in Admin - Security - Staff Action logs, attributing the decrease to automatic deletion of inactive users, controlled by the clean up inactive users after days setting in Admin - Settings - Users. NebulaWhisper confirmed this explanation and is now seeking clarification on the definitions of ‘active’ vs ‘inactive’ users for reporting purposes.

1

Hello everyone,

I’ve encountered an issue with our user list export that I hope someone can help clarify. In April, our User List showed a total of 28,798 users. However, when I pulled a new CSV of the user list for May, the number has decreased to 28,702 users.

I’m puzzled as to how this is possible. Could there be an explanation for the reduction in the total number of users? Are there any automatic processes or settings in Discourse that could account for this change?

Any insights or guidance on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

2

Check Admin - Security - Staff Action logs - Deleted User

You will probably find some users that have been deleted because they were inactive for a long time and never posted anything.

This is controlled by Admin - Settings - Users - clean up inactive users after days.

3

Thank you so much for your quick response, that aligns with what I was thinking as well and having reviewed our settings (I’ve just taken over a forum) that makes sense. Now I just need to understand the definitions of ‘active’ vs ‘inactive’ users for reporting.

Thanks again!