The only ones that could realistically removed are those that have never commented, voted, or submitted (which is probably a good percentage of those users). However, what's the harm in leaving those users there? They're not taking up much space, and if they were interested enough to sign up, they might be interested enough to one day return...
When I registered in 2002 (one of the first to do so too), I had all these intentions of participating and stuff.. voted on the first ever challenge.. and then for some odd reason, I just never got back to the site. I sat as a non-active member for two and a half years.. now, look at me. 13 challenges completed since mid-August, I'm commenting, posting, chatting, and having a grand ol' time.
Had my account been terminated.. I don't know if I would have come back.
So I'm on Manic's side on this one :)
Woops.. I should say 11 challenges completed and 2 currently under way.
I just returned from a year and a half break and I'm not sure I would have if my account had been gone... I'd think long and hard before wiping them out.
I'm not sure I see the upside to deleting users... Are they in someones way?
I just returned from a year and a half break and I'm not sure I would have if my account had been gone... I'd think long and hard before wiping them out.
I'm not sure I see the upside to deleting users... Are they in someones way?
I noticed you were back -- welcome again!
I think purging a database is far more trouble than just maintaining the small amount of data.
What happens to deleted members'posts and links -- we'd have stuff broken all over the site.
why not just send out an email to users who stay away for a year. I say if they are not here, and don't respond to the given email then they probably won't come back..
What do you think Artyste? As someone who came back, would you have answered the email?
why not just send out an email to users who stay away for a year. I say if they are not here, and don't respond to the given email then they probably won't come back..
What do you think Artyste? As someone who came back, would you have answered the email?
joe
I might have, depending on if the email got to me. Sometimes people change their email accounts. gmail came in this year (although I avoided it), and I bet a lot of people with lesser webmail accounts changed over.. that can have an effect. It's a good idea though, worth considering.
Had I *gotten* the email however, yes, I probably would have made an effort to check in. After a year though, I still didn't have a camera that I was happy enough with to consider entering challenges and stuff, and hence help me contribute other-wise as well. But that's just me.
If it's already in the programming ...would it be that hard to make the offline status available to all?
I don't know -- it's a decision made by the site admins anyway, not by the SC members. There may/may not be some reason they want to keep that information confidential.
Right now there are NO updates to the DPC site because the admins are still trying to get the updated Prints site finished, and everything else is on hold until then.
It already is. It's in the left column of the profile page.
...But apparently nobody's seeing it but SC. Mine tells me whether the person is on or offline, that's it.
Does a regular user/member need to know that someone's been offline for 3 months? In general I don't look at that information but someone may find that tidbit useful.
Does a regular user/member need to know that someone's been offline for 3 months? In general I don't look at that information but someone may find that tidbit useful.
Well, yes.
Beyond the fact that many other sites do have this information readily available, it does help me when, for example, I'm about to comment on a photo. I browse through the galleries a lot, and if the user is a name I don't know, I look at their profile and guesstimate if their still active or not before leaving a comment. There's no point in commenting if they're not likely to see it, is there?
Does a regular user/member need to know that someone's been offline for 3 months? In general I don't look at that information but someone may find that tidbit useful.
Well, yes.
Beyond the fact that many other sites do have this information readily available, it does help me when, for example, I'm about to comment on a photo. I browse through the galleries a lot, and if the user is a name I don't know, I look at their profile and guesstimate if their still active or not before leaving a comment. There's no point in commenting if they're not likely to see it, is there?
Yes, knowing whether a particular user has been around in a while could help in that regard, though there are users who are around regularly who don't check their portfolio for comments so comments would go unread in that case as well.
Adding the additional information shouldn't be hard anyway since it's already there for some users.
Does a regular user/member need to know that someone's been offline for 3 months? In general I don't look at that information but someone may find that tidbit useful.
Need to know? Probably not, but oddly enough when I'm browsing a member profile, I am in the habit of checking to see when they last participated in a challenge, or posted to the forums. It's just nice to know who's active and who's not.
There's no point in commenting if they're not likely to see it, is there?
Sure there is ... other people who see the photo will read the comment and learn something from it.
One of my favorite pages is "recently commented-on pictures" (Photos > Browse), where the photo will appear as soon as you register your comment. I check interesting pictures and see what other people have to say about them.
