so long and thanks for all the fish

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SETI@home Sucks

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Message 1069530 - Posted: 22 Jan 2011, 17:22:10 UTC

how can one get their seti@home account deleted as i no longer wish to be associated with this project


it would be nice to have a delete (remove) account option on the website
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Message 1069531 - Posted: 22 Jan 2011, 17:23:50 UTC - in response to Message 1069530.  

how can one get their seti@home account deleted as i no longer wish to be associated with this project


it would be nice to have a delete (remove) account option on the website

Unfortunately, deleting an account makes a mess of the database, and cannot be allowed. You can, however, change the information in the account to be gibberish.


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Message 1069533 - Posted: 22 Jan 2011, 17:29:36 UTC

the gact that accounts can no be deleted is against Data Protection law
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Message 1069563 - Posted: 22 Jan 2011, 19:08:40 UTC - in response to Message 1069533.  

the gact that accounts can no be deleted is against Data Protection law

No it isn't, since you can easily delete any profile you created and change Email to a fake, non existing one. The data you crunched belongs to the project and needs to be maintained for the integrity of the science including its association to an individual account even if the account can no longer be traced back to the individual that created it.

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Message 1069571 - Posted: 22 Jan 2011, 19:56:26 UTC - in response to Message 1069530.  

So why do you no longer wish to be associated with this project? What has pissed you off so much that you (immaturely) decided to change your name to SETI@Home Sucks?
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Message 1069575 - Posted: 22 Jan 2011, 20:04:34 UTC - in response to Message 1069533.  

the gact that accounts can no be deleted is against Data Protection law


Data Protection Laws dictate the ethics with which a company whom deals with your personally identifiable information, such as your Social Security Number if in the US, or any other type of confidential information must be handled.

Note that even if you close your bank account, which would have much of the personally identifiable information, the bank is required to keep certain records on file even if you close the account. Everywhere you go a trail is left behind.

SETI@Home, on the other hand, doesn't deal in such information. You create an account using a valid email address. You can optionally create a profile and enter any information you like, including false information. You can optionally delete this profile as well. The email address itself can be changed to anything at all, including an invalid one.

Since none of the information is verified, and none of it is personally identifiable unless the user puts it there (even then the user can remove it themselves), Data Protection Laws do not apply.
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Message 1069606 - Posted: 22 Jan 2011, 22:05:18 UTC - in response to Message 1069571.  

So why do you no longer wish to be associated with this project? What has pissed you off so much that you (immaturely) decided to change your name to SETI@Home Sucks?

Probably the Astropulse task he complains about in his older post. It's very difficult to abort these and disable your preferences to never get them again, you know. :)
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Message 1069666 - Posted: 23 Jan 2011, 0:26:41 UTC - in response to Message 1069606.  

So why do you no longer wish to be associated with this project? What has pissed you off so much that you (immaturely) decided to change your name to SETI@Home Sucks?

Probably the Astropulse task he complains about in his older post. It's very difficult to abort these and disable your preferences to never get them again, you know. :)


Yeah, that was the first thing I check was his old posts. It didn't seem like the answers were wrong or that he was treated poorly. I guess I just don't understand what he's so upset about.
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Message 1069678 - Posted: 23 Jan 2011, 0:56:37 UTC - in response to Message 1069666.  

I guess I just don't understand what he's so upset about.

Maybe he's a she and it's that time of the month.
Maybe it's a weather related thing.
Perhaps it was something he ate.
Maybe one of the cases of: Don't drink and type.
Or don't smoke and type.
:-)
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Message 1069686 - Posted: 23 Jan 2011, 1:18:18 UTC - in response to Message 1069678.  

if you look at his computers you'll probably see the problem. He's got 4 and they are all the same machine. I'm betting he's messed with his linux OS trying to get BOINC to work on his own instead of asking for help.


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Message 1072809 - Posted: 31 Jan 2011, 20:26:16 UTC - in response to Message 1069686.  

Perhaps he should use Windows! ;)
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Message 1075660 - Posted: 9 Feb 2011, 22:44:15 UTC

Accounts can now be deleted.

At the bottom of the account page, there's now a link to Delete Account.
Deleting your account will remove all of your personal information from our servers, including your profile and message-board posts. No jobs will be issued to any computers attached to this account.

Are you sure you want to delete your account? Yes/No

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Message 1075718 - Posted: 10 Feb 2011, 3:28:21 UTC - in response to Message 1075660.  
Last modified: 10 Feb 2011, 3:57:43 UTC



I don't like if this option is so easy to use - most people select "Stay logged in on this computer"!

So some bad guy with (temporary) access to any computer/browser I use can delete my account (by just selecting "Yes"?!).


There have to be confirmation by:

1) Asking for the account password (and Change password link have to ask for the old password)

2) e-mail sent with link to confirm the delete

3) Auto-postpone (delay) the actual delete for e.g. 3-7 days in which period the user can change the decision to kill the account
and click on [Do NOT delete my account]

(which have to be on the top of page after the red
"WARNING: YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED after XX:YY hours"
)


 


- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 
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Message 1075853 - Posted: 10 Feb 2011, 17:45:51 UTC - in response to Message 1075718.  

I share the same concerns as BilBg. What if someone's account gets hacked (or a focused attack on a group of accounts) and they decide to start deleting everyone's accounts.

Even prompts can be automated through scripts.
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Message 1075915 - Posted: 10 Feb 2011, 20:58:25 UTC - in response to Message 1075853.  

perhaps a confirmation email to the user would suffice. you'd just have to make sure you had a valid email address when you want to go away.

This would be similar to some boards registration rules to start using the forums but in reverse


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Message 1075929 - Posted: 10 Feb 2011, 22:07:54 UTC - in response to Message 1075915.  

perhaps a confirmation email to the user would suffice. you'd just have to make sure you had a valid email address when you want to go away.

This would be similar to some boards registration rules to start using the forums but in reverse

If they are on your account, they can change the email address...


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Profile BilBg
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Message 1075971 - Posted: 10 Feb 2011, 23:51:39 UTC - in response to Message 1075929.  
Last modified: 11 Feb 2011, 0:05:14 UTC



Another possible solution is to change the link/option from Delete Account to Hide Account.

This will NOT Delete the info from the database but just Hide all your posts, account, computers.

And will be reversible if you change your mind (you will have access to the account info/options (e.g. using Account key) but for other users you will appear as "vanished").


This new "Delete Account" feature is to satisfy wishes of less than 0.1% of "users"
but may harm many more real contributors.


There is no button in everyone's kitchen that says "Blow up my house"
just because a few people in the country want to disappear and not be found.


 


- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 
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Message 1076073 - Posted: 11 Feb 2011, 9:47:39 UTC - in response to Message 1075660.  

Accounts can now be deleted.
At the bottom of the account page, there's now a link to Delete Account.

What happened to the supposed necessity of an ‘audit trail’ for scientific purposes?
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Message 1076083 - Posted: 11 Feb 2011, 10:24:58 UTC

Apparently, there are some people who --for whatever reason possible-- want all their personal info removed from project servers, not just have it hidden.

But OK, I've been emailing David about this. Whereas he wanted to deal with the problems if/when they emerged, I pointed out that the amount of people requiring this can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand. His last email back to me said he will disable the account deletion today.

My point of view on this is that it's got to be an admin job. It's OK to want to remove all your personal info and such from the project, but then make it an official request at an admin. One example I gave is what we do on the BOINC forums. Each month I make a list of the latest spam accounts, and send that to Dave, so he can remove them from the database. Not me, not Kathryn. We're only the hired help. So same thing with removal of accounts here: admin job.
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Message 1076112 - Posted: 11 Feb 2011, 13:34:39 UTC - in response to Message 1076073.  

they'll probably have an internal trail to the work. Most likely they'll just relabel it as anonymous as so many users are running as such today


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Questions and Answers : Getting started : so long and thanks for all the fish


 
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SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.