Member Pruning (looking for arguments for another forum)

[Homdax]

I am trying to motivate the advantages of periodical member pruning on another forum, were I am a Mod. So I sat down and begun typing them up and, a bit startled, I could only think of two reasons.

- members with zero posts and/or no recent login only clutter the database making it slower
- submitted private info should not remain in database "forever" on ethical grounds

The forum has 8400 members. I think a prune based on above will rid us of at least a 1000. I do not think they have ever pruned members, and the forum software has no inbuilt controls for it, thus it would have to be done manually via SQL.

A reply I got from an Admin was:

If they have logged in once they will not be pruned. Ever. AFAIK.

I want their email addresses. -.- I have use for them.

Its called OPT-OUT spamming security mailing list -.-
I am not sure what he is talking about and would appreciate Your views.

A question, when pruning accounts here, do connected posts dissapear? I think not...right?

[Dyntheos]

no posts don't go. The account is changed to a guest account.

I prune because I like neat. I also like to get a handle on our current userbase not how many people have ever visited the site. We never send out emails to people, so that's not a factor, and it allows dead user names to be used by future members. It also cleans up the tons of dead mailboxes.

[SquidDNA]

Hahahaha. Nice Homeboy, your admin is a spammer. Does the user agreement for sign up actually say he's going to sell your email address?

[Homdax]

Actually we are restructuring the whole thing and pruning is only one of several steps.

Another, which You point out, Squid, is that when registering there is no User Agreement shown. Which there should be, of course.

Dyntheos, birthday e-mails? I got one 3 weeks ago...;)

Could You elaborate on the spamming, Squid?

[reki]

I think squid means this:

I have use for them.

Its called OPT-OUT spamming security mailing list

Unless I'm misreading something, I think your admin is saying that he sells the forum mailing lists to spam companies.

[Moe]

If that is the case I wish to stab him with a rusty spoon in the eyes. Repeatedly.

[Dyntheos]

the birthday thing is the exception as it's an automated "we luff joo" type deal and not trying to sell you anything which is what I was implying.

[Homdax]

I know, Dyn...I luff joo too :luff:

More pruning motivation or do I/we have it covered?

[ceejayoz]

I personally like the knowing how many people are actually active, as Dyn said.

Leaving old accounts in the database doesn't do any real harm unless you've got something along the line of millions of them.

[SquidDNA]

Freeloaders!

[AceRimmer]

it allows dead user names to be used by future members.

Isn't there a problem with those old posts being associated with the new user? Like for example if the old user spammed or flammed alot and then the new user gets tarred by that same brush, so to speak.

[reki]

no?

[Dyntheos]

err no.. the OLD accounts are set to guest.

there is no spoon.

[ceejayoz]

Rimmer, we haven't run into that problem.

Generally, people who went idle for months and months and months never made enough of an impression to be loved or hated by any significant amount of people.

[SquidDNA]

I'd like to add that low-hanging users can bother be pedestrians or endanger utility lines, so it's necessary to prune them at times.

[ÜberJumper]

To be specific about new users using old userids and getting credit for the posts...

It's my understanding that all the posts in the database are flagged with the UserID number, not name. Each user that signs up gets a unique ID. That ID never gets repeated.

[ceejayoz]

That's correct, Uber.

I think the concern (which I don't share, personally) is that of a situation where, say, you leave, and your user account gets pruned.

Someone could now register as UberJumper and possibly get confused with the original.

Like I said, I'm not concerned about that - people who get pruned either weren't remarkable enough to be widely remembered, and if it did happen we'd likely say "hey that was a famous person, can you change your nick?"

[Bonnet]

It would probably take literally years for ubers postcount per week to fall below 1 because of the massive spammer he is. :uber:

[General Nuke Em]

What about the case of dmille, who's made all of two posts since 19-05-2005?

[Retroboy]

Just a comment that I sort of don't like the way that admin answered, Homeboy. It would be interesting to find out where the money goes that comes from that mailing list they sell. Is it reinvested in the forum, or does it find its way into the pockets of the admins?

-- Retro

[Langy]

Nuke Em, then you'd just have to make it so 'senior members' accounts don't get deleted. Only 'junior members' can be pruned, even if the senior members leave for a long time. If I were to do the code, I'd make sure of that, so that, for example, Murph's account would never be pruned, even though it's pretty much guaranteed to not be active ever again. I think he deserves that little spot of honor here, and an automated pruning system shouldn't remove it.

[Locutus]

IIRC, last time I talked to an admin about this, it is indeed set up so that only the general members usergroup is pruned.

[Bonnet]

My understanding was that most of the prunning was done, at least partially, by hand. Eg, dyn presses the delete button though a script may filter for 'inactive' users.

[Homdax]

--Retro and others,
I have received positive confirmation that the mailing list is for security issues notifications, primarily. The "spam"-issue is not relevant nor any implications thereof.

Then again, why keep e-mails from people who do not show interest?
Latest log-in date should be very relevant in order to determine whether they are interested in updated information or not.

Ceejay: Harry Potter avatar? :rofl: