Bitcoin Forum

Admins, consider deleting all the accounts that haven't been used for the last 6 months or more with Brand New, Newbie (with 10 or less posts/activity) and banned and abandoned accounts so that a lot of usernames will be available and also it will free up some space (I don't know where).. ::).... :) :)

I don't think they will need few kb on the forum's database, if you find that your favourite username is used, just tweak it a bit.

I don't think this would be a good idea.  For one thing, users who simply haven't used their accounts in a while should have every right to come back to them and find that they are still extant.  For users who are banned, freeing up the name for a new person is confusing because the banned user appears to be back.  Also, how do you know that the banned party doesn't simply get the banned name back, basically undoing the ban?

On the one hand I think it's a very good idea delete all the accounts that haven't been used for more of 6 months, so lots of usernames will be available.
On the other hand if I couldn't use my account for a while, I would to be able to come back on the forum.

More for the New Forum Software subforum, feature request for a 5 month keepalive email being sent, if the account isn't logged in within 6 months, username releases. Of course, some exceptions would have to be made, like Satoshi's username here.

I absolutely disagree.

I wouldn't have my account if this were a policy (I went afk for 2-3 years). I probably wouldn't be active either without my account.

But when a username "releases" and a new party gets that username, is there going to be any way to tell that this isn't the same person anymore?  I really think this is a bad idea.  I mean, it would really fuck with the reputation and trust systems if usernames were always changing hands when someone went inactive.  Also, I can imagine an attack where people monitor for important accounts that go inactive and try to steal these names only to ransom them back to the original party.  Finally, "keep alive" email isn't going to help.  I mean, who gives their real email address to a forum?  I just give sites a spam address where they can send all their junk.  Plus forums get hacked and I don't want the email addy that I actually use regularly to get out to hackers so easily.

Generally I approve of account expirations, but on this forum where highly reputable members (such as escrows) are sometimes gone for months at a time, I suspect it would cause problems with scammers seizing old well-known usernames and attempting to profit from them. In addition to that, people who are gone for a long period of time could lose their accounts without noticing, which could cause other issues when they attempt to recover their usernames a year later.

So satoshi would lose his account? No. Maybe accounts that were registered and never used could be pruned after a year or so, but I don't believe merely being inactive should get your account deactivated. 

Same here

OP only talking about deleting inactive Brand New and Newbie account, not all accounts.

I agree with him, deleting those account will not hurt anyone.

Some people register variations of their nickname in order to prevent scammers from registering them, it's quite common for people to scam using nicknames that look similar to reputable users.

And people who use other bitcoin websites sometimes register their nickname here to prevent scammers from registering it and pretending to be them.

Indeed :D

I'm still think it's a bad idea:

DKingston saying that because he is Senior Member, but if I am newbie and lost my account I will not care much.
I will just register again and start again.

Maybe but even if I were a newbie I'd like to keep my account.
Tbh if it's only about activity<10 accounts I'm not really against this. I just don't think its a good idea.

This isn't a good idea. It's not too unusual for someone to join a forum, make a few introductory posts, disappear, only to then come back years later.

Some of the oldest accounts on here are considered newbies (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=6).

Apparently, he isn't so happy about being considered a Newbie. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=15911.msg266925#msg266925)

tldr only the OP is in support of this bad idea, I think we can lock and move on

HAHA this is hilarious. I wish it was possible to demand to have your ranking adjusted

Agreed, very bad idea.

I rarely ever post anything, so I have a very low activity count. But I am logged in a lot, so I'd be pissed if my account got deleted.

It is not like we are having any performance issues now with "too many accounts".
So, are there any real benefits for such account pruning?  ???

Maybe the owners of accounts that have been inactive for a LONG time can get automated emails, maybe a few over a period of time, asking them if they still wish to remain members. A simple "yes" to one of the emails would prevent that account from being deleted. It might help find accounts that have clearly been abandoned. Although like others have said, I don't know how useful that would be apart from freeing up some usernames.

Yes, as far as I can tell, this proposal can introduce all sorts of problems and issues and I can't really see that it offers any benefits.  Maybe there's a benefit for someone who really wants a username that's taken but jeezus, that's really something that you just have to get used to if you're going to use the internet, imho.

The only reason I would say it would be appropriate to delete an account would be if an account is perma banned and all the posts have been deleted and no PMs have ever been sent/received (other then the PM notifying a post has been deleted). There is also somewhat of an argument to delete accounts that have never posted period and never sent/received a PM after several months, although this argument is somewhat weaker.

If the account has posted or has sent/received a PM then it absolutely should not be deleted. 

I think even in the 'perma banned' scenario you want to leave that name banned.  Otherwise how do you prevent either (1) the perma-banned user simply resigns up under the same name or (2) some other user signs up under the banned name?  In (1) the perma ban has failed.  In (2) an unwitting user just inherited a terrible reputation.

Solution - the name remains "taken"

Solution: We don't delete accounts in the first place.

Not that an idea like this would ever be implemented in a thousand years. Why don't we delete all transactions off the blockchain pre-2014 too, because they're old.

I would say this should be the case for accounts like "`theymos" (with the ' before the t), but should not be for simple spamming accounts. I don't think that spamming accounts really have that bad of a negative reputation but rather were just a nuisance and were deleted.

Yes.  As far as I can tell, you completely agree with me.  The name remains "taken" which is equivalent to not deleting it which is what I'm arguing for.

Remaining taken is different from not being deleted. With many websites, even after deleting an account, the account name remains taken.

What's the point of the deletion then?  I thought the OP was suggesting to delete old accounts so that the usernames could be freed up for new users.  If that's not what this discussion is about, then I've missed something important.

There is no point. It's a not a good idea and will never, ever be implemented on a forum like this. Recycling usernames doesn't work in a community where financial transactions are taking place.

Sounds like we agree with each other. This is just semantics.