Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Deleted Accounts

Remove the mystery.
  (+12, -3)(+12, -3)
(+12, -3)
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When a prolific (or not so prolific halfbaker deletes his or her account, the repercussions are huge. There are broken links, broken anno threads, all sorts of things.

This is not an idea to maintain the ideas and annos after their creator has dissapeared! Carry on reading!

When this happens, the removal is so total that it is often hard to tell whether you have simply imagined the whole thing. Your only clues are in references to the ex-baker in other annotations.

I propose a list of deleted accounts, that simply tells you the account name and how many ideas/annos have gone with it. I can thereby tell whether the 'baker has gone, and, if I'm feeling altruistic, do a search on their name and try to flag any links to that 'baker's ideas.

dbmag9, Feb 14 2006


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Annotation:







       I'll start: [calum].
calum, Feb 14 2006
  

       I meant an automatically generated list. But feel free to write any vanished 'bakers that you might know of.
dbmag9, Feb 14 2006
  

       <auto-generated message>Oh, sorry.</a-g m>
dbmag9, Feb 14 2006
  

       I'm pretty sure you're imagining me.
DrCurry, Feb 14 2006
  

       y'know, I considered making my username [roleohibachi2] because I know, eventually, I will somehow lose this account and have to resort to a similar one. if I had started with that, I could resort to my preferred name. Does that idea hold water like a strainer or what?
roleohibachi, Feb 14 2006
  

       I also used to have another account, and i actually don't remember some of the ideas i posted. I would have welcomed this because i sometimes can't remember if i submitted an identical idea under my previous username, and if i could see a list of them, i wouldn't do this unwittingly.
nineteenthly, Feb 14 2006
  

       speaking of deleted accounts, where did [Pa ' ve] go and why?   

       Actually, how about when you destroy your account you're given a chance to write a 'note' with reasons and parting shots etc.
xaviergisz, Feb 14 2006
  

       GRUMBLE GRUMBLE I don't like destroying accounts.   

       [waugsqueke] inactivated his account by scrambling his password. He left a grumpy note too for any interested.
bungston, Feb 14 2006
  

       Ah, like eating a cyanide dipped apple - How cruel!
Dub, Feb 15 2006
  

       I was actually sorry to see Pa've go, look for him @ his blog. I understand that is where he said he didn't like the, or some, or most halfbakers, he felt he was under attack or something, don't take my word for it and google Pa've. And let's remember [TheRoberts] at least.
zeno, Feb 15 2006
  

       I think the duck's have fled, I'll go check.
skinflaps, Feb 15 2006
  

       //And let's remember [TheRoberts] at least//
Hey, [Tom Potter]'s gone quiet too.
"A light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long"
coprocephalous, Feb 15 2006
  

       [nineteenthly], the contributions made during your prior life are probably available for viewing on the wayback machine.
Shz, Feb 15 2006
  

       Nope [skinflaps] the duck is still here, and also <Random fact> //cyanide dipped apple// Apple pips already contain a cyanide compound</Random fact>
fridge duck, Feb 15 2006
  

       Good point, [Shz], i hadn't thought of that.
nineteenthly, Feb 15 2006
  

       I don't understand the last sentence of the idea. Most links to a person's ideas don't include their name; if the deleted account created the link themselves, the link goes away along with everything else.   

       If we wanted to simply maintain links within the halfbakery, the thing to do would be to write something that checks for the existence of local link destinations - that should be easy to do within the database, and will also cover detect renamed or deliberately deleted ideas.
jutta, Feb 15 2006
  

       I just thought of it, because many people say things like "Thanks for the link [Rods]" or "A similar idea by [Pa've]". It wouldn't be very useful, but it might help a bit.   

       By the way, if an idea is officially half-baked (has appeared here before) and the predecessor is deleted, does the idea retain half-baked status?
dbmag9, Feb 15 2006
  

       I agree about it being unfortunate that everything about the imploding users goes away. But to play devil's advocate, the point of the delete button is that it gets rid of all traces of the user, name included. If you start retaining parts like the name, it's a slippery slope to the delete button being functionless.   

       There are several ways to leave this place. [waugs] in the past has both deleted his account, and apparently scrambled his password. I allowed a fellow halfbaker to change my password to ensure that I abstained during a busy period. [EvilPickels] deleted his entire ideas list but left the account intact, so his annotations were preserved.   

       Other accounts that I know of that have been removed one way or the other are: [blissmiss] (on more than one occasion), [scout], [oniony], [El Dorado Jr], [ravenswood].
hidden truths, Feb 15 2006
  

       Either way, I think this is making way more fuss about a pile of words than they are worth.
DrCurry, Feb 15 2006
  

       You seem to be in a foul mood these days [drCurry].
zeno, Feb 16 2006
  

       chicken?
po, Feb 16 2006
  

       Dr Curry - Pile of words - small localised swelling of the nether region containing an itchy haiku.
xenzag, Feb 16 2006
  

       //This is simply a lightweight recreational diversion// Dammit [IT], you could've put a spoiler alert on that anno.
coprocephalous, Feb 16 2006
  

       If someone falsely accused [calum] of deleting his account, would that be a calumny?
hippo, Feb 16 2006
  

       It'd be a diabolical liberty, zwat it'd be.
calum, Feb 16 2006
  

       Or maybe hippocracy.
DrCurry, Feb 16 2006
  

       Such a request certainly wouldn't curry any favour with me.
zen_tom, Feb 16 2006
  

       But zen what would we do about all these awful puns?
hidden truths, Feb 16 2006
  

       'Struth, you're just too zentomental.
DrCurry, Feb 16 2006
  

       What about a percentage of deletion? 100% deletion is removal of everything, including any references to the user in other annotations (replaced by stars, for example), 80% is the normal deletion as it is now, 60% leaves annotations but no ideas and so on.
nineteenthly, Feb 16 2006
  

       Considering I coupled with another halfbakery deletetrister, I feel personally driven to respond to this idea.   

       (Comment deleted by poster).
blissmiss, Feb 17 2006
  

       1984
roleohibachi, Feb 24 2006
  

       That is what I was thinking, but I was worried that it would get a huge backlash. It is as though we want to remove the person from history, which I personally don't like, and would prefer a notification.
dbmag9, Feb 25 2006
  

       I like the percentage deletion concept. This could be done using the known frequency of each letter in the english language (linked). If I opted for 20% deletion, automatically removing the letters e and a from all my postings ought to do it. Alternatively, my postings might lose a set of the less frequenct consonants. 80% deletion would leave only a cryptic scattering of letters, to be deciphered by the dedicated.
bungston, Feb 25 2006
  

       ha. haha. Best laugh I've had in a while, [Ian]. I owe you one.
roleohibachi, Feb 26 2006
  

       A halfbaker obituary, I like it, have a bun.
MikeOxbig, Feb 27 2006
  

       I personally would love to know the history of the HalfBakery. Maybe a page to remember Bakers gone, with a favorite invention listed should they opt to leave one standing.
notmarkflynn, Feb 27 2006
  

       Sometimes Mike and Mark, there are very sad things. Things that swim past saddness.
blissmiss, Feb 27 2006
  

       That's the problem of involving real people with real lives. It would be easier if the entire process was automated.
wagster, Feb 27 2006
  

       wagster - It is.
dbmag9, Jun 23 2006
  

       [burgomaster] I think that annotation is probably the funniest thing I've read on the internet! And very much to the point. If I could bun an annotation, I would.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 01 2008
  

       Yes, I realize that, [Burgo]. There was no need to respond like that. And the picture in your link is just, well, alarming.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 01 2008
  

       And the same to you, [Burgo]. Delete your account if you must, but leave sheep out of the equation.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 01 2008
  

       Not without a lot of vaseline.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 01 2008
  

       If a pastry was halfbaked by a man and eaten by someone else, is it still halfbaked? For that matter, what evidence is there that it wasn't fully baked, or that it was baked at all?   

       [wagster], er, how is this not automated? A website filled with electronic ideas and accounts, accessed through computers and used by us mechanical "humans".   

       [burgo] is gone? Nooooo! I miss his dozens of awesome ideas already. If only we could see the ghosts of his annos through an option of some sort.
Shadow Phoenix, Jan 02 2008
  

       [rcarty]?
blissmiss, Aug 20 2009
  

       (from his comments I gather) he's local to me... I'll just keep an eye out for somebody in a tinfoil croissant hat then shall I ?
FlyingToaster, Aug 20 2009
  

       Could I suggest/request that, when an account is deleted, annotations by that baker are replaced with "{Anno Deleted}" or similar? No need to identify the baker in question.   

       This would make it less confusing when an annotation appears to be responding oddly to a preceding anno, because an intervening one has been deleted. I think it's also better practice to indicate deletions.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 21 2010
  

       // appears to be responding oddly to a preceding anno //   

       And this would differ from Standard Operating Procedure exactly how ... ?   

       // better practice to indicate deletions //   

       Ok, we'll alow you that one. Although it is possible to deduce the previous existance of something by the void it leaves - unless Zen is involved somehow.
8th of 7, Jul 21 2010
  

       Not necessarily. For example "Kill all the seal cubs!" "That's a bad thing to do." "Here here!" is very different if the middle annotation is deleted without trace. Apart from anything else, it misrepresents the third annotator.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 21 2010
  

       Sp. "Hear, hear !"   

       But you might still get a nice new sealskin coat, if we all club together ...
8th of 7, Jul 21 2010
  

       Ah yes, you're right. I will chastise my secretary.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 21 2010
  

       // chastise my secretary //   

       Is that what's meant by "belt up" in your society ?
8th of 7, Jul 21 2010
  

       Would there be any issue with recreating particulars ideas salvaged from the Wayback Machine, by a current author, and including the original annos as one huge anno by the same current author? The original usernames could be erased to protect their anonymities, a simple task using Find and Replace, and many of us would probably know who said what so the loss would be minimal. Therein we could again have our Two Cups of Coffee and other notable viands and ideas.
whatrock, Sep 02 2022
  

       The basic principle I'm trying to stick to is that if you wrote it, you own it, and that includes your right to take your ball and go home if you get annoyed with the website site or people on it. Applies to ideas, comments, anything.   

       So, I'd rather not take people's words without giving them credit, letting them edit them, or allowing them to delete them.   

       Nothing's keeping you from pointing to ideas _on_ archive.org or so, though.   

       (This area is difficult in general. I'm definitely not saying that this is optimal in any way. But the thing that I'm _really_ angry about is that people die, and all the enlightened versioning in the world doesn't fix that. I'd put up with Swiss cheese annotation threads if it brought back the actual people!)
jutta, Sep 02 2022
  

       How about "This post was deleted by [Account] [Date]"
Voice, Sep 02 2022
  


 

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