Account deletion not working

[Guest]

I have used the delete account option and when doing so it changes to "Your account is pending deletion. Please check your email and click the link in it for confirmation.".  I have clicked the link in the email and it pops up a banner saying the deletion has been confirmed.  But nothing happens.  My account is still there, hence me posting this!

Can someone please help?

[Rigby]

Are you talking about Neowin? I don't think you can delete accounts here. Where are you seeing this?

[Guest]

Yes Neowin.

Click Username at the top right > Account Settings > Security and Privacy > Account Deletion

[xrobwx71]

@Steven P.

[Barney T. Administrators]

I will take a look.

 

Edit: Done.

[spaceelf]

Oh nice I didn't even know I had that option.

[Rigby]

On 05/05/2025 at 04:35, ]SK[ said:

Yes Neowin.

Click Username at the top right > Account Settings > Security and Privacy > Account Deletion

Odd, I don't have that option. I just remember years ago there was a thread where it was stated that Neowin would not delete accounts. Maybe they changed their mind.

[cork1958]

On 05/05/2025 at 10:13, Rigby said:

Odd, I don't have that option. I just remember years ago there was a thread where it was stated that Neowin would not delete accounts. Maybe they changed their mind.

I don't have that option either. Only thing there is to reauthenticate password.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On 05/05/2025 at 15:13, Rigby said:

Odd, I don't have that option. I just remember years ago there was a thread where it was stated that Neowin would not delete accounts. Maybe they changed their mind.

See here.

If you live in a location covered by data privacy laws like the GDPR, we do offer to anonymize your account. What happens is your account gets removed but the posts remain, credited to "guest" as demonstrated by the original post. What this means is that any personal information that you provided in posts is still there, and you need to provide us with links to the specific post that needs information editing out.

I wouldn't recommend using the account deletion option. Not only does it seem that not everyone has that option, but what happens when you use that option is that a request gets generated on the backend, and only Steve and Barney can access that area.

Instead, if you are in a location with such privacy laws you should write a contact us request. With that, all staff can see the request and anyone from a Supervisor upwards can handle it. You also have the space to provide us with specific links to posts that contain your personal information.

[+primortal Subscriber²]

Is it a GDPR issue that any post quoted before the account is deleted still has the (deleted) username displayed?

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On 05/05/2025 at 17:47, primortal said:

Is it a GDPR issue that any post quoted before the account is deleted still has the (deleted) username displayed?

I'm not a lawyer, but no. The rules are that the website has no information like IP addresses that could be used to identify you. If you created a username that is personally identifiable then you mucked up, it's not a service's obligation to go through thousands of posts to change things.

It's also an impossible task. Using you as an example, you have 23,000+ posts. To go through each of them isn't doable. Then I would need to go through everyone that has ever quoted you; I'm not sure how to do that. The work for one person would take years.

Our "offer" is GDPR compliant as far as I am aware.

EDIT: It might also be worth noting that this idea should not be taken lightly. According to law you may have to right to be forgotten. But if you decide to come back with a new account it will be banned according to the community guidelines on duplicate accounts.

[FloatingFatMan]

On 05/05/2025 at 18:16, Nick H. said:

EDIT: It might also be worth noting that this idea should not be taken lightly. According to law you may have to right to be forgotten. But if you decide to come back with a new account it will be banned according to the community guidelines on duplicate accounts.

... Hey, can I request that someone ELSE'S account gets deleted? I can think of 2 or 3...   (I kid, I kid!)

Seriously though, the GDPR thing is a massive pain in the rear and a total ballache for anyone who holds data.  I have to deal with the damn thing regularly as part of my job and it ALWAYS gives me a bloody headache...  

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 05/05/2025 at 18:47, primortal said:

Is it a GDPR issue that any post quoted before the account is deleted still has the (deleted) username displayed?

Quoted posts with the member name shown in the quote box also get anonymized (if that's what you meant).

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 07/05/2025 at 20:40, FloatingFatMan said:

... Hey, can I request that someone ELSE'S account gets deleted? I can think of 2 or 3...   (I kid, I kid!)

Seriously though, the GDPR thing is a massive pain in the rear and a total ballache for anyone who holds data.  I have to deal with the damn thing regularly as part of my job and it ALWAYS gives me a bloody headache...  

Politicians love it, because they can wipe what they did online before the tabloids can get a hold of it, and that's probably also why it even exists.

It has gone beyond "right to privacy" (which I do support) but tell me, what personal public facing information do I have on you? Only what you yourself share here in posts, and our obligation to keep your IP and email address safe, that's about it really. The rest is optional for you, and GDPR does not even require us to anonymize post content (yet) but I am sure that will come along too in the future.  

GDPR lumps it on webmasters to fix the laziness of end users while also destroying historical data on forums such as these.

I have had a few requests to remove personally-identifiable information from forum posts over the years (posted by mistake or whatever) and I am happy to do that.

[FloatingFatMan]

On 14/08/2025 at 22:46, Steven P. said:

Politicians love it, because they can wipe what they did online before the tabloids can get a hold of it, and that's probably also why it even exists.

It has gone beyond "right to privacy" (which I do support) but tell me, what personal public facing information do I have on you? Only what you yourself share here in posts, and our obligation to keep your IP and email address safe, that's about it really. The rest is optional for you, and GDPR does not even require us to anonymize post content (yet) but I am sure that will come along too in the future.  

GDPR lumps it on webmasters to fix the laziness of end users while also destroying historical data on forums such as these.

I have had a few requests to remove personally-identifiable information from forum posts over the years (posted by mistake or whatever) and I am happy to do that.

Oh don't worry Steven.  I've NEVER had any privacy concerns with this site, at all.  That's the farthest thing from my mind where this site is concerned, trust me on that.  

If I ever decided to leave this site (5 minutes AFTER the apocalypse!), I'd just edit what info there is and say my goodbyes, no drama.

[Matthew S.]

On 14/08/2025 at 17:46, Steven P. said:

Politicians love it, because they can wipe what they did online before the tabloids can get a hold of it, and that's probably also why it even exists.

It has gone beyond "right to privacy" (which I do support) but tell me, what personal public facing information do I have on you? Only what you yourself share here in posts, and our obligation to keep your IP and email address safe, that's about it really. The rest is optional for you, and GDPR does not even require us to anonymize post content (yet) but I am sure that will come along too in the future.  

GDPR lumps it on webmasters to fix the laziness of end users while also destroying historical data on forums such as these.

I have had a few requests to remove personally-identifiable information from forum posts over the years (posted by mistake or whatever) and I am happy to do that.

And I thank you for that