Deleting a member only soft deletes the account, so it can be restored. Permanently deleting a user instead erases their personal data, and it cannot be undone. This article explains what it removes and how long a copy of the data can still exist in our logs and backups.
What permanent deletion removes
Permanently deleting a user clears the member's name and email address, their avatar, signature, birthday and profile field answers, and any Facebook data, and renames their username to Anonymous. Their email address is also removed from the email records we keep for your forum.
It does not remove the content they posted: their topics, posts and private messages stay in the forum, now shown as written by Anonymous. To remove content as well, delete it separately - see Deleting a member and their data.
Why the content is kept, and why the account is anonymised
Deleting a user permanently removes the person, not the discussion. Topics and posts are usually part of a conversation that other members took part in, so removing them would delete their replies too and leave the thread impossible to follow. The content therefore stays and is shown as written by Anonymous.
What permanent deletion targets is the member's identity: the username is renamed to Anonymous, and the name, email address, avatar, signature, birthday, profile field answers and any Facebook data are cleared, so nothing in the forum identifies the member any more while the discussion around their posts still reads correctly.
Permanently deleting a user through the admin area
- Log in to your Website Toolbox account.
- Click Users.
- Click Deleted.
- Click Permanently delete next to the user you want to delete permanently.
- Press Permanently delete to confirm.
Permanent deletion is offered for members who have already been deleted, so delete the member first (see Deleting members) and then delete them permanently from the Deleted list.
Permanently deleting a user through the API
The REST API deletes a user with DELETE /api/users/{userId}, which accepts a personalData parameter:
personalData=keep(the default) deletes the member the same way the admin area's Delete does, and the member can be restored by a forum administrator.personalData=erasedeletes the member and then permanently deletes them, exactly as described above.
Neither option deletes the member's topics, posts or private messages.
How long a copy of the data can remain
Permanently deleted data leaves the active system immediately, but two copies can outlive it:
- Our mail server logs, which record delivery to each address, are rotated daily; the main mail log is kept for 15 days, and a few secondary logs for up to about 4 weeks.
- Database backups are kept for 30 days. The live database and its backups are held in a United States data center, and a monthly copy of the backup is also held in Ireland for 30 days.
For how data is retained more generally, see How long do you keep the data?