How do I delete my account?
If the reason you want to delete is you no longer want to use the forum, I think most people just do not bother coming back instead of actually deleting their account.
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It must be possible to get it deleted.
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I know on the old forum there was not.
Why do you need to delete it? Just do not come here if you do not want to and no one will know your account exists in the very long list of user names.
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Again, how do I get my account deleted. This is not the forum I signed up for.
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This software offers an anonymize feature, where we can keep all the posts from a user, reassigned to a new anonymous username. The user can no longer log into the account or post. It retains IP address information, so we can potentially still use that in the case of a problematic user returning.
This looks like a good compromise to maintaining post history on the site while giving users some more options for leaving if they think that’s necessary.
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That doesn’t seem to quite address someone who has not been problematic, but would like their account deleted. I would be interested in that option – but being deleted at one’s own request should not be the same as being “banned” or having one’s history assigned to an anonymous user.
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Is it true that accounts may not be deleted?
On May 13 I received a message from you stating that in response to a dust up with @J-Lu, that both she and I had received a “time out” from CE, and access was (temporarily) denied. I responded saying that I was not aware of what stated forum rule I had violated, asking for clarification. I also stated that I found the CE forum toxic and had no intention of returning. All of that is still true.
I now realize that, despite being told that both @J-Lu had originally been given “time outs” on May 13, you posted on the thread that that J-Lu had received a one month ban while I was permanently banned from CE on May 30. I was not informed of this.
Can you explain why the “time out” was changed into a permanent ban and publicly announced on the thread without conveying the information to me?
I understand that I can leave my account dormant and simply not log on. Please tell my of any other options available in terms of closing my account.
@YankeeDuchess You can leave your account dormant as you noted, or we can anonymize your account, which will assign your past posts to an “anon####” username and non-functional email address, and you will no longer have access to it. You also have the option of deleting your own posts, but the account will remain active.
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Can you explain why what was stated at the time as a time out (for looking at a user’s publicly posted LinkedIn profile) was turned into a ban from CE without informing me?
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I was told explicitly by moderation that speculating on someone’s identity was not against forum rules, and numerous posters have speculated on mine with absolutely no censure. Why can others attempt to publicly out my identity but I am sanctioned for identifying someone without posting the identity?
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In what sense does assigning my past posts an alternative screen name anon### make them any more anonymous that they are now? Isn’t that just a retroactive change in screen name?
I agree.
I also think people should see honest membership numbers when looking at the forum from the outside. Making it impossible to officially terminate membership creates a very misleading picture of how popular and active a forum really is.
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I have found that you can delete as many posts as you wish even when the system says you can not delete anymore. The message comes up you must wait before deleting any more but evidently ignores its own message as the system will delete the post(s).
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I suspect that there is quite a difference between gossipy public banter speculating on someone’s IRL identity, and actually sussing it ou to find someone’s real identity, and revealing the identity to other users using this board’s software to do it. Not a good look on anyone, and absolutely against the rules.
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I revealed my “suspicions” of her identity to no one, neither posting it nor revealing it in a PM to a single user.
But you’re right in that “gossipy public bantering” on someone’s IRL identity is A-OK, when it’s my identity that is speculated on. Perhaps the multiple posters who speculated on my identity would have been censured if any of the multiple guesses had been correct! But the mods specifically stated that speculating on identity was NOT against forum rules. Please quote the statement in the forum rules which states that speculating on someone’s IRL identity is acceptable only if 1) your guesses are wrong, or 2) the target is a minority opinion poster.
In sending a PM, the sender presumes that the message is private and will not be forwarded or posted. Apparently it is OK for @Knights_Mom to post a PM from LK, and have the PM be a topic of discussion in the thread. Would it be acceptable to “the community” or the mods if I were to post a PM sent to me by @eggbutt? I rather doubt it.
I won’t, BTW, because I consider it a violation of her privacy. But I point out that what is acceptable for others is, apparently, not acceptable for me.
Is there a ruling, mods? Is posting or forwarding PMs acceptable? Acceptable if the target is LK but not @eggbutt?
The mods have the right and the responsibility to enforce the forum rules and to use their discretion in doing so. I would have liked to see the discretionary choices made with more consistency across users and more transparency. If there is a new ruling on speculating on IRL identity (despite the previous explicit statement that that it does not violate forum rules), it would be nice to see it applied consistently.
I continue to be utterly mystified as to why it is acceptable to the mods to host a free for all in which a gun shot victim is publicly characterized as being a heroin addict, a former escort, a criminal, a cyber bully, and mentally ill, to boot, while my looking up the publicly posted LinkedIn profile of a user (who repeatedly told other users not to post on scientific topics because they lacked her academic credentials) is horrible! Scandalous! Will not be tolerated!
But the mods have ruled. Their rules, rulings, and discretionary decisions have shaped the content and the dynamic of the forum, and it’s not something I wish be part of.
I addressed a few questions to the mods on this thread, and have been lurking to see if they would ever respond, which they have not.
I doubt the mods will respond on the question of publicly posting PMs. What is your interpretation of the rules? Based on mod discretion, it’s OK @Knights_Mom to make public a PM from LK, but not OK for someone else to fo so?
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Messages here are listed as “messages” and not “private messages”. Look on the bright side, I didn’t post YOUR ridiculous message to me.
The drug assertions and others are part of the public record being they are in MB’s answer and other filed docs. They were not invented here. Their genesis is not from COTH.
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Regardless of the nomenclature, since they are transmitted to a single person, they are functionally private; I’m going by the functionality rather than the nomenclature.
You have my explicit permission to post the private message I sent you, @Knights_Mom.
Are you saying that you think it would be acceptable to the “community” and to the mods if I posted a “message” from @eggbutt? I won’t, but I’m highlighting what I see as inconsistent application of rules.
Whether the drug assertions and other accusations originated in public documents is more your concern than mine.
That form of communication on this forum can be a group too.
Laugh.
What fun would that be?
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YD. Have a nice day.
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