658835 Mon Oct 12 09:14:42 -0700 2009 6 30 Site Talk 0 5096945 So I was looking at somebody else's profile and scanned over a few icons to see who that person was reading / being read by. A couple of the icons were dead - they don't expand to show a user name or link to a profile page. Curious, I checked my own profile and found the same thing. A couple of generic avatars that don't appear to be linked to anything. These aren't just hounds who've been banned, since avatars and profile pages appear to survive even a lifetime ejection. I have this vision of revisionists airbrushing out all record of some particularly heinous offender, like Soviet historians in the Stalin era, but doubt that the explanation is that amusing. Curious minds want to know... Mon Oct 12 09:14:42 -0700 2009 58743 alanbarnes 1 5097112 I did a quick check on your and my reader list, and found one generic avatar with no name on each of our lists, the rest had links. I noticed one reader on your list who I believe has been banned forever, and that person's profile and contact information still appears. My additional question is: are users who are forever banned allowed the courtesy of having their profile removed, or at least their personal contact information? I think it would be very uncomfortable for a banned user to have their e-mail address dangling out there on Chowhound for eternity. Mon Oct 12 10:04:10 -0700 2009 5096945 57170 Veggo 1 5097133 I think it's just a glitch of some kind -- banned users profiles remain intact. If they want to have their personal information removed from their profile (past posts will not be removed) we would find a way to do that, though it's not automatic or easy. Mon Oct 12 10:11:05 -0700 2009 5096945 10021 Jacquilynne 2 5098719 I'm disappointed. I have been a participant for 34 months with all my cards face-up on the table: name, address, personal data. I have been contacted by perhaps 50 hounds, about off-topic Mexico travels, wedding planning, and friendship. I recently deleted my profile, because your reply scares me. I don't scare easily. Mon Oct 12 21:20:18 -0700 2009 5097133 57170 Veggo 3 5098744 I'm not sure what I can say to reassure you beyond what I've already said. If someone who was banned asked to have their profile information removed, we'd find a way to do it. Nobody has ever asked that I can recall. We do get occasional requests to remove everything they've ever posted, which we absolutely won't do, but never a request for a profile to be cleared out that I can remember. When people simply ask to have their accounts closed, we do generally suggest they clear their profiles first, and ask them to confirm when they're ready to have the account deactivated. Mon Oct 12 21:46:19 -0700 2009 5098719 10021 Jacquilynne 4 5098772 Thanks, Jacquilynne. You sure do keep peculiar hours for your time zone, I hope you are paid overtime. I know of a few hounds (my self included) who have suffered through a suspension, and feel they are subject to hyper-stringent rules and have to walk across burning coals and broken glass to post. That 2 boo-boos can tank 800 positive contributions seems a little harsh. But we know, it's all about money. Mon Oct 12 22:26:06 -0700 2009 5098744 57170 Veggo 5 5098950 We're going to close this thread because we don't get into discussions with the general usership about why individual users are banned from the site, but we do want to assure those reading along that a longtime contributing poster would never be suspended for "2 boo-boos". It takes a persistent pattern of problematic postings, and an email discussion with such users (giving them a chance to change the problematic behavior) before an account is suspended. There's absolutely no financial incentive for us to remove posters from the site, and we only do it when we feel the poster's behavior has degraded to the point where we are spending too much time managing the problematic posts and resulting fallout. Tue Oct 13 04:48:29 -0700 2009 5098772 2 The Chowhound Team