How to remove the KiCad forum account?

I want to know how to remove the account, if I can do it myself or if any more privileged person can do it. I would also like to remove the topics/posts I for any reason happened to start or was included in. Time to move on. Thanks.

If you feel that you have left something here of value then it would be wiser to send a ā€˜Personal Messageā€™ to one of the the Devā€™s or any senior member of the team for that matter, rather than annoying the entire community. If as I suspect you havenā€™t, then why not just ā€˜not comeā€™ to the forum, why do you feel the need to broadcast you displeasure or whatever it is that has a ā€˜bee in your bonnetā€™ ? As you say ā€œTime to move onā€
:mouse:

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We really donā€™t want to do that without a very good reason. I donā€™t remember anything exceptional in your messages. Deleting posts just makes threads confusing. Any valid question or comment, on the other hand, may be beneficial for someone later.

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Exactly, just like any user that comes here to be helped quite often that process in turn helps others with the same/similar question . . . removing any/all of one usersā€™ posts can make the tread confusing or even useless and that is a disservice to the rest of the current and future users . . . lets all try not to be selfish :+1:

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As said before, if you donā€™t wish to participate any more, or just want to take a break, just not come here.

As for deleting content you generated, a search shows that Discourse doesnā€™t allow this because it will put gaps in discussions.

From the operation of another (non-Discourse) forum that I am on I suspected and confirmed that what is possible is to anonymize an account so that your username will be replaced by some random string.

Maybe that will allievate your concerns that you may be associated with things you wrote.

I have no opinion on what you should ask for. I donā€™t know if the admins will oblige you. I just present the result of my research here.

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Is anonymization (cool bureaucratic word) really necessary? There must be a lot of Swedes using the www, and the letter T is not much of a giveaway.

I could accept, say, @RaptorUK asking for anonymity. That may be his image and maybe his Christian name and maybe his occupation. Even me, with the avatar of the tree; maybe it is in my back yard and maybe someone could find/recognize it, but a maybe Swede, and nothing else, could be difficult to associate with this forum.

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Personally I think itā€™s futile . . . itā€™s already out there, e.g. The WayBack Machine

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Even more so, each and every post and edit of posts is checked in into some version system automatically by this forum software. (I guess itā€™s GIT). When I see and edited post (as a level 4 user) I see a menu item with which I can compare texts with the previous version.

Deletion of posts is often regarded as vandalism (unless itā€™s spam or other garbage). But when posting on a public forum, your posts become public property, and the rights of the community to learn from your questions and answers supersedes your own rights.

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Is that true, actually? I donā€™t know, but I wonder if the poster still owns the copyright to their own words. It isnā€™t clear to me that copyright is relinquished automatically just by the act of posting. Also, only the poster (plus admins, presumably) can edit their post, which suggests said posts are not considered public property. Otherwise we could all hack away at each otherā€™s posts.

However, Iā€™m the first to admit that I donā€™t know the law around copyright and online forums, so Iā€™d be interested to hear the straight dope from someone who does.

One thingā€¦might be to prevent incoming e-mails because someoneā€™s post of 5 years ago got a quote or heart or reply?

That is the only issue I can see with ā€œJust donā€™t come here any more.ā€

Of course it is not a horrible problemā€¦just delete the e-mail.

Unless it could somehow enter into a court case, such as Joe agreed with his now hostile ex-wife that he would never visit this forum, and now there is a lawsuit. Hard to imagine how that would happen though.

Regarding @RaptorUKā€™s post: does this address the matter of copyright? It doesnā€™t seem to. It just talks about Analog Lifeā€™s right to refuse content and control access.

My mate CHATGPT reckons this:

Yes, in most cases, you retain the copyright to your forum posts. However, the specific terms depend on the forumā€™s Terms of Service (ToS). Hereā€™s what typically happens:

  1. Copyright Ownership ā€“ As the original author, you usually retain copyright over your post unless you explicitly transfer it.

  2. License to the Forum ā€“ Many forums require users to grant them a license to use, display, or distribute posts. This means they can keep your post online even if you leave.

  3. Exclusive vs. Non-Exclusive Rights ā€“ Most forums only require a non-exclusive license, meaning you can still publish your post elsewhere. However, some platforms may ask for exclusive rights, limiting what you can do with your content.

  4. Deleting Your Posts ā€“ Some forums allow you to delete your posts, while others keep them indefinitely. The ToS should clarify whether your content remains after you leave.

To be sure, always check the forumā€™s Terms of Service before posting.

You are free to leave. I will ā€˜anonymizeā€™ your account. But you really expect a couple volunteer staff to spend hours breaking the forum?

Not gonna happen. I deleted the one user because they were new and confined mostly to a single thread they started for the purposes of being obnoxious. This is way different.

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Done and suspended. and on to 20

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Instead you can probably modify your account changing mail address to not existing one, I think.

To kill off emails:

Click on your avatar (top RH corner is easiest), then, Profile > Preferences > emails > and change all the boxes to ā€œNeverā€.