Change username and delete account

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Change username and delete account

March 14, 2019, 11:58:32 pm

I have this scenario:
- a member asked for account deletion
- before deleting the account I changed his username displayed on forum (not the username used for login)
- I approved the account deletion
- on forum I still see his original username as author of posts, I guess it's my mistake since I had to rename first the login account, not the displayed username
- I did registered a new account from ACP and assigned user posts to the new account
- I checked a few topics and they all display the new username, so this worked fine
- I checked the account and I see the new username as login and as displayed username. Everything fine
- I deleted the new account but on forum I still see the old username as post author. That's why this topic is in Bug reports.

I have a question: is there a way to rename the old username of a deleted account using a query on database?

Re: Change username and delete account

Reply #1 – March 15, 2019, 03:21:58 am

Did you do maintenance routine afterwards?

Re: Change username and delete account

Reply #2 – March 15, 2019, 08:23:06 am

I already did that by repeating these steps:

Quote

- I did registered a new account from ACP and assigned user posts to the new account
- I checked a few topics and they all display the new username, so this worked fine
- I checked the account and I see the new username as login and as displayed username. Everything fine
- I deleted the new account but on forum I still see the old username as post author.

and run maintenance tasks before and after account deletion

Re: Change username and delete account

Reply #3 – March 15, 2019, 12:27:43 pm

Sorry I meant to say Admin > Maintenance > Routine.

Quote from: radu81 - March 14, 2019, 11:58:32 pm

I have a question: is there a way to rename the old username of a deleted account using a query on database?

I think it is possible to search and replace on database. The old username is unique right?

Re: Change username and delete account

Reply #4 – March 15, 2019, 12:48:19 pm

Technically "not a bug".
The name you see when you delete an account is the name stored the moment the post was created.
The name you see when a user is associated is the name of the user.
So, this is the intended behaviour.

I don't think this should be changed (because usually a nickname is not really personal data, and even if the display name was the actual name, this would not be considered personal data without an address or some other contact).
What I think could be done here, is something I had in mind a while ago, but honestly not bothered to implement yet, that is an "anonimization" of the account without actually delete it (i.e. random name, random nick, random email and removed all fields).
Actually it may not even be that difficult to implement. Maybe a "good first issue" for 2.0 along with a GPDR issue.

Re: Change username and delete account

Reply #5 – March 15, 2019, 03:35:18 pm

Ok, I understand now how it works, thanks for the explanation

I'm not sure username is considered personal data, I've read different opinions. In other forums when deleting a member there is an option to change username, maybe another thing for 2.0 version.

Quote from: ahrasis - March 15, 2019, 12:27:43 pm

I think it is possible to search and replace on database. The old username is unique right?

Yes, username is unique. Any idea on how to write the query? Thanks

=== edit ===
I just had a look at elkarte_messages table and should be easy to change the username, the problem is that elkarte keeps the email field for every post even if the member was deleted. Username could or could not be considered personal data, but email is surely personal data which should be removed. Yep. another thing for Elk 2.0

Re: Change username and delete account

Reply #6 – March 15, 2019, 09:58:29 pm

Yeah I did that in my GDPR mod for SMF removed that data on account removal as option.

Re: Change username and delete account

Reply #7 – March 16, 2019, 08:42:40 pm

TBH, but then again, this is my personal opinion, this is going to be yet another dubious situation in which you have to take a risk either on one side or the other.

Let's take the example of your forum, a user registers and posts a couple of articles of "his experience" doing the review of a couple of cars he affirms he owned or at least was able to try in depth. Then he deletes the account and all the personal data are wiped out. Some time later a newspaper comes in and sue you for copyright infringement because the two articles were written and published on the newspaper.
If you have completely removed any reference and any way to "track" the user that posted these articles, you are the one liable (actually, you are probably liable in any case, but okay) and you have no way to demonstrate these posts were published by another person.

I don't see any way out: either you keep a link somewhere, or you are on the edge for other issues.
Actually, someone may argue about backups as well, so... *shrugs*

In the above case, IMO, you have two options:
1) the user has accepted an agreement during the registration that the data are stored until the posts are in place in order to address any potential legal action (and here you can cite Regulation (EU) 2016/679 article 6 paragraph 1 letter c "processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject;"),
2) you delete everything.

As usual IANAL.

Re: Change username and delete account

Reply #8 – March 17, 2019, 06:38:12 am

Or, even funnier, the very same user.

IMO, if you preserve the post you have to preserve some personal data behind the scene in order to have some connection with the one that posted the content.

Re: Change username and delete account

Reply #9 – March 17, 2019, 10:33:41 pm

That's a situation I did not take into consideration, and I have to agree with you.