Why do people delete their accounts?

[thumbsdown]

We should be always careful about what we post in internet... as soon as we post it, we should consider it eternally leaked... no delete is going to revert it back to not being posted.

I personally always try to not tie my accounts to my real life as much as possible...
Instead, i create personas... where each persona has a fictional backstory and different personality and beliefs.
I can reuse them in any site, and they are consistent... yet none of them are real me.

There are many power dynamics at play on the internet and afk, tbh... I feel like different folks have different reasons and relations to share or not their personal information online. If someone register in a forum with the same email used to make their LinkedIn, UberEats, Steam or PornHub/OnlyFans account, it doesn't really matter the many usernames and personas they might have created. The problem really starts when ppl overthink stuff and take so many measures to protect themselves that this very behavior would make em a target. The whole architecture of internet was originally a military project given away to civilian usage to begin with (ARPANET).

 

[Boo Man]

I think alot of people struggle with emotions, are insecure and need constant reassurance
some users will delete their account as a final act of rebellion or out of spite as if its some huge loss to the community. To those people i say, don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out

 

[thumbsdown]

I think alot of people struggle with emotions, are insecure and need constant reassurance
some users will delete their account as a final act of rebellion or out of spite as if its some huge loss to the community. To those people i say, don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

A few reasons. Some people delete out of a sense of rebellion or spite if they feel they've been wronged or disagree with the direction a community is heading. Some do it in a burst of emotion or rage, and may regret it later and come back with a new account.

I've known a couple people from here that have also deleted due to having important IRL stuff like study/university and wanted to remove the potential distraction from themselves too. I imagine they worry that keeping a bridge back to the site would tempt them into procrastinating on their work.

 

[thumbsdown]

or disagree with the direction a community is heading.

There's also this, forgot to say this is also the very reason that made me leave that forum I mentioned previously.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I mean... Sites are basically forced to allow people to nuke their accounts due to EU laws, but I'm still amazed by the kind of wide adoption the whole thing has had in the fifteen or so years since I first saw it used.

 

[KenaiPhoenix]

You post, likes/up votes, etc will still be there. And they WILL use it if they have too for whatever reason.

I also dont want to help them when they say "We have reached 1 morbillion users!"... not on my watch.

These are the main reasons I deleted my Account i Rettardit and others.

 

[diet_orange]

I remember reading an article saying that this function being added to the (then) latest update to a juggernaut like RetroJunk.com was what caused its eventual downfall, with people who had been there for years and through hundreds --if not thousands-- of messages deleting their entire existences after a moment of weakness, leaving the whole thing feeling like an empty shell.

Retrojunk, now there's a name I haven't heard in quite some time...

I used to be on it and loved it, that and X-Entertainment (now Dinosaur Dracula) were the literal "wellsprings that I drank from" that fueled my teenage mind with a passion for old-timey nostalgia. Unfortunately I kept forgetting how to spell my username (taken from Moleman's airplane, the "sanguinette vibrella") and this is in the dark decades, the time before Last Pass

 

[ObscureJigglypuff]

As someone who is not very fond of being part of a community, or even forums i think i'd never delete any account.
The only significant reason of why i would delete something could be because a serious irl stuff and i know i cannot be back or that i just feel like i have nothing to cumtribute ( ) with the place.

If someone attack me with confuse ray i might delete everything too ....

 

[Mr. SyS]

I can understand why people would want to delete their accounts and I myself have done it a few times. What I really don't like though is when they delete their messages and uploads too. THAT pisses me off on Nexusmods in particular. It pisses me off to the point that if a well-known mod author nukes their catalog because they had a melty I feel like it's my duty to re-upload.

 

[JellyjamLu]

I think if people need to truly free themselves from a place for awhile because they can't resist the temptation,

Yeah this pretty much.
By deleting the account your finalizing & removing a habbit that connects you to constantly coming back.
it's in the back of your mind, you know technically.. you could come back and engage again by the touch of a button, but by reemoving that element, plants the 'it's done'

Sure you wouldn't be missed by the community but honestly i don't think it has to do with that at all, when it comes down to the individual doing it, they want it for themselves, simply to remove ones self from addiction etc not to gain reaction, not to impress.

 

[thumbsdown]

The thing I don't understand is making alts.

At least when it comes to xenforo forums, that's prolly a way to evade staying ignored (listed as)...

 

[Clippy]

 

[DinoRexMax]

Dunno, man. My bet is that they think they can wipe the slate clean, as if every site we log onto doesn't catalogue and archive all of our info regardless of what we do.

Like, your really think that "delete account" button isn't just a massive placebo?

 

[yourdemise]

Too many places get hacked and if your information is sitting around on places you don't even use anymore that's more chances for your email to get leaked and spammed with scams and phishing attempts. I literally have had this happen, and even know which site hack it was in some cases because of the decoded password being sent to me in an attempt scare me or fool me into doing whatever it is they wanted.

I've never fallen for something like that so I don't know how dangerous it really is, but it's still creepy. If I had deleted some accounts i never used anymore instead of just ignoring their existence maybe i would have gotten fewer emails like that.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

You know what grinds my gears the most? When somebody threatens they will delete their account like it's some world ending disaster like SHUT THE FUCK UP BITCH when you post that shit and you do it and you know it will get you attention it has to be the most and worst case of attention whoring

No fuck you don't make threads about "I'm back" or "I'm leaving" like just go just go......no need to inform us no need for last good bye or whatever i admire MistHunter for this he didn't attention seek he didn't do some overdramatic theater scene he just left....same with Gorse look if you gonna delete your account do it just don't try to attention seek this way IT'S ANNOYING and cheap as hell

I think RGT needs to take a look at Hive workshop rules they have a rule that prevents the type of threads i mentioned i think we need to adopt a similar rule in fact the rule about political preaching is so solid there too , it prevents the same drama that got repeated here i think twice now? Hell those dramas caused some members to delete their accounts (@goregoregoregoregoregore) and made others dissatisfied and annoyed at how these issues were handled

So yeah personally i would delete accounts on obscure sites that i don't use anymore but i forgot the pass and also the Email


Just don't use it as a drama/attention seeking method and everything else is fine

 

[JustLooking123]

Reading all these discussions about deleting account... I haven't ever done it yet!.... should i?.... but the temptation!!!...

 

[thumbsdown]

Reading all these discussions about deleting account... I haven't ever done it yet!.... should i?.... but the temptation!!!...
View attachment 147789

Man, I hope you don't go really... don't even joke lol

 

[Adrastia]

You know what grinds my gears the most? When somebody threatens they will delete their account like it's some world ending disaster like SHUT THE FUCK UP BITCH when you post that shit and you do it and you know it will get you attention it has to be the most and worst case of attention whoring

No fuck you don't make threads about "I'm back" or "I'm leaving" like just go just go......no need to inform us no need for last good bye or whatever i admire MistHunter for this he didn't attention seek he didn't do some overdramatic theater scene he just left....same with Gorse look if you gonna delete your account do it just don't try to attention seek this way IT'S ANNOYING and cheap as hell

I think RGT needs to take a look at Hive workshop rules they have a rule that prevents the type of threads i mentioned i think we need to adopt a similar rule in fact the rule about political preaching is so solid there too , it prevents the same drama that got repeated here i think twice now? Hell those dramas caused some members to delete their accounts (@goregoregoregoregoregore) and made others dissatisfied and annoyed at how these issues were handled

So yeah personally i would delete accounts on obscure sites that i don't use anymore but i forgot the pass and also the Email


Just don't use it as a drama/attention seeking method and everything else is fine

I was just thinking of this. I see so many "I'm going to delete my Fabebook" type posts. Some people threaten it until they get the desired reaction then come back in two days all "I'm back gaiz!". We literally don't care.

I know of a certain person who will threaten to delete social media then come back in a few days and complain no one is paying attention to them. You know people like this were huge brats as kids.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Reading all these discussions about deleting account... I haven't ever done it yet!.... should i?.... but the temptation!!!...
View attachment 147789

Yes, GTFO ;D!

 

[JustLooking123]

Man, I hope you don't go really... don't even joke lol

But... but...!!!

 

[dropsmegamega]

so they don't feel tempted to return...

 

[Zerohour2k12]

I only ever deleted an account due to innactivity but I do think people tend to delete theirs either cuz they just want to take a break or just had enough. I on the other hand tell myself not to make accounts unless I know I'd be using it often. I also avoid Twitter cuz from what I hear, that's kind of a Badlands of sorts where hate thrives.

 

[Luxfin]

For me, I would only delete an account if I feel like there is literally no use for me to have it for one reason or another. Otherwise, I don't really engage much in social media deletion. There is also the fact that someone maybe delete an account if it made during a certain point in time that they don't or can't be a part of anymore. So there is a bunch of reasons, unless your name is Twitter then it is simply because of it's a no-man containment land of unadulterated festering misery and sin.

 

[SolemnlyDoc]

For me it's about closure and finality. I wouldn't delete an account from a website just because I have little interest in it anymore, I'm sure my Pinterest and Canva accounts still exist after not using them for years.

But if it's a forum where I've invested a part of myself? Somewhere I felt I belong but can no longer stay? I feel the urge to kill that part of myself, that version of myself that no longer exists. Because it's just a ghost in a mirror, a painful reminder of what was.

I'm a person who holds on to regrets too tightly, so in order to be happy, I try to live in the present as much as I can. Sometimes that means you have to kill the past.