[Suggestion] Pruning Inactive Members

Originally Posted by Bradapalooza

Well, presumably the site would run smoother/faster. Whether it would actually do so is a question I couldn't answer.

only benefit would be where searches are involved.
there isn't THAT much of a benefit though.

We don't delete or rename accounts (or at least I try to make sure we don't) for several reasons:

1. A person hasn't visited in a long time, but returns later to find their account is changed. Oops! Privacy violation. A person has the right to maintain control over their own account, and the right to not have it changed by administrators without a request first. Would you like it if Google up and changed your gmail address without telling you simply because you didn't use gmail for a while, and some other user asked for your email address?
2. That person is also like, "wtf, why is my account different? it was mine!"
3. It's too much work for something that doesn't matter. We have other things to deal with. Think of a new name that isn't already taken instead of whining to us about it.
4. Yes, keeping those accounts does make the board look more impressive, but isn't the main reason for keeping them. The above three reasons explain most of it.

That said, I think I will be looking into a Display Name system for the vB4 upgrade, so that you can have a username and a display name. That way, nobody ever whines about their damned login again

1. A person hasn't visited in a long time, but returns later to find their account is changed. Oops! Privacy violation. A person has the right to maintain control over their own account, and the right to not have it changed by administrators without a request first. Would you like it if Google up and changed your gmail address without telling you simply because you didn't use gmail for a while, and some other user asked for your email address?

That always seems to be your reasoning.

As stated above, it is pointless. The only way this could be done is if there were people who would do that for ZU... and most people wouldn't.

Originally Posted by Jason

That said, I think I will be looking into a Display Name system for the vB4 upgrade, so that you can have a username and a display name. That way, nobody ever whines about their damned login again

Sounds cool!