Setting to disable logging username/IP for (self-)delete user log lines

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The discussion revolves around disabling the logging of username and IP addresses in log entries when a user self-deletes their Discourse account, primarily for GDPR compliance. Hooksmith highlights the concern that storing this data may conflict with user privacy rights, especially when handling GDPR erasure requests. They note that while a setting exists to anonymize user data during GDPR processing, there is no equivalent option for self-delete actions. Jagster points out that GDPR permits storing IP addresses, but suggests that logging only the IP could be sufficient and less intrusive. Hooksmith counters that users may expect their username, which could contain personal information, to be excluded from logs. Olle11 asks if a solution has been found, indicating ongoing interest in resolving this issue.

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Currently when a user self-deletes their Discourse account, the log line shows the IP and username of that user:

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We’d rather not store if we can help it for GDPR purposes. If the user deletes their Discourse account, then later sends a GDPR request to our platform (the SSO provider for our Discourse instance), we want to avoid needing to search all log lines for relevant data on that user to wipe it.

We already have this setting off on our instance so that we don’t log as much data when we anonymize a user as part of GDPR request handling:

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It would be convenient to have a similar setting so that (self-)delete log lines do not include user data.

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GDPR allows saving those two. But if something is wanted to make things more wider then storing just IP is just enogh. It doesn’t identified anybody (and is quite useless anyway, but that is another story).

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I think user expectation (from perspective of someone requesting a GDPR right-to-erasure from us) here would be that we do not store their username, as it might contain PII. Note that the scribbled out part on the right contains the username of the user prior to anonymization on a normal Discourse setup.

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Did you find a solution to this?