Regarding unused accounts

[Princess-Sunbutt 268]

     Something Ive noticed every single day when I come on the site is the birthday section, more specifically the accounts that are displayed there. More often than not I see accounts from users that havent been on the site since 2012. Now Im no moderator or admin who can be behind the technical side of the site but Im sure that these accounts are just taking up needed space. That kinda gets to my point, do you think that these old accounts should be deleted, not only could it free up space on the site but it can give new users who are joining to have a wider variety of usernames than having to work around the ones taken by accounts that havent been used in years. Im not sure if a cut off date should be instituted but Im just throwing out ideas, what do you think?  

[碇 シンジン 27,431]

I see your point, but it wouldn't be fair if an old user comes back and they see their account banned. And the names listed in birthday hook on the index page are oldest accounts first.

 

Also you can message the admins if you see name you would like to have and it is holded by an inactive member. Here is example: http://mlpforums.com/topic/111645-name-switcheroo-with-an-inactive-member/

[Princess-Sunbutt 268]

 

 

I see your point, but it wouldn't be fair if an old user comes back and they see their account banned.

 

 I see what you mean but Im not talking about ones that have been off for a short while, but rather the ones that have been offline since 2012, I honestly think those several people who have only mad two active posts that long ago are coming back.....

[碇 シンジン 27,431]

 I see what you mean but Im not talking about ones that have been off for a short while, but rather the ones that have been offline since 2012, I honestly think those several people who have only mad two active posts that long ago are coming back.....

 

There are always a possibility that they come back and I don't think. Them coming back should be discouraged by banning the old accounts. And users that used to be here those early days, they are part of MLPForums history everyone of them is important.

 

You don't see archaeologists burning down the old remains. They try to preserve the old ruins and memories because they are important.

[Jeric 46,854]

@Princess-Sunbutt, I appreciate that your approach to this was focused around saving data space, but we shouldn't have data space concerns. All of Poniverse is set up using a scalable Enterprise level system. Feld0 had the foresight to understand that MLP Forums and Poniverse would one day have a greater need than your typical small fan forum.

 

I also don't think that auto-banning inactive users is the best way to go from a member relations standpoint. Who knows if they may return one day to stop by. This does happen on large communities like ours. One other misunderstood thing, active posts do not always equal a completely inactive member. While some like me, occasionally blitz the board and reply like madmen, many users just don't contribute that way. Some lurk. The lurkers are a part of this community as well. We create content for others to read and discuss. Some just enjoy reading. I do this on a few coding sites myself. 

 

However, with features like the birthday block, a solution may be to eliminate inactive users from being shown there only focusing on active users within a set time frame.