Question for Admins: REALLY old / inactive accounts

[Nightmares]

I agree with this, but only partially. Like Azabache said, it’s not really fair to the inactive members if they do randomly stumble back upon TBT. Every now and then I see a post in the Welcome section where an old member returns from a many-year hiatus, and if you were an old inactive member and wanted to come back, but found your account banned or revoked, I can bet you’d be really upset. Especially when you/they find out it’s just to give someone a username change because their username isn’t perfect. Yeah… a lot of usernames really need fixed, but the good of the few doesn’t really outweigh the good of the many, if that makes sense?

Yeah, the ones who come back have thousands of posts / TBT / collectibles though.

 

[Alienfish]

Yeah, the ones who come back have thousands of posts / TBT / collectibles though.

amen.

also there is difference with coming back and just being annoyingly inactive for 5 years or whatever. they could at least send an automated e-mail to those people and let em know if they want stuff back

 

[Bowie]

I kinda wish they'd do this. I wanted to change my username a while back and I couldn't because it had already been taken, by someone who, if I remember correctly, hadn't been on since 2010 or something.

 

[seliph]

I need this so Thunder and Seroja stop calling me Neville

 

[Red Cat]

I think this is a bad idea. With usernames, it's first come, first serve. If someone beat you to it, it belongs to them and you just have to think of something else. If we were really going to purge accounts, what would the time of inactivity be for an account to be purged? Maybe some of those people will come back when the next main AC game is released.

 

[Nightmares]

I think this is a bad idea. With usernames, it's first come, first serve. If someone beat you to it, it belongs to them and you just have to think of something else. If we were really going to purge accounts, what would the time of inactivity be for an account to be purged? Maybe some of those people will come back when the next main AC game is released.

So many didn't come back for New Leaf though....

 

[vexnir]

Not a bad idea, but like it's been said, better to keep it very strict. My account is 2 years old, which is not that long I suppose, but I tend to disappear for 6+ months sometimes and come back. So it's still possible inactive people intend to use the site - although if it's been inactive since 2008, that's a small chance.

 

[Tensu]

This is a good idea, but they would have to be absolutely sure that the old person will never come back. For instance, they'd have to contact the person and ask if it is ok. Hopefully something like this can be implemented in the future.

- - - Post Merge - - -

They joined TBT on June 19, 2008 and made a few posts & that was the last time they were on - so they were active for ONE day

Dats my birfday

 

[seliph]

Maybe send old inactive accounts an e-mail before purging them so no one would "lose their precious account" or whetever

 

[King Dorado]

In the real world it's called "abandonment," and people who abandon their email addresses, domain names, and even tangible property lose them for good every day. It would be entirely reasonable and appropriate to recycle usernames and even collectibles from abandoned accounts.

Plus, I'm sure that the admins could provide anyone who felt their "rights" were violated with a full refund of the membership fees they paid to join this forum...

 

[Skyfall]

I think going forward, it's pretty easy to implement. Just have a pop-up that says "if you are not active for ___ days, your account will be deactivated and your username will be released. All your TBT and collectibles will be forfeit".

Going backwards, i.e., accounts already in existence and those users were never on notice (from the initial signup) that their accounts can be suspended for inactivity, that's a bit trickier. There's always the small possibility that they will come back once the next version of animal crossing comes out or whatever.

But asking admins or mods to email every single one to tell them their account is about to be suspended is an arduous task. (And remember guys, these peeps don't get paid, this is a side project for them, so that's a lot of time to ask.) Unless there's a way to mass email them. Then at least they know they're about to lose something if they don't sign in.

 

[Alienfish]

^I mean like an automated thing going out for people being inactive x amount of years or whatever if it would be possible, on the other hand if you are dedicate you are still here regardless of hypes

 

[Llust]

i noticed that there a lot of good, available usernames you can choose from on tbt. it's a small community compared to most others, so in some cases, i assume finding a different username shouldnt be an issue

 

[Blu Rose]

just be 12 and be all "xXx_#-$$$[username here]$$$-#_xXx"

in all seriousness, some of the future purged accounts likely hold some memories for the admins as well. i mean, imagine just throwing that all away! i would hate to do so
and to whoever brought up that it was like abandonment, i don't think people ever lose their identities. i get that tbt profiles aren't exactly means of identification, but the fact is that everyone in the united states has a social security number to identify them for literally forever (after all, they are retired after death) seems to be totally legit and unique and i just really think that there is a level of sentiment attached to each number
granted, i think in numbers a lot so that's just me i guess

 

[Chicha]

I've see lots of other forums purging accounts that have more than 3-4 years of inactivity. I think that's more than reasonable to purge them honestly. I personally think if you haven't been active for 2 years, your username should be up for grabs. This is especially for accounts who have never validated their e-mail or only have 1 day of activity.

I do understand that's a very tedious task. Maybe the staff could consider adding on volunteers specifically to help purge?

 

[debinoresu]

I've see lots of other forums purging accounts that have more than 3-4 years of inactivity. I think that's more than reasonable to purge them honestly. I personally think if you haven't been active for 2 years, your username should be up for grabs. This is especially for accounts who have never validated their e-mail or only have 1 day of activity.

I do understand that's a very tedious task. Maybe the staff could consider adding on volunteers specifically to help purge?

yea, they could hold off the purge to a summer and then get volunteers who have more freetime during summer to help operate.

 

[Chicha]

yea, they could hold off the purge to a summer and then get volunteers who have more freetime during summer to help operate.

That's a good point. Maybe the staff could get people willing to volunteer by having a chance to get a purged member's collectible after helping out? Those who volunteer could be entered into a lottery? idk how that would be implemented but I'm sure they'll be plenty of people wanting to help for that. I know I would, haha.

 

[Justin]

It's on the list of something to consider in the future, with strict requirements on what accounts would be inactive enough to qualify. There will probably be a charge for it though.

I used to do it on a case-by-case basis a long time ago, but that felt unfair to some people without a clearly established process, so not anymore. (except for say the newest staff)

I want to clarify in regard to the other posts in here that I'm only referring to the idea of allowing old usernames to be used by newer users -- that is likely to be offered at some point. We would do this by having a strict criteria of what counts as "inactive enough", and then the old user would simply have their username changed. Their account would otherwise remain exactly the same including their TBT Bells and items. We have no plans at all to actually remove accounts, TBT Bells, or items.

 

[Jared:3]

I want to clarify in regard to the other posts in here that I'm only referring to the idea of allowing old usernames to be used by newer users -- that is likely to be offered at some point. We would do this by having a strict criteria of what counts as "inactive enough", and then the old user would simply have their username changed. Their account would otherwise remain exactly the same including their TBT Bells and items. We have no plans at all to actually remove accounts, TBT Bells, or items.

Tbh I think you should remove old users, they can just create a new account if they come back

 

[Trent the Paladin]

Tbh I think you should remove old users, they can just create a new account if they come back

Personally I don't like that idea. There's been a few websites where I've had things saved, but haven't been on in ages. If they decided one day to purge, all of that would be gone and whatever mark I left gone as well. While yeah they might not come back, there is a chance they will.