Preventing Members From Removing Themselves

[Gray Wolf]

I have a problem with internet trolls making their way onto our forum as "sleepers".  They post for a while, sometimes a few months, start flame wars then resign or otherwise remove themselves from the forum.  This causes a break in the threads in which they posted requiring the Admin (me) to remove every post they've made in order to prevent a lock up of the topic.

I would like to prevent members from removing themselves.  I can ban members and place their account on hold, so to speak.  This prevents the threads from being broken.  As it is, if a member deactivates their account (showing them as a "guest"), every thread they've posted in becomes broken, not allowing our members to read each post up to the last posted by the offending member.

I have spent three days searching here on SMF for a topic dealing with this, to no avail.  If the topic exists, could someone please point me in the right direction?  I would appreciate any help that can be given or suggested.

Thank you!

[margarett]

There is a permission for removing accounts

[Gray Wolf]

Thank you for your reply.  We currently operate under SMF 2.0.7.  I already know how to remove members (I'm Admin for the forum), but what I want to do is find a way to prevent members from removing themselves.  I do not currently see that option under Permissions.

[margarett]

There is one, I'm just not on the computer right now to tell you exactly which...

[br360]

It's in the "Member Profiles" section of permissions.

Look for Delete Account. There you will see two checkboxes- one for own account and one for any account. Make sure they are both unchecked.

[Gray Wolf]

Hi br360,

Under "Members" and "Permissions" I do not show a selection  for "Member Profiles".  All I have is General Permissions, Board Permissions, Edit Profiles and Settings.  None of those gives me any option to check or uncheck allowing members to remove themselves. 

[br360]

What do you see when you click the General Permissions tab? That is where you can set permissions for your membergroups. Just click the modify tab to the right that will show all permissions for that group.

[Gray Wolf]

I just checked under "General Permissions - Advanced Options" and see several selections.  Under "Member Profiles" I see "Delete Account (own account)".  I also see beside that box a section that says "Add Permission" or "Clear Permission".  So, should I select "Delete Account (own account)" and then select "Clear Permission" to prevent members from deleting their accounts?

[Gray Wolf]

What do you see when you click the General Permissions tab? That is where you can set permissions for your membergroups. Just click the modify tab to the right that will show all permissions for that group.

Ahhh!  I checked "Modify" then found the section that allows members to delete their own account and unchecked that box, then saved the change.  Is that correct?

[br360]

That's the one. (also make sure the delete anyone's account is also unchecked) Now members won't have the option to delete their own accounts in their profile anymore.

[Gray Wolf]

Check!  I believe I have it set properly now.  Thank you!  I can't begin to tell you how many issues we've had recently due to this small detail.  I appreciate your assistance! 

[br360]

Sure thing.