Animation Source Forums

Something crossed my mind earlier--should we get rid of all the "leechers," people who make accounts but don't do anything?

A look at a certain member's profile shows that they joined in July of 2011, haven't visited since last August, and have yet to make a post in the forums. This means one of two things: either they've lost interest and/or forgotten about the site, or they only joined for the ability to PM and comment (without the math-problem hassle).

Maybe we should send an email to the addresses used to create any accounts that haven't been used at all and give them so much time to become active (a week or two should be fine). Then, if they do nothing, the account can be deactivated by the mods.

This would help to save bandwidth on the site, and members who didn't want their accounts deleted can still contact mods for reactivation.

I agree that inactive accounts should go, but here are the issues with that. It can be hard to tell if a member will come back or not. Secondly, who would do this? Steet is never around, not that he would anyway. Mods used to be able to remove accounts, but Steet revoked that option last summer.

Like you said, I think if there is a way to contact a member off-site, then an e-mail should be sent. If a week or so passes and there is no response, then the account should be deleted. That leaves us with who should do this. I don't think there should be a dedicated group, all I can see out of that is abuse of authority. I think the option should be given back to the mods.

I among other members had suggested this in the past and it was declined by steet himself. He says the inactive accounts don't take up much space so he doesn't see the need to remove them.. I still find it necessary, especially when it comes to usernames being taken for the members who are active and new members that come in (this is deviantART's problem too- of which they probably have the same answer as steet's).

If we can convince him to allow the mods to do that, though, it would save a lot of headaches. And most members who join and then leave for months at a time without posting anything most likely aren't coming back.

I doubt it, Steet is as stubborn as a mule, it's hopeless.

I agree only if there is a way to reactivate it if someone comes back. If there is no way for a member to reactivate their account, then I must agree with steet. It really is hard to tell when/ and if someone will come back.