Ability to deactivate ones account

[Dean]

Recently, I know some people (not naming them!) or someone even, have no longer wanted an account on the forum and they've resorted to getting banned.

I know that deleting the account would make a mess of the forum and cause some problems for you guys (the admins) etc so I was wondering if you could possibly introduce a feature like Facebook, which lets you "de-activate" your account. This is basically a fake deletion, which leaves all posts intact and everything but pretty much lets the user "abandon" their account if they don't want to use the forum anymore. Then I guess, if they don't log-in within a certain period of time (6 months - 1 year) then the account could be listed as "inactive" or deleted (i'm not sure, but this could help with name changes).

There's a few add-ons for vBulletin that let users "fake delete" their accounts and I think it'd be quite nifty to have.

I know it might sound like a pointless feature but I think it'll probably benefit some people. I also like the idea of being able to just de-activate my account if I ever got bored in the future and left it. Oh, and you may think "what's the point, just don't log-in", well some people like the "freedom" or the idea in their minds that their forum account is de-activated.

Oh and of course, the ability to re-activate which would just require a sign in or some sort. I dunno how you would go about it or what would happen to the account, it's up to you.

What do you think?

[Keri?!]

I think this is a really good idea, it'd be alot easier to stop yourselves from going on Habboxforum or whatever.

[Special]

i think this is a good idea, then it saves the user from deliberately going against the forum rules to result in a ban

[ChickenFaces]

It is a good idea, then the mods don't have to deal with banning everyone as well.

[xxMATTGxx]

I think your idea is quite good, although I'm not sure what the rest of the Management think of this idea. Although we won't be able to install a plugin/addon or whatever from vbulletin.org etc so then it depends if people agree and if a system can be created to do this.

[Robbie]

I have a better idea; why don't they just stop using the forum. Nobody is forcing them to keep using the forum, anyone can stop whenever they want. There's no need for something like this lol.

It's not a hardcore drug.. (for most)

[Slowpoke]

I've never understood why one would want to be banned. It's strange. If you don't want to use the forum anymore just log out and don't come back?

[xxMATTGxx]

I've never understood why one would want to be banned. It's strange. If you don't want to use the forum anymore just log out and don't come back?

It's not more of being banned, it's more of their account actually being deleted. But we do not delete accounts for various reasons as everyone might know. To me, If I didn't want to go on a website I would just block it through my browser or router.

[Slowpoke]

Yeah I know, deleting accounts would be silly as it'd leave the forum looking a right mess for a start. And same.

[Dean]

The account wouldn't get deleted, it'd just get hidden and posts kept intact like I said.

And I know that you may be able to just log out and never return, but if this was the case, then why do Facebook have a deactivation feature? Obviously there is some logic behind it.