I don't see any way to delete my account in any of the options. How can I get my account deleted?
Thanks
July 5, 2023
35
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You ask an admin (like me) via a PM. We will always come back and ask why.
Also, if we delete an account, someone else can take over the name. We would rather make it in active - or for you to just not log in. That way, the name is always reserved.
Alan
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Alan, I really don’t think that it's a good idea if someone deletes their account then someone else can take over their name. This seems like a form of identity theft.
So all those folk who know me on this site, DPReview and other sites wouldn’t know it wasn’t me if I deleted my account and it was taken over.
Surely linking user name and email address would be a first step to avoid this happening.
I think that’s a potentially serious issue that needs to be resolved
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If the account has been deleted, then the name is free to be used again. Sorry, but that's the way it is. Which is why we don't do it as a rule and try to explain to those who ask what the consequences are.
Alan
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I don't see it as an issue at all. There are countless Dave Surrey accounts on the Internet.
Surely you're not suggesting you are all the same person?
Who knows what the real world name of any of the Dave Surreys actually is. Maybe it's Dave Surrey, maybe it's something else.
For example, anyone could create an account using the name JohnSmith.
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Boy, you sure shot him down. taka-taka-taka-taka.
I can hear the wind in the wires as his biplane spirals down in flames with him slumped over the stick ...... crump!!!
'bye Dave ...
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@DannoLeftForums
You have completely missed the point. Just to spell it out it isn’t anything to do with claiming the user name davesurrey for myself everywhere on the net.And yes there are many results of Dave Surrey if one does a Google search. But how many davesurrey user names can you find?
You may find a few on other photographic, computing, aeronautics and broadcasting sites. It’s highly likely they are all mine as, unlike some folk, I don’t have numerous aliases to hide behind.
So if someone knows me on DPreview they will know it’s the same person on here and not someone potentially impersonating me.
Hope that is clearer? -
There is nothing stopping me or anyone else creating an account on the Internet using davesurrey as a username, so I don’t see the point you are trying to make.
Are you claiming that all the davesurrey accounts are you 😀 ?
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I was about to move the whole thread to the Dumpster, on the basis that it seems to be heading to a non-productive discussion. So I read through it. Here's a little game. So far as I can see, there are two comprehension problems which have led to people arguing about nothing at all. Rather than arguing, why not try to spot them?
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I wasn't arguing, just stating facts.
Which sentences in my posts are you saying are not true?
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Of course I'm not, Danny. But I suggest that most in the groups I have just described may well be.
One last try. On the few sites which I have been on for years and "know" many people there (and even on this site I have been in contact with others here) all of which know me as davesurrey I don't believe it good practise that someone else could just come on and use the same user name if I left the site.If you disagree then so be it.
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Hi,
I saw somewhere, it might not have been this site, where this came up some weeks ago. User wanted deletion and the admin said they didn't do that. So, the user posted their username and password elsewhere, probably Facebook, but I can't recall if it was there or not.
Not that it matters just where. The idea of opening up that username to all and sundry resulted in the deletion which was desired in the first place.
And DP Review deletes usernames quite often, leaving (unknown member) in its place. So the posts still exist, but unless you recall who that was, you'll never know just who said that.
Now, what happens if the requester in this instance posts their password elsewhere but fails to say that they have done so? You will have a mess of others playing around with it. I think that'd be worse than having one new person pick up the username....
Stan
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@bobn
By all means move it to the dumpster if you really believe this is an argument. It’s your site after all to do with what you wish.Of course if I had a suspicious mind I might think that persuading people to keep their membership even if they no longer wished to be active would help to maintain user numbers and not see them fall away, like numbers online have been doing.
As for games …sorry but I don’t play them.
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I think that the facts that you were stating weren't directly connected to what your interlocutor was saying.
The two disconnects seem to happen as follows.
Alan explains why we are loath to delete accounts, because it leads to the possibility that someone might take up the vacated ID.
Dave steps in, agreeing with Alan that it's not a good idea and saying that something should be done, which makes it look as though he's disputing what Alan said. That seems to me to be the first miscomprehension.
Then you step in and say that you don't think that vacating the account is a problem, because there could be lots of people using the same ID on the internet.
Dave comes back and says that the probability of 'Dave Surrey' if found on the internet not being him is low. I must say, I agree with him on this. Very often people use the same ID on multiple sites, and develop a personal brand, if you like. This is why we don't encourage people to simply delete accounts, because it's possible that someone might impersonate them. We've had a few impersonations on this site - mostly reasonably harmless - but they might not be. Imagine if you were well known on several sites under the same ID, and then someone created a new ID and started distributing illegal or extreme material. You'd be left having to explain why this material isn't you. -
That is exactly what I said I was going to do at dprforum when Dirk refused to delete my account there.
He didn't like that at all and subsequently deleted my account which is what I originally politely asked him to do.
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Wouldn't you need a suspicious mind to know what people with a suspicious mind would think?
Isn't that what you just did?
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Alan was providing advice. We will do that. It is the user's right to delete the account and if the user asks us via a pm, we will do it after offering the advice, and allowing a cool-down period.
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Since I don't use my real name in forums people using the same username as me can post whatever they like - good, bad, legal or othetwise - and it will make no difference at all to DannoLeftForums in the real world so I wouldn't have a need to explain anything.
If I used my real name in forums then of course that might be a different matter.
