Removal of non-active members

[AJ Konlucko]

Hi all.

I raised this around this time last year but I was not able to get much support for this idea.

At the moment almost 93% of our forum members have not logged in this year (2017). I am proposing that at the end of each calendar year, that we remove all accounts which have not logged in in the previous year. New members who have been a member less than 30 days would be exempt from this for the first year.

If somebody has not logged in to the forum (not posted, just logged in) in over a year, I think it is safe to say that they won't be coming back.

This will not kick in until the 1/1/2018 so we have a few months to hear any feedback or concerns with this.

Paul

[Terence Charles]

What constitutes 'Logging In' ?

[AJ Konlucko]

What constitutes 'Logging In' ?

Accessing the forum with a username and password. Browsing as a guest (not logged in) is not counted.

[PaulE]

Hi Paul,

If I recall correctly, one of the concerns was that a drop in members would impact search engine results. I know I found the forum through Google.

Also, what would be the effect on those members posts? Would they remain, or would removing the account remove what they'd posted?

[lmunch]

What benefit comes from removing these accounts?

[AJ Konlucko]

What would be the effect on those members posts? Would they remain, or would removing the account remove what they'd posted?

We can decide to keep them or delete them. Personally I am happy for them to stay. My concern is around the number of inactive / unused accounts, it seems each year we get a higher percentage of members not logging on at all...

[AJ Konlucko]

What benefit comes from removing these accounts?

It is good house keeping to remove unused accounts. I know of one forum which does this every 90 days. I think if somebody can't log in at least once a year, are they really a member worth having?

[Terence Charles]

Maybe if they're not logging in they're busy writing!

[AJ Konlucko]

Maybe if they're not logging in they're busy writing!

And that is a good thing they are writing but it does bring the question of why they are a member.

I just did some very quick stats, we have 947 members who have been a member since before 1/1/2017, have 0 posts and have not been on the forum this year. Those accounts can go as in over 12 months they have not visited the forum and have NEVER posted...

[Terence Charles]

Is there a problem with unused accounts? ie Ones that haven't logged in for a while.

Do they require money or effort spent maintaining them?

If so then it may be worth sending the member an email indicating this and asking if they wish for their membership to be removed.

If not then it would seem there's not a lot of point doing it.