How do I delete my boards account?

Michaelrsh

^^^^ Simple as the title ^^^^

Spear

Michaelrsh wrote: »

^^^^ Simple as the title ^^^^

You don't. Either reset your password to something random, or email hello at boards.ie and request a closing.

Rabies

You log off and walk away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqGl5Y9DtaA

Spiritoftheseventies

Rabies wrote: »

You log off and walk away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqGl5Y9DtaA

Curious. Why cant you just delete your account. Any reason?

Tom Dunne

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

Curious. Why cant you just delete your account. Any reason?

I believe the reason is a technical one - if the account was deleted, it would leave "holes" in threads wherever the poster had posted (if you delete the account, you have to delete the associated posts).

Rabies

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

Curious. Why cant you just delete your account. Any reason?

If your posts were deleted along with your account, then it would leave people quoting you... but you'd be gone... not sure if it works like that or what happens.

Do you want your username gone, or name and all posts associated? Just wondering.

Spiritoftheseventies

Rabies wrote: »

If your posts were deleted along with your account, then it would leave people quoting you... but you'd be gone... not sure if it works like that or what happens.

Do you want your username gone, or name and all posts associated? Just wondering.

Yes but dont other people cancel their accounts on other websites. Surely there would be the same problem there

Rabies

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

Yes but dont other people cancel their accounts on other websites. Surely there would be the same problem there

There is a difference between canceling an account and what is pretty much a profile. It leaves trail around the site.

and really... well... Google has you already snapped up. No escaping them.

Are you over Boards, or want to leave and want your history deleted.


ha ha ha... I just read what I typed... Sound like so religious nut

Spiritoftheseventies

Rabies wrote: »

There is a difference between canceling an account and what is pretty much a profile. It leaves trail around the site.

and really... well... Google has you already snapped up. No escaping them.

Are you over Boards, or want to leave and want your history deleted.


ha ha ha... I just read what I typed... Sound like so religious nut

Yeah read the bit about a trail about the site. But that trail disappears in time. Again it shouldn't be that big an issue

Tom Dunne

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

But that trail disappears in time.

How do posts in a thread disappear over time?

Spiritoftheseventies

Tom Dunne wrote: »

How do posts in a thread disappear over time?

I mean posts that are posted six months back are hardly going to crop again as no one replies to them. Debates die and threads die so I dont see it being that big of an issue if that's the reason boards is wary of deleting accounts.

Zaph

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

I mean posts that are posted six months back are hardly going to crop again as no one replies to them. Debates die and threads die so I dont see it being that big of an issue if that's the reason boards is wary of deleting accounts.

Not always. A 7 year old thread was dug up in PI today. In cases like that what generally happens is that someone does a Google search, it comes up with a thread and they post in it without looking at the last post date. It's not as uncommon as you'd imagine.

Spiritoftheseventies

Zaph wrote: »

Not always. A 7 year old thread was dug up in PI today. In cases like that what generally happens is that someone does a Google search, it comes up with a thread and they post in it without looking at the last post date. It's not as uncommon as you'd imagine.

Seven years old? Thats a long time. Btw how many zombie threads are in existence?

Rabies

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

Seven years old? Thats a long time. Btw how many zombie threads are in existence?

technically all exist

WindSock

Zaph wrote: »

Not always. A 7 year old thread was dug up in PI today. In cases like that what generally happens is that someone does a Google search, it comes up with a thread and they post in it without looking at the last post date. It's not as uncommon as you'd imagine.

Yup, happens in Retro alot

My name is URL

I noticed recently that a few people have requested that their accoiunts be closed, and in at least one of those instances the user's tagline was changed to 'Closed Account'.. would it not be possible to rename users who request that their accounts be deleted?.. to something that doesn't have a profile page attached to it, like unregistered guests in certain forums. The posts would remain but there'd be no user profile

Spiritoftheseventies

I think users should be allowed a fresh start with a new account if they request. It needs to be looked at seriously.

Overheal

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

I think users should be allowed a fresh start with a new account if they request. It needs to be looked at seriously.

Its going to be looked at: see Feedforward. http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=65408425&postcount=58

That_Guy

Overheal wrote: »

Its going to be looked at: see Feedforward. http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=65408425&postcount=58

If their current account is deleted and they start a new one will their IP address still be stored?

Spiritoftheseventies

That_Guy wrote: »

If their current account is deleted and they start a new one will their IP address still be stored?

Hard to know.But some posters will go to great lengths to find out the identity of a poster if he starts off with a new account.
But no reason not to give it a go.

therecklessone

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

Hard to know.But some posters will go to great lengths to find out the identity of a poster if he starts off with a new account.
But no reason not to give it a go.

How utterly predictable.

If posters want a new start on boards then they always have the option of disregarding their existing profile (scrambling their password being the easiest way) and registering with a new account, though the effort is often wasted when the new profile is used to have a conversation with the old profile, or the user continues to post in exactly the same batsh1t way giving themselves away in the process.

Spiritoftheseventies

therecklessone wrote: »

How utterly predictable.

If posters want a new start on boards then they always have the option of disregarding their existing profile (scrambling their password being the easiest way) and registering with a new account, though the effort is often wasted when the new profile is used to have a conversation with the old profile, or the user continues to post in exactly the same batsh1t way giving themselves away in the process.

Actually know Recklesstone you are wrong there. You can't just set up a new account. It doesn't work like that.

therecklessone

bayviewclose wrote: »

Actually know Recklesstone you are wrong there. You can't just set up a new account. It doesn't work like that.

Yes you can.

Spiritoftheseventies

therecklessone wrote: »

Yes you can.

Thats news to me. Trust me Recklesstone, its not that simple. Admins have to clear it.

therecklessone

bayviewclose wrote: »

Thats news to me. Trust me Recklesstone, its not that simple. Admins have to clear it.

The Admins don't have to aware of the fact at all, which is pretty easy to ensure if a poster is serious about wanting a new start. Simply changing one's username and continuing to post in the exact same manner, or worse, talking to one self, will tend to bring attention upon oneself.

Multiple accounts are not encouraged.

KevIRL

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

Thats news to me. Trust me Recklesstone, its not that simple. Admins have to clear it.

As long as you dont do something stupid like use a new account to get around an existing forum or site ban its fine on here to set up a new account

_blank_

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

But some posters will go to great lengths to find out the identity of a poster if he starts off with a new account.

Or sometimes it's just bleedin obvious that a new account has the same idiot behind it as an old account

Spud83

I'm gonna take a guess here and say deleting an account is not possible due the constraints or "foreign keys" in the database. Basically every single piece of data relating to that account would have to be deleted. So every post, visitor message, social group, social group post etc would have to be deleted before a user can be. Firstly that would be a massive transaction against the database depending on post count and what not, secondly it would leave massive gaps in threads.

Best thing to do is, turn off notifications, and scramble your password, if you wish to disable your account.

If you wish to start again, get a new account, and don't use both at the same time. Or use the recover password option to have it emailed to you to use old account.

_blank_

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

Admins have to clear any new accounts.

No. They. Don't.

I have no idea why you think that, but they don't.

This is my second account, for instance. I had an old account many years ago that I forgot the password to, it has about ten posts, but one day I opened Boards and wanted to post, tried to sign in with my old account, couldn't, so just started a new one.

Spud83

Here is three Admins opinion for you.

Dav wrote: »

Dav's not an "alt" account, it's my work account. I don't (if possible) log into boards as Dav outside of the office, Ross sometimes does. I think that's worth clarifying. The alternative is we'd have to stop being users of this site as everything we said would be taken as "official" and that'd be quite a drag when you want to slag someone off

It's not an offence to have a second account, but it is to have one with the purpose of circumventing a ban. This has, to my knowledge, always been the case and I don't think we would step in unless someone is acting the plank with another account. The only reason we'd even spot the connection is because we did a check and the only reason we'd do a check is because someone gave a moderator reason to.

Conor wrote: »

99% of the time it's really obvious that the accounts are not the same person.

If none of the accounts sharing the IP cause any trouble, then none of them will come to the attention of any moderators so there'll be no problem.

If one account causes trouble then the other accounts might be called into question, but it's very often obvious that the accounts are belonging to two different people based on the pattern of posting, the content, the language used and so on.

Unless you have the exact same interests as your wife and/or children and "sound" the same and one of ye causes trouble you have nothing to worry about.

Conor wrote: »

...and this is one of the reasons why it's not a hard and fast, instant siteban for duplicate accounts.

If your account(s) don't come to the attention of the mods of a forum then you have nothing to worry about.

sceptre wrote: »

Case by case basis and it'd depend if they appear to be heading down the same road that got them banned the first time. We've had some former troublesome users that in time have been valued members of the community.

As MAJD said up the page, if there's an account that doesn't cause any hassle and doesn't get itself noticed on the radar it probably won't be noticed. If a previously banned user comes back and never gets noticed for any reason they are very unlikely to be checked and hence it won't be an issue. Over time with a clean slate it tends to become a non-issue even if they're found out for whatever reason as long as they haven't misbehaved.

Typically if a former user gets noticed in short time they're just zapped. There's always a reason such a person gets noticed in short time when they do. If they don't get noticed at all, well that's usually a different story by virtue of them not being noticed. It's worth remembering that while spammers are usually permanent prison residents, normal users get unbanned on a regular basis - lots of people get one chance back.

There are however a number of former users who will be zapped on sight. These are the few characters with nothing to do but cause trouble for others from behind their keyboards. In those cases the virtual equivalent of a bag of stones and a river is well deserved.

That's a "what we generally do" kind of statement by the way - it really is pretty much done on a case by case basis.

So basically what the all say is if the second third or fourth account don't cause trouble then there will be need to check them.

If it is noticed then a user will be asked why they have two accounts.

Now they don't want people using two accounts at the same time. You can kill your account now and start again, but start switching between them and it will cause trouble. If other users spot you well then there ain't much they can do to protect you.

Darragh

Michaelrsh wrote: »

^^^^ Simple as the title ^^^^

Hi there, to give you an answer here:

To have your account closed, please email hello@boards.ie from the email address you registered with stating your request and allow us at least two working days to do so.

We will mark your account as closed, scramble your password, delete your subscriptions, turn off your PMs and Visitor Message and do our best to disable your notifications.

We will keep data like your email address and IP address for a while (as per the data protection act) so that if there's any problems with your posts, we can identify you. This is to deter trolling or people registering accounts just to be "naughty" (which could cover a wide range of sins).

We do not delete posts or threads except in extraordinary/required circumstances - this is to preserve the flow of discussion on the site.

Under the Data Protection Act, posts aren't considered "Personal Data".

All this is leading up to "You are responsible for what you post on the internet. If you don't want something said by you, or it to be known that you have said something about someone that they may have a (legal) problem with, then don't say it. You are not anonymous."

I hope that helps.

Thanks

Darragh