Forums / Maintenance / Suggest Ideas

Before a moderator gets on me for this, I was planning on posting this in the Suggestions thread, but figured it might have enough discussion value to merit its own individual thread.

When a user decides to deactivate their account, their posts and walls are hidden. I have no dissension with deactivation; users have their own personal reasons for deactivating their accounts, and I respect that. As of right now, if I understand correctly, only staff members can view the walls of and reactivate deactivated accounts. My question: should moderators with the power to ban and deactivate users be given the power to view their walls and reactivate their accounts if needed?

The upside is that, should a user decide to come back, which I take it has happened a few times in the past (most recently with Syndic, it seems), a moderator could easily reactivate their account and save the user the trouble of contacting an administrator who is likely to be busy. Of course, it may be an extraneous function, as choosing to deactivate your account and, in turn, hide your posts and wall, symbolizes an aura of finality to your time on the site. There is not much reason for a user to wish to return using their old account, and thus the feature may go unused by moderators and just end up an obviating task for James. Moderators could also be busy, but I’m sure that there are enough of them that at least one could spare a couple of seconds to necro an account.

For this thread, I pose the topic of conversation: is it reasonable to give moderators with the power to deactivate users the ability to reactivate users? I’m just interested in hearing the viewpoints of other users and moderators, and maybe a staff member or two, if we’re lucky.

All of the admins can reactivate, if mods had the power IMO, it'd be easier for people to be like WAHHH IM LEAVING DELETE MY ACCOUNT and a few days later change their mind about it.

I am the person that deactivates most of the accounts that ask for deletion through the contact form. If a user that has a lot of activity asks for deletion, I try to talk to them about it to save the trouble of deacs/reacs because people often do it out of anger or something silly. I don't think it's a power mods need, mostly because I like to keep tabs on who is deactivating and reactivating. Also if someone sends me a message like that i can do it from my phone so really the only time it won't be done within an hour or two is when I'm asleep.

Normally I would agree with you OP. Giving us the ability to deactivate yet not the ability to reactivate seemed kinda weird, as we can't undo our own actions in those cases. We can view entries we and other entry mods hid and with that undo it in case of a mistake, so why should that not be able with accounts when it's basically the same thing?

However, Amanda brings up a legit point. Sometimes our users can be real drama queens, and deactivation in such a moment can be an easy way out, especially knowing they might not be thinking straight then. If they request it through the form, only the staff gets note of it (not the mods), so only allowing staff to reactivate makes sense then. This is also backed up by Amanda wanting to keep tabs.

But it has also happened a few times that users send me a PM requesting deactivation, and I'm certain the same happened to other mods. The account delete button is kinda hidden in your account edit options, so it's understandable that jumping to a mod of which you know can deactivate is the easy way out. Amanda can't keep tabs on all those deactivations, and if it was indeed a spur of the moment decision we can't undo it and must request the staff to reactivate them.

So I'm going to stay neutral in this, while leaning a bit more towards adding it. Avoiding drama and confusing on who deactivated and reactivated and why can become a huge clusterfuck if all mods are capable to do it. But not being able to undo our deactivations, especially when we can undo our actions in cases like locks and hides, can become confusing as well. Perhaps only make Database Mods able to do it, or force us to notify the staff each time we do that, kinda the middle way, but that's a decision I can't take by myself.

I remember when Gamzee deactivated his account, that was a mad time, I tell you. He made a new account and then a few months later, his old account was resurrected.

Yes, in those cases, it seems like a good idea, as if it were a kind of 'Hide' function on your profile, to take every last trace of your account but still be able to get it all back.

However, this makes it even better to the extent where we can just delete ourselves and come back to life in approximately two clicks, which is a bit silly, as it could be used as some kind of trolling tactic, while also being some kind of exit doorway out of KYM that you can always just re-enter if you change your mind.

After saying that, I realize now why they made the deactivation button just small text in the past.

Quantum Meme posted

However, this makes it even better to the extent where we can just delete ourselves and come back to life in approximately two clicks, which is a bit silly, as it could be used as some kind of trolling tactic, while also being some kind of exit doorway out of KYM that you can always just re-enter if you change your mind.

Compare it to Facebook, which lets users deac and reac at will: There is NO bigger drama queen move then getting into a fight, deactivating and then coming back a few days later. It's the most obnoxious move someone can make to get attention

Wait, what? You can do that on facebook?

brb distressing my friends

But seriously, it's stupid really, not just for attention, it's, as I said, like an exit doorway that you can just go through while you're angry or sad and then come back through when you're feeling fine.

What if it was one way? Then people don't take the option for small things like that. I suppose I'm neutral on this, but leaning towards not being able to re-activate, after all, I'll never delete my account as I find that to be the equivalent to committing internet suicide.