Can Members delete their own account ?

bugsmi0

I thought I saw this in the role permission but guest not, is it possible ? if not would be nice for an opt out feature

deel

a detonate user feature would be cool.

then add a little browser shake js as your account is removed.

bugsmi0

it seems that not even the admin can delete a user without going into the databse, that's really lame ;-) this is the year 2006 automation baby its a wonderful thing now that cars have round wheels instead of square ones

ADM

It's the year 2006 and the addon section has a search feature:
http://lussumo.com/addons/?PostBackAction=AddOn&AddOnID=65

bugsmi0

doh!!! I swear to jesus that was not there all the times i was searching ;-)

comes with a warning - removal of users can mess up your database and forum.
Use this function with care

that's always nice to know, makes me afraid to even download it lol

Wanderer

Yup,
It scares me too, this should be core functionality but we've had that discussion already.

I can't believe it's not acceptable to have delete-user as a built in feature but a scary warning add-on is OK?

bugsmi0

I tried to enable it but it doesn't appear to work , it has 2 folders

deleteuser/deleteuser/default.php an error msg appears when you use only the 2nd folder and when you use the first one, it doesn't show up in the extension list

many things should be in the core that aren't there, its a shame too, to sacrifice functionality for light and simple

bjrn

The only users I'd imagine I could delete would be people who've joined and never posted anything. Although I don't really know why I'd delete them, unless I'd have a really, really huge forum, and they were taking up thousands of rows in my database, and I for some reason wanted to slim my DB down. The main problem is that most users post things, and when you delete such users you'd have to delete all their comments, and started discussions, and all replies to their discussions, which seems a bit of a shame.

bugsmi0

consider a mail list, by law, you have to provide a way for users to opt out if they choose, same should be for forum too, they should be allowed to be removed from the forum as in deleted, as far as their posts go well personally I would delete those as well because they belong to their owner, anyway most forum software allow the admin or user to delete their account but usually the data stays on the board. I think legally, there needs to be a way for a user's account to be removed if they want it removed and going through the database to do this is really insane ;-)

bjrn

But if you want to retain all their posts, then "deleting" the user would really just be nothing more than disabling login for that user. What if a user deletes, you retain that user's posts, and then someone else creates a user with the deleted user's name? Confusion city! If someone doesn't want to leave your forum, just give them a role that can't log in, call it "Deleted" if it makes you feel better. Of course if you're okay with deleting the user, the user's posts, the user's discussions (and all replies to those discussions), then you can delete users. Although I think that I as a user would be a bit annoyed if suddenly discussions I've participated in are full of holes because someone didnd't want to be part of the forum anymore... Anyway, if you want to do this, there is that extension. Also, I've never heard of any law requiring that you must let people delete things they've created on your website. There's a big difference between a mail list and a forum. If you continue to get mail, that's really annoying, if you don't like a forum, you can just stop visiting.

Minisweeper

I'm no data protection (or whatever) expert (though i have a basic grounding in it) cause generally it seems to me to be an absolute pain in the arse when it comes to trying to live a normal day to day life and a lot of people end up hiding behind it as an excuse not to tell you things which you really need to know. Anyway, rant over. I think i'm correct in saying that if a user posts something on your forum, their posts become your property? It depends on the terms of your board i assume, but I'm pretty sure as standard if they say something on your public domain it's no longer their right to force you to remove that information. As i say, i'm not an expert, but that was my understanding of it?

bigshow

Well, as someone who works with databases of all kinds day-in day-out, I fully support Mark's chosen stance. Allowing the deletion of users from this kind of application seriously messes with the referential integrity of the database. bjrn is on the right tracks with a new role "deleted", which has no access rights. Users could have a button that causes this role to be applied to their profile manually, which would also cause the removal of any personal information (email, name, phone number etc), preferences and statistics stored against the user. If you then try to log in, you get a "this user no longer exists" message. This kind of approach would also prevent people attempting to sign up with the same username, since it is technically already taken.

bugsmi0

it really comes down to familiar functionality, i know its been compared over and over other forum software but the future of web and software is all about user-friendly and comfort, yea I know we all like to write with crayons and play with our hand code < --- quote button would normally be here but due to anti-user familiarity and comfort practices its not --> you can knock other forum software but they got it going with userfriendlyness, I totally agree with the way Mark's genius Vanilla creation is coming from but you can still have Vanilla with comfort without losing any of the Vanilla flavor, this if fact, anyone who disagrees with this lets step out side he he

giginger

Why turn Vanilla into something it's not? It's a different way of looking at forum software and, in my opinion, a much better way. These so called core features do exist but in another form. Post deletion is hide post. Delete member is covered by the role status banned. The list goes on.

Minisweeper

Because everyone wants the normal forum features giginger! If we can just add all these features to vanilla it'l become a superforum! Or it'l just completely ruin it..hmm....

ithcy

if you think that phpBB "got it going with userfriendlyness", you've got a weird way of looking at the world.

conradslater

this thread was last written in almost a year ago - has this functionality been implemented yet with either an update or an add-on?

marklindhout

I have to join the previous poster. Is there any word on this yet?

fysicsluvr

I think the DeleteUser addon is still out there, but I don't think it deletes all of their posts, just the login itself... search for it in the addons, I think there's still a big warning about it

fysicsluvr

oh and a user can't delete their own account, but admin can delete theirs...