Simple Machines Community Forum

SMF Support => SMF 2.0.x Support => Topic started by: Nakidka on August 01, 2018, 04:01:09 PM

Title: Is it possible to reassign posts upon account deletion?
Post by: Nakidka on August 01, 2018, 04:01:09 PM
In other words, if a member decides to quit my forum but I still want the posts there while his/her account is removed.

They delete their account but their posts are automatically assigned to a generic account specifically made for that purpose.

Is it possible?
Title: Re: Is it possible to reassign posts upon account deletion?
Post by: Arantor on August 01, 2018, 04:02:53 PM
They're left in place without an account attached to them - the display name is left and their email is left in the database in case admins want to email them later.

If they decide to come back later, it's also possible to join their old posts to their new account.

But out of the box, reattaching them to an existing account doesn't happen - and for database integrity reasons is a bad idea.
Title: Re: Is it possible to reassign posts upon account deletion?
Post by: Nakidka on August 01, 2018, 04:08:08 PM
Wow. Impressive. Such a quick response. Thank you very much.

So... if user John_Doe delete their account, their posts will still be associated with John_Doe?

And what if I want to get rid of their email? Must I go to phpMyAdmin for that?
Title: Re: Is it possible to reassign posts upon account deletion?
Post by: Kindred on August 01, 2018, 04:12:44 PM
Once an account is deleted, the posts are associated to the user's original login name (which may be different from their display name) but there's no link to a profile.

I don't recall if the email address is stored...   it's certainly not visible to anyone.
Title: Re: Is it possible to reassign posts upon account deletion?
Post by: Arantor on August 01, 2018, 04:17:08 PM
No, what happens is that all posts are updated with the last display name of the user so it's consistent for all posts. But it's treated under the hood as if a guest has made the post (because guest posting is supported)

The email address is stored in every post. It is also visible to admins/moderators if they attempt to edit a guest post because guest posts require a username and email. Depending on SMF version it may even be possible for non-admins to send that user an email.

Which raises other issues with guest posts and GDPR but that's a whole other story.
Title: Re: Is it possible to reassign posts upon account deletion?
Post by: Illori on August 01, 2018, 04:19:27 PM
Quote from: Arantor on August 01, 2018, 04:17:08 PM
The email address is stored in every post. It is also visible to admins/moderators if they attempt to edit a guest post because guest posts require a username and email. Depending on SMF version it may even be possible for non-admins to send that user an email.



i just checked here on a deleted account and CANNOT view the email address of the user, no envelope shows. assuming the user was not modified on the back end, that is not working as expected.
Title: Re: Is it possible to reassign posts upon account deletion?
Post by: Arantor on August 01, 2018, 04:19:56 PM
Did you attempt to edit the guest post? (Specifically, not with quick edit)
Title: Re: Is it possible to reassign posts upon account deletion?
Post by: Illori on August 01, 2018, 04:21:48 PM
i just tried and the email address is showing blank. i dont think our server team would have modified that... as far as i know the attribute feature requires the email address to exist. i would have to find another deleted user to test.
Title: Re: Is it possible to reassign posts upon account deletion?
Post by: Arantor on August 01, 2018, 04:22:50 PM
The attribute function requires either the username or email.
Title: Re: Is it possible to reassign posts upon account deletion?
Post by: Illori on August 01, 2018, 04:23:23 PM
Quote from: Arantor on August 01, 2018, 04:22:50 PM
The attribute function requires either the username or password.

username or email address, not password?
Title: Re: Is it possible to reassign posts upon account deletion?
Post by: Arantor on August 01, 2018, 04:24:17 PM
Corrected, sorry. Requires either username or email.
Title: Re: Is it possible to reassign posts upon account deletion?
Post by: Nakidka on August 12, 2018, 04:22:05 PM
Quote from: Arantor on August 01, 2018, 04:17:08 PM

Which raises other issues with guest posts and GDPR but that's a whole other story.

Sorry for the late reply...

Um... that is actually the issue. If someone wants to close their account, it would be nice to simply delete all traces of their PII and shift everything to a "common user" but as you said, I see it's not a good alternative...
Title: Re: Is it possible to reassign posts upon account deletion?
Post by: aegersz on August 12, 2018, 11:02:18 PM
see the "(Enhancements to) Reattribute user posts" mod as it may help.

it is a MANUAL process but it gives you more flexibility.