Re: Deleting Accounts

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: Deleting Accounts by ssandv (Hermit) on Jul 30, 2009 at 19:21 UTC
Deleting the account prevents collateral damage from using the same password in multiple places. Locking wouldn't solve it, but he could have changed his password to something he doesn't use anywhere else when he abandoned the account. Though, I have to admit, I probably wouldn't think of that (but I never delete accounts on places I don't go anymore, either.)	[reply]
Re^3: Deleting Accounts by ikegami (Patriarch) on Jul 30, 2009 at 19:51 UTC
That's solved by clearing the account's password field when locking it. The absence of a password could even be the flag that indicates an account is locked.	[reply]
Re^3: Deleting Accounts by Your Mother (Archbishop) on Jul 31, 2009 at 01:58 UTC
Using the same password for all your online accounts in like using the same key for your house, car, office, bank deposit box, mail box, bike lock, etc, etc, etc and then leaving a copy of the key with every manager of every service and letting unknown third parties by the dozen tool the copies for you. No one in their right mind would consider doing that. I wish people would take a little more conscientious responsibility for their online lives too. That said, I agree that deleting/locking is a good idea and of course it's quite sad that a place like this where everyone actually does know better was still keeping clear passwords at all. I'm not personally particularly worried about it because I have different passwords for every one of 100+ sites I have accounts. Anyone who doesn’t is inviting disaster. Some hackers don't announce their hacks. Some sites don't report, or even necessarily ever know about, security breaches.	[reply]
Re^4: Deleting Accounts by hangon (Deacon) on Jul 31, 2009 at 17:14 UTC
No one in their right mind would consider doing that. I wish people would take a little more conscientious responsibility for their online lives too. In a perfect world everyone would do as you suggest. In an even more perfect world those 100+ passwords would be changed periodically. However, you will be fighting human nature every step of the way. The vast majority of people will not track and manage anywhere near 100 passwords. I was once involved in a study of user habits. Not only were passwords extensively reused, but most were derived from: date or year of birth child/spouse/pet name organization/department/profession/job title While I agree with your sentiments and applaud your diligence, short of threatening extreme bodily harm, getting most users to practice good password management is probably a lost cause, even among those who should know better. btw: s/hackers/crackers/	[reply]
Re^5: Deleting Accounts by Jenda (Abbot) on Aug 02, 2009 at 10:17 UTC
Re^5: Deleting Accounts by Your Mother (Archbishop) on Jul 31, 2009 at 17:39 UTC
Re^6: Deleting Accounts by hangon (Deacon) on Jul 31, 2009 at 18:42 UTC
Re^2: Deleting Accounts by jdhedden (Deacon) on Jul 30, 2009 at 19:46 UTC
If the 'gods' don't want to delete accounts, then make it such that a 'defunct' account doesn't have a password any more. And for accounts without password, make it so that they can't log in. That's at least better than what there is now. Also, for 'defunct' accounts, wipe out all the user information (e.g., email address) so that can't be compromised either.	[reply]