BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Purging Inactive Members

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** November 4, 2014 9:53 am

There are several pages in the User List of members who have registered and never made a single post and there's a feature in the Admin section which allows you to automatically purge them (a.k.a. delete them) from the User List automatically, without having the labouress process of going through every single one and deleting them individually.

However, the main disadvantage to this is that it would delete anyone who has registered, for example, today or yesterday or the day before, and fully intends to post but just hasn't got round to it yet. There's no cut off point.

There's no setting to stop registration on the forum, but there is a setting that forces all new memberships to be approved by the Admin. I'm thinking of toggling that setting for the next week, to allow any brand new members who haven't posted to make their first post, and then I'll do the purge.

How does everyone feel about this??

**Posted by mrshouse** November 4, 2014 10:14 am

Well, why not? Where's the point in registering if you don't post anyway since you can read everything as guest as well. I noticed on two other fan forums much more restricted access to follow discussions than here. And they're not half as profound and interesting as here.

**Posted by Liberty** November 4, 2014 10:42 am

Is there a need to purge them? Some might be active "lurkers", and have registered so that they can follow topics (I don't think you can do that without registering), rather than because they want to post.

**Posted by mrshouse** November 4, 2014 10:48 am

But you can read just anything, nothing is blocked from access. If you want to follow a topic, just visit it from time to time and update yourself. I've often wondered about those pages of inactive members. As I said in other forums registration is necessary to have access to everything.

**Posted by SolarSystem** November 4, 2014 11:23 am

I know that from other forums, too. You usually have a general section that is open to unregistered readers, and then you have a section you can only read in if you're a registered member.

**Posted by Davina** November 4, 2014 11:38 am

How many members would that leave the forum with? What about anyone who posted ages ago but hasn't for quite a while? They may, however, want to pop back sometime. A larger membership base can suggest success for a forum whereas a smaller one can suggest the reverse.

**Posted by SusiGo** November 4, 2014 12:11 pm

Davina, the Boss only proposed to delete members who have never posted so there is no danger of throwing out active people.
If I have counted correctly there are about 1,250 members with 0 posts. I am fine with deleting those that have been here for a long time without any contribution.
This would leave us with roughly 1,500 members which is not bad. I have no experience regarding the success of a board but anyone can see how many are active so the sheer number of members is no proof of success.
Therefore I am fine with your proposal to wait for new members to post and then to delete the others.

**Posted by tonnaree** November 4, 2014 1:20 pm

I think the purge in general and Susi's idea of giving it a week sound perfectly resonable.

Anyone that gets upset at being purged can always sign up aagain and participate.

**Posted by Liberty** November 4, 2014 1:52 pm

I know that people can see the whole forum without joining, but is there a problem with them signing up just to get emails about replies to threads they're interested in? Not everybody's a "poster", and some people struggle with typed English for various reasons. Is it slowing the forum down or causing other problems (taking all the good usernames)? Would there be an easy way to purge people who haven't logged in for, say, 6 months or a year, rather than anybody who doesn't post (I'm guessing not)? I know people can sign up again, but they'll keep getting purged if they don't post, won't they?

Also, I can't remember what messages I got when I signed up - is there way to let people know when they're signing up that posting is a requirement?

**Posted by gently69** November 4, 2014 2:18 pm

Liberty wrote:
Also, I can't remember what messages I got when I signed up - is there way to let people know when they're signing up that posting is a requirement?

Certainly there isn't a reqirement but it would be nice if they take part in the community, in a more active way.

**Posted by SusiGo** November 4, 2014 2:30 pm

Yes, I agree, gently. I really do not think there are many members who just subscribe to certain topics and never post anything themselves. And everyone is free to read whatever is there on the board. I think 26 pages with 50 members each of which 50% have never posted anything are not really necessary to keep.

**Posted by Liberty** November 4, 2014 2:58 pm

It is kind of a requirement, if they're going to get their memberships revoked if they don't post. So I do think it's polite to let them know. I'd think that forums tend to have more people who read than people who post - it's not just English problems - some people are shy, or don't feel they've anything to contribute, or happy just to read. Rather than let them join and then throw them off, it might be best to warn them in the first place. Or maybe just not bother purging, unless the volume of members is causing a problem.

It's not really my business, though - I'm just answering because we were being asked how we felt, and that's how I feel! But it doesn't affect me, as I'm sure I post far too much rather than too little .

**Posted by Schmiezi** November 4, 2014 8:00 pm

Why do you want to purge them, by the way?

**Posted by Russell** November 4, 2014 8:41 pm

Wondered about this in the past, myself! Interesting to hear you bring it up, SH.
Sure, there's the argument some people just aren't into posting, but nice to be able to register in order to subscribe to just the threads they want to read. Or they meant to, but haven't. And what kind of 'vibe' that would give out to purge them all and whether having a 'big' number of users matters at all (or if they really 'take up space'), I don't know. Seem to get plenty of new people finding us through a search after discovering the show anyway.
On the other hand, I'm also totally the type that looked through the list after bouts we had with spammers, and thought it would be nice to clear all of those obviously dead accounts from 2012 and spam names to just clean up a little, too. Unfortunately the 'zero post' thing wouldn't apply to spammers who posted a couple times… a shame they don't make it a little easier for you!

**Posted by Wholocked** November 4, 2014 9:13 pm

I am also wondering why the need to purge. I am strongly against doing so unless there's a reason for it. As others have said there are reasons to register that don't include posting and I think purging memberships with no posts is the opposite of a welcoming community. What's the problem, as others have said, in allowing them to use features like subscriptions and PMs? It's a shame if people choose not to participate to discussions but it's up to them and there can be good reasons for it (like language which has been mentioned).

I guess in short I'd say that it's up to SH but I would like to see that only happen if we were having storage space issues or if there were costs involved in hosting those users.

**Posted by Whisky** November 5, 2014 12:08 am

Well I'm not here that long so I'm not sure if I should voice an opinion, but you're asking

I know from myself that sometimes I lurk around for a while just reading, then get myself an account (still reading), then post the first thing a few months later. It's for me a process to slowly acquaint myself with a new forum. I'd be annoyed to be kicked out just because it took me time to do the first post.

I would also ask: is it just for the look of it, or is it for sound reasons? Because I usually hear from forum admins that the non-posters don't take up space.

Usually when I was on forums and didn't post, at some point would come an email saying "you haven't been logged in since 6 months, please log in or your account will be deleted". I really liked that way of handling it - in two cases it brought me back on board, because I just had forgotten I had registered there.
Without such a "warning", I might be taken aback if I try to get into my account and it's gone. Would there be an email notification or sth like it?

**Posted by Harriet** November 5, 2014 4:57 pm

To me, the purge seems a good and reasonable idea. The number of members doesn't say anything about the quality of the board (post numbers and thread numbers are of much more interest). But the member list looks a lot like nobody ever taking care of it. Many are obviously bot-remains. Others have been occupying lovely user names since Feb 2012 now.

I'd like the idea even better if there were such email notification Whisky mentioned. But even if not, it's about time

**Posted by Neferu** November 5, 2014 5:25 pm

I think the purge is a good idea. People, who won´t write something here, can read all anyway, so there is no need for beeing registered.

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** November 9, 2014 9:00 pm

Thanks for your feedback on this, guys. It's certainly been interesting to hear everyone's responses.

The only reason I want to get rid of them is because it looks messy and aggravates me slightly. I think it would look better for the forum if the majority of the members had posts to their name, rather than pages and pages of people who have never posted. It doesn't take up space and apart from the above reasons, isn't doing any harm.

I have contacted Boardhost Support and asked whether there's a way for me to send out a mass e-mail. Even if I have to send it to every single member of the forum (including you lot), I will just explain that I am thinking of doing a purge of members with zero posts etc. It might prompt people to come on and make a post.

**Posted by besleybean** November 9, 2014 9:08 pm

Good plan.