Scrub usernames from comments left by deleted and purged journals

[gerg]

Title
Scrub usernames from comments left by deleted and purged journals

Short, concise description of the idea
After a journal has been deleted and purged for a year, the comments that journal left should have the old username removed from them.

Full description of the ideaBecause of the increased caching that Google (and other search engines) are

Comments

[worldserpent]

This doesn't sound like a bad idea, but what if the user who deleted and purged their journal doesn't wish for this to happen? I support this as an option, but I'm not sure it should be automatic.

[ceilidh]

+1

[worldserpent]

I suppose I come at it from the perspective that this proposal is for the benefit of the deleter alone. So therefore if a deleter doesn't want this to happen, that makes the option useless.

[gerg]

I agree with this. If you delete your journal and let it be purged, you (presumably) don't want anything to do with that journal any longer.

My original intent was not to make it optional, because that defeats the entire point of the suggestion. If people choose to maintain their original username on the comments, we're right back where we started with people constantly writing in for help removing comments they don't want associated with them anymore.

[gryffinwhore]

+1

[charliemc]

+1

[turlough]

Exactly!

[februaryfour]

+1. I renamed my journal a while back and checked the "forward" option. I recently asked for the older username to be unhooked from the new one and was horrified to see my old username resurface. As that username is my real name, I am really _not_ in favor of it surfacing that way! I hope it will disappear when I do a name-change to that journal with a different journal. (YEs, this gets mighty confusing to outsiders.)

[azurelunatic]

I'd say include a notification of this during the delete process.

[pauamma]

At this stage, it's beyond their control. Currently, if you delete your journal, comments and entries elsewhere may appear with a different username anyway, if someone renames to worldserpent. If that happens:
- your name on entries and comments elsejournal will without warning and without any recourse by you appear as ex_worldserp666 (FSVO 666)
- there will be no easy way for others to tell which was you, of ex_worldserp666 and ex_worldserp667

Does it make sense to have an option at deletion that boils down to "I don't want it to ever appear as 671980, but I'm OK with the above"? (Also consider that many? most? people deleting their accounts may not understand what this option really means, or only when it's too late to do anything about it.)

[cos]

I would hope that someone who cares about their content remaining on LJ, would not delete their journal.

However, this does make me realize that it's possible some people who have deleted their journals in the past, did so with the expectation that their name would remain on their comments in other journals, because that was how LJ had always worked.

So, perhaps it would make sense to introduce this new feature only for journals deleted after the date the feature becomes active (and include some text in the deletion confirmation, that explains that this will happen).