Jump to content

DELETED USER ... why?


Recommended Posts

Checking on one of my caches, as you do (or you should according to the guidelines ;)) I found that the log of the FTF had disappeared :blink:! After a little bit of a search I found that Citizen Smith, now sadly departed and a rather infamous cacher from Leyland UK, had now become, posthumously, a deleted user :o! He started caching in 2005 and died in March 2023 so just over a year ago and now all of his legacy seems to have disappeared :( . While on the hunt for him I did find a Citizensmith (from Sacremento) still "live" despite not having logged on since 2010 <_< so why the disparity? Does any one know why this might have occurred? I only noticed as I was going back through the logs to apply the "recently" added option of "great story" to the log.

 

Cheers,

 

Schnuz.

Link to comment
1 minute ago, RuideAlmeida said:

 

So, you think that shouldn't be allowed? For any family or prior user?... Go and check the regulations related to "right to be forgotten", by instance.

 

No, I do not think it should be allowed. I think the "right to be forgotten" is baloney, especially in this context. Only bogus accounts should be deleted outright. 

 

I understand Groundspeak has to abide by certain legal requirements.

 

At bare minimum an account should remain with all the logs and hides linked, even if the log text and profile bio are wiped blank.

  • Upvote 2
  • Funny 2
  • Surprised 2
  • Helpful 2
Link to comment
32 minutes ago, RuideAlmeida said:

 

So, you think that shouldn't be allowed? For any family or prior user?... Go and check the regulations related to "right to be forgotten", by instance.

I don't think it should be allowed, but it could have also been requested by him before he passed to have his account deleted. 

 

1 hour ago, schnuz said:

Checking on one of my caches, as you do (or you should according to the guidelines ;)) I found that the log of the FTF had disappeared :blink:! After a little bit of a search I found that Citizen Smith, now sadly departed and a rather infamous cacher from Leyland UK, had now become, posthumously, a deleted user :o! He started caching in 2005 and died in March 2023 so just over a year ago and now all of his legacy seems to have disappeared :( . While on the hunt for him I did find a Citizensmith (from Sacremento) still "live" despite not having logged on since 2010 <_< so why the disparity? Does any one know why this might have occurred? I only noticed as I was going back through the logs to apply the "recently" added option of "great story" to the log.

 

Cheers,

 

Schnuz.

 

  • Funny 1
  • Surprised 1
Link to comment
11 hours ago, RuideAlmeida said:

So, you think that shouldn't be allowed?

While I certainly agree that it should be allowed (and Groundspeak needs to follow that request) I assume in that specific situation it probably was an unfortune decision.

I like to think that the family was not familiar with geocaching and was not aware that by requesting the deletion the legacy of a maybe well respected community member was sent to oblivion.

But then again, maybe it was even requested or suggested by the cacher himself while he was alive.:blink:

  • Upvote 1
  • Love 1
Link to comment
11 hours ago, JL_HSTRE said:

 

No, I do not think it should be allowed. I think the "right to be forgotten" is baloney, especially in this context. Only bogus accounts should be deleted outright. 

 

I understand Groundspeak has to abide by certain legal requirements.

 

At bare minimum an account should remain with all the logs and hides linked, even if the log text and profile bio are wiped blank.

So you think your right to enjoy someone's geohistory should be rated above the right of the family of the deceased to delete the account?

  • Upvote 5
Link to comment
1 hour ago, terratin said:

So you think your right to enjoy someone's geohistory should be rated above the right of the family of the deceased to delete the account?

 

The many vs the one. Deleting the account affects every geocache the account found and every geocacher that found one of their caches. 

 

The logs and cache pages were public for years. In this case almost two decades. It doesn't protect privacy; the content being removed was never private to begin with.

  • Funny 1
  • Surprised 1
  • Love 1
Link to comment
11 minutes ago, JL_HSTRE said:

The many vs the one. Deleting the account affects every geocache the account found and every geocacher that found one of their caches. 

 

That's pretty dramatic.  It's just a game and the logs are just a record of one person's finds.

 

If the person didn't want their logs deleted but their family didn't know and had the account removed, that would be a shame, but if the logs are deleted at the user's request posthumously, it is what it is.

  • Upvote 4
  • Funny 1
Link to comment

This is an interesting dilemma. The value of historicity and stats over the simple concept of recording activity relevant to a human being with zero impact on the activity itself to others.

If a CO is allowed to change the DT or some other property on an old cache, people erupt in fury that their stats have changed. But it's allowed. If a person passes away and their logs are wiped from the game, people erupt in fury that the stats have changed.

 

For a DT change, the history is kept in records of the change (c/o Project-GC).

For an account removal, the content may be stored elsewhere (wayback machine, or people's downloaded offline log storage), but currently there's no way to reliably retrieve that info.

 

 

* Is it really a Bad Thing to replace deleted users and account activity with dummy placeholder data?  Actually delete the account and all its data, as currently (fulfilling the privacy agreement), and then recreate another dummy account (or use an existing one) to replace a minimal amount of data as placeholder so that some record of activity without any connection to identity whatsoever is still available for the game?  We already know that accounts can certainly be and remain 100% anonymous.

 

Edited by thebruce0
  • Upvote 1
  • Love 1
Link to comment
Posted (edited)

Many thanks for all of the replies and I didn't mean to cause any arguments :o! I didn't realise that you (or your family) could request your account to be deleted and I don't really understand why you (or your family) would :huh:? Would you burn journals or delete video footage of a loved one after they had passed over? I feel it's a bit sad that I can't go back and read about his caching exploits as most of his logs were witty and interesting and if I was one of his family I would want to be able to do that :unsure:. Each to their own though I suppose, at least I will still have the (vague) memories of his logs, especially of Mrs Tea Pot :lol: (from the log I was originally going to thumb up, sadly gone like the rest :()

 

Again thank you for all of the replies.

 

Stay safe and well,

Cheers,

Schnuz.

Edited by schnuz
  • Upvote 6
Link to comment

I'd like to think that someone I cached with, brought into the hobby, or (in a couple cases) built and placed their caches, would stop by once-in-a-while just for remembrance.  Maybe find themselves in our gallery.  The few we know died I look sometimes.

I write longer logs than the other 2/3rds ever did, and some might have been interesting or helpful.

"A black caddis dappled on the water will get a hit", "#18 blue wing olives emerging...", "Many turkeys in the area" kinda stuff. 

"150' wasn't enough rope..." should be helpful...   :laughing: 

  • Upvote 1
  • Funny 1
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...