let users delete their own account

jdingman

how would I make it possible for users to remove their own account? Maybe a way to do it via a URL and a confirm screen after that?

deel

do you mean having all the users data removed - comments and threads? ~yikes! i can only see gaping holes not only in the DB, but also in the dialog. sounds messy

deel

here's a thread discussing a similar concept

jdingman

Well, something at least that would remove them from the mailing list that I have setup. I'm using the mailing extension and if they want to be removed from it, that's what I want them to be able to do. Additionally, if I have xx,xxx members, and lets say, 5,000 of them want to quit, I don't want the number to stay the same, I only want the correct number of active members to be displayed..

lech

I remember this being brought up a number of times, however as deel explained it would leave some gaping holes in discussions and threads that user contributed to and would very likely destroy the database. If I recall correctly, an extension was created (not sure if it is still supported) to allow a user to delete the user account without destroying any threads or replies they had made in case they decided to change their mind. It retained their username but erased all other details from their account, or something to that extent.

jdingman

Do you recall what it is called or where I can get it from? It's exactly what I'm looking for right now... tough to manage 17,000+ users and try to get them active in the forums...

lech

OK, I was wrong. There are no fully fleshed out add-ons (to my knowledge) which perform this action. I can't seem to find the thread from over a year ago where mark outlines why it's bad practice to allow users to delete themselves etc... But here's another which pretty much outlines why deleting users is a bad idea.

If you're simply looking at it in terms of user activity, you can go about it another way without having to delete users at all and simply rely upon the DateLastActive column in the LUM_Users table. This way you can sample the current date and look back over X number of days to get your relevant data based on that result without having to delete anything. That way if say a user hasn't been active in 6 months, they've probably forgotten so mailing them or contacting them might be futile. However there's still a small chance they will return to your forum for whatever reason later remembering they have an account and use their login to find it's still there for them.

In short: deleting users is a bad idea.

jimw

What about setting them to some other role that can't do anything?

Wanderer

I use PHPMyAdmin to delete users all the time, the world didn't end, the database wasn't corrupted, my hair didn't fall out (actually it did but not from deleting users)!

I still can't understand why an extension can't do the same thing?

Posted: Wednesday, 25 July 2007 at 7:56AM

Minisweeper

Had those users posted anything?

Wanderer

Yes a couple of test posts I think which I found later and deleted them too.
A few turned out to be spammers which I did not want any record of under any role.

Posted: Wednesday, 25 July 2007 at 1:31PM

Minisweeper

And what happens if you view a thread they've posted in if you didnt delete their comments?

WallPhone

I think what you really want is a checkbox and a preference for the user that says they want/don't want to recieve the newsletter.

Unless you don't want any members who don't recieve the newsletter--In which case, you can use a SQL SELECT email FROM LUM_User WHERE RoleID != [whatever your banned role ID is] to get a list of current member's emails.

jdingman

Wallphone, And yes, that would be great too -- something where they can "optout" of the newsletter.... any advice on how do to that or with what plugin?? Thanks everyone!!