Trimming the Fat

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:33 pm

It's unusual for me (or anyone, really) to start two Website Discussion topics in the same week, but I couldn't help but notice:

Looking through the extensive Memberlist, it would appear that over one third of our current membership has made zero posts.

One third.

Now, I don't mean to pick on these people, because a lot of us DaizEX folk start out as lurker-types before jumping into regular discussions, and as we all know, lurkers tend to come and go as they please. I'm not implying that lurkers should be deleted. But if a person registered in . . . say, 2006, and never made a single post in three years, couldn't we just erase him from the Memberlist and renew that spot for someone who will actually give a damn about this place? Then our member count would be far more representative of an actual count as opposed to being padded with a shitload of zero-posters.

My suggestion in this instance would be to give people a reasonable amount of time to make that first post after registering before deleting the account, although what would qualify as "reasonable" is a matter of debate-- a year feels too long, while a month is too short. Perhaps six months?

I apologize if it sounds like what I'm proposing amounts to nothing more than a lot of pointless busywork.

~Da Lemmy

Amigo Ten · Post by **Amigo Ten** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:48 pm

People joining and never posting just seems to be one of those things every online board has to put up with. And it probably would be quite a bit of busy work, given the number of profiles potentially being erased. Not familiar with that the admin panel on this site would be like, but the ones I am familiar with don't have any grouping options for that kind of thing.

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:52 pm

I don't know about the admin panels, but the Memberlist itself can be arranged in any number of helpful ways-- most notably by most posts in descending order, which lumps all the zeros together on the last 21 pages.

~Da Lemmy

Post by **VegettoEX** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:54 pm

I've actually heard from several people that signed up years ago, never posted, came back, signed in with their old accounts, and were good to go

.

Just curious as to what the reason for deleting the old/unused accounts would be. I have no strong feelings any which way. Would it actually impact the performance of the forum? Seems pretty solid as-is (plus, when we finally port the damn thing, it'll be even better).

Other than saying we have 2000 members instead of 3000 members, would it benefit me at all?

Shiyonasan · Post by **Shiyonasan** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:55 pm

I've noticed this for a while too. I don't think it's that big of a deal to be honest. Like Amigo Ten said, it's something every message board has to put up with. It was this way on the other message board I was on too.

Tweaker · Post by **Tweaker** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:05 pm

If you ask me, forum data should be preserved as much as possible when it comes to data with historical significance that so frequently ends up lost to time. Anything present on the forums short of spam--members, posts, topics, et al--should be left intact for as long as possible for the sake of future reference. I maintain a strong policy on my own forum to never delete posts or members unless they end up being botspam or something similar. It's the best way to go, really.

Ignoring the preservation front, though, Mike made another excellent point--people register accounts for a reason and usually end up using them, even if they don't use them until years after registering them. There's absolutely no good reason to deny them the convenience that is the ability to lurk at their own leisure.

Post by **VegettoEX** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:07 pm

Tweaker wrote:If you ask me, forum data should be preserved as much as possible when it comes to data with historical significance that so frequently ends up lost to time. Anything present on the forums short of spam--members, posts, topics, et al--should be left intact for as long as possible for the sake of future reference. I maintain a strong policy on my own forum to never delete posts or members unless they end up being botspam or something similar. It's the best way to go, really.

Yeah, I'm with ya' on that.

Tweaker wrote:Ignoring the preservation front, though, Mike made another excellent point--people register accounts for a reason and usually end up using them, even if they don't use them until years after registering them. There's absolutely no good reason to deny them the convenience that is the ability to lurk at their own leisure.

Yeah, I'm with ya' on that.

...

Yep. Lots to contribute, there, Mike.

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:14 pm

VegettoEX wrote:Just curious as to what the reason for deleting the old/unused accounts would be. I have no strong feelings any which way. Would it actually impact the performance of the forum? Seems pretty solid as-is (plus, when we finally port the damn thing, it'll be even better).

Other than saying we have 2000 members instead of 3000 members, would it benefit me at all?

Hm. As much as I'd like to say otherwise, I don't imagine that deleting the accounts would impact the performance of the forum in any significant way.

Although, some forums do have a member limit. I don't know that this is one of those forums.

My IiWaA reasons for deleting that many accounts were mainly for credibility's sake-- saying that we have 3,000 members when we actually have 3,000 members-- but if ghosts from yesteryear who never posted have randomly hit you up to post years later, then I suppose I'd need to reevaluate the situation and see if I can't come up with a good, solid reason for deleting any account . . . because apparently, more of them are in use than I thought.

At present, I can think of no such reason.

~Da Lemmy

Rod · Post by **Rod** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 5:51 pm

I hate it when that happens. Every time I try to join a forum my username is taken, I check the users account and they haven't logged on in years

Ex-Dubbie369 · Post by **Ex-Dubbie369** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 1:50 am

Well, Lemmy, may I remind you that your girlfriend was one of those very people you are speaking of. Joined in Jan. '04, but her intro thread (just read through it again....BWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!) was from Nov. '06. Just a sample of proof that people will make these accounts and then actually use them years later.

And it gave me a good excuse to re-read that thread. *snorts in laughter*

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 1:57 am

In actuality, she's not one of "those" people specifically-- she registered, posted and then vanished for a very long time, which is different from registering and never posting at all. Not much different, mind you, but different enough where I'll call it as such.

Although why she didn't bother with her Introduction thread until after making various posts is beyond me. -_-;

Also, how did you know what our status is?

~Da Lemmy

Ex-Dubbie369 · Post by **Ex-Dubbie369** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 2:29 am

Li'l Lemmy wrote:Also, how did you know what our status is?

~Da Lemmy

I know you said it at least once (your big reflection thread), and I think I remember one of you implying it before that. Now, if your status had changed since whenever that thread was, well THAT woulda been awkward.

And as for her posting before her intro, well, I wasn't here back then, I joined a bit before her re-introduction.

Char Aznable · Post by **Char Aznable** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 2:57 am

I'm going to have to agree with the side of not deleting accounts, here. I joined up here back in 2007 when the first season set had just been released to contribute to the discussion around it. I made my intro post, and three in the first season thread. After that I became enveloped in other things, and unfortunately I had less time for the internet every day. When I returned to the forums recently, I was happy to find my old account still ready and waiting for me. It's my intent now to become a regular and contributing member to the Daizenshuu EX community, or at least attempt as much to my ability.

Of course, I'd have to start off fresh if the accounts were regularly trimmed. In my opinion such a thing should only be done to rid off spam bots; honestly, not even banned members should have their accounts purged. If banned members don't have their posts deleted, they might be damn funny to read later...heh, that may just be me though.

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 3:22 am

Ex-Dubbie369 wrote:
Li'l Lemmy wrote:Also, how did you know what our status is?

~Da Lemmy
I know you said it at least once (your big reflection thread), and I think I remember one of you implying it before that. Now, if your status had changed since whenever that thread was, well THAT woulda been awkward.

And as for her posting before her intro, well, I wasn't here back then, I joined a bit before her re-introduction.

Ahhh . . . right, right. Of course; how silly of me.

I remember that thread! Surprised that anyone else does, though. Our status is still the same, thankfully, so hurray for no awkwardness.

~Da Lemmy