Deleting inactive users

[nemesis01]

I have never done this before, decided to today so off I go to the CP and was quite amazed to find that out of 17000+ registered members over 14000 had never posted. I deleted them all, always said I would never do that but I saw no benefit from keeping them really.

I was just wondering who operates a regular pruning session to get rid of inactive posters. Also, I did only delete those with 0 posts, if I had gone after those who had posted at least once I fear we might have been left with under 1000 members.:(

[Kathy]

I delete un-confimed users automatically after 10 days. I used to delete members who were inactive, posted 0 times and haven't visited the site in XXX days.

However I stopped the pruning of the inactive confirmed members...because the info they provide during the registration process is helpful. We have an additional registration survey for data purposes within the medical community so I stopped pruning the confirmed members no matter inactive or not.

Besides, sometimes they come back and want to know why they can't log in. ;)

[Chaotic Reality]

i don't have enough members to bother with deleting the inactives. plus, your # is for registered members, not active. :)

J.

[filburt1]

I never delete non-posters (unless they spam via PMs and such). Many a member have made their first post begin with "I've been watching the forums for the past few weeks..." and would be quite annoyed to figure out their account was deleted for no reason.

If you must prune them at all, I would prune them after six months or a year after registration and if they are still unconfirmed.

[LeeCHeSSS]

I never delete non-posters (unless they spam via PMs and such). Many a member have made their first post begin with "I've been watching the forums for the past few weeks..." and would be quite annoyed to figure out their account was deleted for no reason.

If you must prune them at all, I would prune them after six months or a year after registration and if they are still unconfirmed.However, vBulletin allows you to check wether a non-poster is a lurker: their last activity date shows you wether or not they are still visiting...

I delete non-lurking non-posters every two months or so, that way I get an impression on how many real members I have. A mere 230.

[Beorn]

The rule of thumb I use is no posts, no activity in 3 months, and joined more than 6 months ago...

[sabret00the]

i get alot of users who dissapear for months then come back outta no where, so i just delete un-confirmed.

[Floris]

I prune once every 6 months or so. I send them a email to introduce themselves or post something of interest, otherwise the system might prune their account for being idle.

Everybody that bounces, is deleted. Everybody that doesn't reply within a week, is deleted.

[ShadyNight]

We usually prune evey month to two months. Right in the sign up we have a warning that we do prune. If we are given any kind of notice that there are times you will be gone longer, then we make note of that. So far we have had 2 people who is on the "here but inactive" list and 2 who were deleted, wondered why, but never came back. (also from a "rival" board, where they recived powers.)

It might make our board small. But it also gives us a TRUE perspective on who we need to cater to when thinking about adding or subtracting things from the site.