In handling the "contact us" email that comes into the forum, one flavor of request that occasionally comes in is from current or former members requesting a complete deletion of their history and activity with us for reasons concerning digital footprint. I will say this once and only once: We never delete accounts. Ever. Not even banned members are deleted from the forum. Not once since day one have we done this. Complete deletion of a member's history of posts carries with it a host of fallout problems. It compromises the continuity of conversations in the various forum threads and it can, quite possibly, erase the critiques of other members who gave critique in threads started by a deleted account. If you are using your real name as a forum screen name and your digital footprint is of concern to you, please contact me about changing your screen name to something more anonymous. I will be handling these requests on a case by case basis and under no circumstances will I entertain a request where it appears that past questionable behavior is trying to be whitewashed with a pretty new name. This offer is to address the very real concern of digital footprint while also maintaining the integrity of the forum's structure and function. Wrey
Maybe it's worth suggesting that new members should choose a screen name that is not their real name, and is not one they plan to use anywhere else?
I have actually added such verbiage to both the Forum Rules and the NMQS, and the reason why doing so is not the best idea. I can't really hit them earlier than that, that I can think of, hence this offer to do it now for them.
You could have a little message/pop-up on the sign in screen? The forum rules are usually what you read after you've made an account.
Adding a message to the account creation screen might solve part of the problem, but if people use the "Log in with Facebook/Google/Twitter" options they will not be prompted for a user name, instead they will have the name from the site they log in via. So everyone who creates an account via Facebook, for example, will have their real name as user name and won't realise they can't change it until it's too late (this happened to me when I first joined the forum). A possible solution to this is to add a field for a user name even when logging in via an external site, though I'm not sure if that is possible. We could also add a message that says "If you use this feature you'll be stuck with your real name as a username", but that'd kinda defeat the purpose with having the 3rd party sign-in stuff in the first place...
I wish I would have used my real name. I could use the exposure. I do have one of my profiles come up on the first search page!
Yes, me too! It's a Scottish word (slangy, used mainly in the west of Scotland) meaning 'written instructions' or manual. Like the kind that comes with, say, a new appliance. Or, as you say, a legal agreement or contract. The kind of instruction thingy you can skip over, if you're handy, but probably shouldn't. "Just read the bumff," my husband will tell me, knowing I'm a true pantser when it comes to appliances!
Yep. All the bumff. The stuff you refer to when things go wrong that you should have read before it went wrong!
Oh crap! I honk I posted this on the wrong thread! Wasn't there a thread about fave words? So sorry, @Wreybies
Don't be! It seems I can't even type this morning bloody phone keypads and fat fingers. As for autocorrect, it can go to he'll!
Oh, come on! Are you serious? Frank Zappa and his two kids, Moon Unit Zappa and Dweezil Zappa..... No? Too old of a reference, I guess.
No I knew who Frank Zappa was just not sure of the comtext... That is until Moon Unit came onto the scene
TBH, if there is a message above/below/next to the USERNAME in the Sign up form that says, "usernames cannot be changed or deleted on this forum. Recommended to use a username not identical to your name." Or even a check box so the user has to click on it in order to Join.
