Cleansing

[Zain]

I see that the Org has about 20,000+ members, and several thousand of them have never even posted, nor have signed in for a mulititude of months, if not years.

Doesn't someone think we should clear the server of their "empty" profiles?

[CountArach]

There's no real point. I have seen this discussed before, but the server lag it causes is minimal to none.

Plus 20000 members looks impressive

[Husar]

No, why?
As long as we're not running out of space, I don't see why, such a profile shouldn't use a lot of server space anyway.

I've had my profile deleted on some Gothic fanboard, hadn't been there for a year or two, came back, wanted to log in but my profile didn't exist. I didn't really like that a lot though I survived it.

[Zain]

Just a thought really... just wondering if it would speed up the server any.

And I agree with CA, 20,000 does look impressive.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

I think, that there is a way of preventing deleted accounts from being removed from the statistics count. I'm not quite sure though, so you'll have to wait for confirmation before being sure.

In my opinion, as long as it is used wisely, and its use is heavily restricted, preferably automated, there shouldn't be any problems. It may also bring benefits, such as faster and more resource efficient searching of the member list.

[FactionHeir]

Yes, I think member count will continue upwards as the memberid that is assigned to new members is the last number +1 (or at least it is so for most other forums I used to frequent)

As for deleting old members, that may or may not be a good idea. Some old members tend to return at times, so I would suggest that instead of deleting based on last visit date, it should be limited to deleting Junior Members and Members with less than 20 posts and longer than 2 year inactivity.

[Mikeus Caesar]

Begin the ethnic cleansing!

On a serious note, i agree with FactionHeir on just who to delete. It would also free up names for people who might actually use them.

[Craterus]

On that note, if I changed my username, could a new member take it?

Hypothetically, of course.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

On that note, if I changed my username, could a new member take it?

Unfortunately, I think the answer may be yes. I'm not quite sure though, so you may have to wait for Tosa to provide confirmation before been entirely sure.

[FactionHeir]

Yes, someone else can take it.

Which is why you should consider a change carefully since you'll be stuck with it for 2 months. I wanted to change name to Instagibbed for fun

[pevergreen]

That would be awsome

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Which is why you should consider a change carefully since you'll be stuck with it for 2 months. I wanted to change name to Instagibbed for fun

I think that the two month (60 days), or one month (30 days) for Senior Members, was removed a while ago - I seem to be able to change my name at will, regardless of when I last modified it.

[pevergreen]

Interesting.

However, back on topic.

I am not all for deleting everything so easily.

Certain accounts that have 1 or 2 posts 5-6 years ago. Those should go.

I guess those of us with unique names can rest happily.

[sapi]

I don't think that we should delete anything.

[TosaInu]

Hello,

There's cleansing. The first was in 2002 when the old flatfile UBB board was converted to SQL Ikonboard. The conversionscript had some hangs on userprofiles. Then it turned out that there were some 0 posts accounts which also weren't active for months (misspelt usernames, mocking, vulgarities). Deleting just those cut the userbase back by 30%.

There were a few cleanups since then, but only 0 posts accounts which registered months ago.

It doesn't matter much in terms of performance though.

[Geoffrey S]

Doesn't the UN have something to say about 'cleansing'?

[TosaInu]

I think that the two month (60 days), or one month (30 days) for Senior Members, was removed a while ago - I seem to be able to change my name at will, regardless of when I last modified it.

That may be a glitch Omanes Alexandrapolites, limits are still there and working.

[UltraWar]

Hopefully, with this ethnic cleansing, I'll be able to get the username I was after yet I've been stopped from getting due to inactive members!

[pevergreen]

What was that username

[Mikeus Caesar]

What was that username

Buttercup?

[Riedquat]

There were a few cleanups since then, but only 0 posts accounts which registered months ago.

It doesn't matter much in terms of performance though.

Thanks God for that, in our name, "the lurkers"

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
I applaud that policy.

I had registered long time ago at the other unofficial forum and -iirc- posted a couple of times. Checked last week and I was gone. Had to reregister.
.