Delete user and content

peopleinside

Hi, I searched on the forum the exact title of this discussion but was not able to find a reply.

When a user is deleted Flarum keep the content?
If yes, there is a way to delete user and content?

In another community software that I use the admin can choose if delete user and keep content or delete user and content.

In Flarum how this is managed and as admin if I need remove user and his content, there is way possible?
Thanks.

Another similar question would be:
actually is possible to select multiple posts or topics and delete it not one by one?

askvortsov

peopleinside The "Spammer" extension hides content when deleting users, not sure if that's what you're looking for.

peopleinside

askvortsov no, I mean want sometimes delete user and his content remove what take space on the server.

askvortsov

peopleinside Since text is very compact and modern storage tends to be quite cheap, I don't think this is something that should really be worried much about.

peopleinside

askvortsov but I'm or not the web admin?
Flarum never let me, admin, decide what is stored and what not?

Is like to be unable to delete post just hide it.. Flarum allow the complete removal of a post.. so how is really possible admin cannot delete user and content? This is a big limitation, I think.

Really no way?
In the past this was possible than as introduced the impossibility for the admin to decide if keep user data or not?

The only way is delete from the database?
But this will never remove images, user avatar, etc.

It's sad to see such limitation on Flarum where I see other forums software let manage this better.

Flarum so never let an admin choose on this?
I really don't like this situation of no control.

Also delete post forever is not really deleted forever from the database?
Is just hidden?

askvortsov

peopleinside I'm sorry, I don't understand what exactly you're concerned about here. I'm not saying that your concerns are invalid, just that overoptimization to avoid storing unnecessary text in the database is practically never worth it.

peopleinside Flarum so never let an admin choose on this?

Flarum is a very flexible framework that places very few limitations on what is possible. However, core does not provide all imaginable features right out of the box. That's left to extensions.

peopleinside Also delete post forever is not really deleted forever from the database?
Is just hidden?

"Delete forever" means deleted from the database.

peopleinside

askvortsov Understood so until an extension will not allow to have the possibility for delete user and content, this would be not possible with Flarum, if I well understood.

Delete user will just be anonymized and all content posted will still be in the database, forever.
Actually the only possibility is to use a spammer extension to hide all user post content but still keep stored in the database.

Is this that I don't like to much but know I know how it works.
Thanks for the help.

Actually an admin has not fully control on what is stored and what not in the database... maybe only accessing PHP my admin and FTP to manually delete what he want, I mean post of a particular user, etc.. Or need delete one by one all post of the user than delete the account.. that has no sense if posts are numerous.

Oh, I heard soon maybe a new extension will be released that may solve part or all of this issues.
Great, I will monitor the progression.

https://discuss.flarum.org/d/11756-videos-on-how-to-extend-flarum/254

whisperwow

peopleinside

I agree that there should be an option somewhere to delete a user and their content instead of just hiding or replacing the user's username with "deleted". I am using Flarum to launch a forum for songwriters to post their songs for critique and feedback. I am positive that there will be situations that will arise where these songwriters or "content creators" in general will want their posts (lyrics and music files) deleted at some point when they no longer want to participate in the forum. Any other thoughts on how this could happen? Should it be through an extension or built into Flarum's core?

Hari

Core should offer this feature +1

peopleinside

I cannot believe Flarum never support this as I see is very useful on other software community.. and not having control of the stored content by the software is not a good feeling, for me.

My hope is that users will require the function when they discover they cannot decide to delete the user contentin Flarum as they are allowed to only just delete and anonimize the user. I also hope the extension of multi selection of topics, that will maybe be released in a short future, will allow a faster deletion and permanently deletion of all user post. After that should be enought delete the user profile.

Kalecgos

Actually I am far from being an expert in this area, but it seems to me that an option to completely delete (i.e. not just hide) a user and all his/her posts (as well as other data when applicable) would be in accordance with the GDPR regulation, and namely with its "Right to be forgotten".

wolfman

I'm completely with Kalecgos on this! This is a GDPR issue! If the user wants his account and posts to be deleted he/she has every right to demand exactly that - and not only hiding the data through an extension.

girefko

wolfman Agree 100% also.. GDPR compliance and it is strange to email the website you no longer use to ask them to delete an Account.. Nobody does that in 2022

wolfman

peopleinside It's from the recently posted Flarum Roadmap.

girefko also.. GDPR compliance and it is strange to email the website you no longer use to ask them to delete an Account.. Nobody does that in 2022

Afaik it is still valid to write an e-mail to delete an account - as long as the user-data gets deleted (not just hidden) in the process. From the user-standpoint i understand the delete my account (with all it's data) button. From the standpoint of running a forum i'd like to have a chance to ask the user why he/she wants the account deleted (if he/she is willing to share) and possibly find a different solution than making a bunch of discussions incomprehensible.

Another issue (amongst others) with GDPR is the right to data portability, which basically means exporting the users data in a machine readable format (JSON, CSV, ...).

Hari

askvortsov 🛡️ A new bundled extension that adds automated tools to help assist with GDPR compliance.

This issue will be addressed in the next few updates for sure, be patient 🙂

peopleinside

Hari this extension that should solve this exist and will be updated or is an extension not yet released?
I'm asking because if the extension exist I will follow the page and updates, if never exist I will be informed when will be released under the extension TAG that is monitored by me since some days.

peopleinside

wolfman I don't think so they will plan to allow deletion of user and content.

askvortsov

As we have it planned now, users could submit "deletion requests", where the admins would either:

Delete the account and associated content
Delete the account, not the content
Anonymize the account (random username, email, etc), keep the content

wolfman which basically means exporting the users data in a machine readable format (JSON, CSV, ...).

We plan to support this too, at least for core content.

Justoverclock

Well, I don’t know the law exactly, but you can ask for account deletion and not for content. I think that when you post on my forum your post become public and part of the community.

Not sure if I’m forced to delete posts by the law…

peopleinside

Justoverclock in any case the admin should have the right to do this: delete.
It's the admin server and a software that forbid that is problematic, on my point of view.

I'm sure someone will find a fix for this, I cannot believe Flarum stay with this limitation on content manager.

wolfman

askvortsov That's great to hear especially with the different options to delete account and content! 👍😀

Justoverclock Well, I don’t know the law exactly, but you can ask for account deletion and not for content

By default Flarum saves the IP of every post made in the database - and that is regarded as personal data. At least that has to be remedied when deleting an account. askvortsov Will that be adressed when Deleting/Anonymizing the account and keeping the content?

peopleinside

askvortsov Yuppy !!!
Congrats! Thank you!

Darkle

askvortsov Sounds like the future GDPR bundled extension or is this something that will come directly into the core?