Allow users to delete own account?
 

Is there no mod available to allow users to delete their own account?

I cannot think of a reason why an administrator would want that option. Just have them request to have their account deleted. Every administrator would want to handle this differently depending on their TOS and privacy policy.

It would not be hard to externalize the command for deleting a user, I personally would never want an external method for doing this. At best, I would give the user the right to disable their account -- however no deletion of data would occur.

Think of all the 404 errors, and other SEO issues this chaos would cause. Personally I don't delete accounts, ever.

Law.

Here 2 mods I found:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=274112
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=282733

I think you portrayed my statement out of context, that being: your reason has merit. Although, the definition of deleted material is still being decided in the courts in many countries and international law.

And how have I taken your statement out of context? You said: "I cannot think of a reason why an administrator would want that option", and I gave you a reason why an Admin would want that option - or better: would have to want that option. I really did not intend any harm or offense?

I probably misinterpreted your meaning. I know your a good guy, so no worries. Sorry if I ruined your day, not my intention either. :)

Ah, no hard feelings there - I know you're one of the good ones, too, and it really takes more to ruin my days :p

We don't delete user accounts, we do have an Inactive user group.

We also have (c) disclaimer so users can't ask for their content to be deleted.
See: http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...hp?do=vsarules (rules 25-28)

Yeah, that may be great for Australia, but there's countries where law > disclaimer applies.

I'm curious, what does the law in your country require? Is a user able to demand that everything he posted be deleted at any time?

No, not necessarily. But he's entitled to have everything deleted that relates to his person, which is in any case his e-mail-address, and, as most courts argue, his IP address/history. And this deletion must be easily accessible. Whether it has to be automated is subject to discussion, but I would not wager on a lenient judge.

The US have a widely different approach to privacy and privacy protection from that in many European countries, especially Germany. Our constitutional court has derived a fundamental right to data self-determination from our constitution.

Hmm...then it sounds like what people need is a mod that allows a user to disable their account and delete all personal information without necessarily deleting the user from the database. I'm kind of surprised that it isn't built in if something like that would be required to conform with privacy laws in some countries.

I brought this up during vB4 alpha testing and was backed by Scott from vBGermany. I got a promise they'd look into it, same for a checkbox to concede copyrights for uploads (German/European courts like to see direct and active user involvement over some TOS hidden away somewhere). Never heard of it again.

In the US our institutions (financial, business, government) would be held to the decision of our federal courts on this matter, and our institutions are having too much fun collecting data on us.

I have the following in my terms of service and site rules:

A German Court might hold that as surprising (given the width of rights you reserve that are not limited to the immediate use) and thus forfeit.

A German court can jam it up its butt too.

Not if you're running a German site for the German public - just like I can ignore funny US laws, but you can't (you're US based, aren't you?).

Any users that insist I remove their account, I just change their username to something before removing their account and do not remove their threads/posts, so when their posts change to 'guest' their original username is no longer there.

If it's just a fairly non active account with little or no posts, then whatever. But I've had several users with 1000's of posts insist I remove their account for whatever reasons.

Also, I no longer allow super-mods/admins to hard delete threads since one decided to remove everything she ever posted and take off one day.

Right, therefore US laws apply. That's why Germany can stick it. :D

I saw that option when I wanted to suspend my account from a fairly busy site.
It also gave me an option "Delete all posts as well?" and I clicked OK, and disappeared from that site with no trace.

Admins there do not care what the contents is (only that it is civil and no usually forbidden things as on most sites), all they see is number of visits to show when selling ads space.

They (I think rightfully) deem all posts worthless drivel, even thought of deleting circularly everything older than 30 days.