Notify user before purging account

[UniqueUsername]

Hello-
Longtime Winamp user here. Went to search/post in forums and my login wouldn't work. "Forget password" process yielded nothing. Now as I re-register, I see a message about regular purging of accounts. Could the forum administration system be set to warn users before their accounts are purged?
Eric

[Sabine Klare]

Between my registration and my first posting on these forums there were exactly 6 weeks (I have looked now). And in these forums I myself never had seen a message, that accounts of inactive users would be deleted, if they didn't have made a first posting yet. Between December 2014 and April 2015 I myself didn't have logged in. And then I went online again without problems.

But I had made another experience on SkinConsortium. In April 2013 I had registered there, and when I wanted to edit my profile description 5 months later, I had to discover, that my account didn't exist anymore. I don't know, why my account had been deleted, but maybe it had happened because I didn't have posted there yet.

Since that time I had decided never to register on other forums anymore. I had refused to register on "Winamp Enthusiasts", and I also refuse to register on "WACUP - Winamp Community Update Pack".

Frank and I had lost also on FriendProject our accounts because of inactivity. This website was a "Copy of the Very Old MySpace", but it never was interesting and important for us. The accounts are deleted already after 2 months, if users don't login again in that time. But maybe people are not able to login for a half year for many different reasons.

Edit:
I have looked into my control panel now, and I don't find another musician in my list of my contacts anymore. I remember, many months ago this username was in my list yet. I had PMed him in February 2011, after I had discovered him online, and we know us via the Electronic Music (also on YouTube). He didn't have posted in these forums yet.

Maybe a moderator knows the answer.

[Nitorami]

The world may have become fast moving but I don't think that winamp accounts were deleted due to user inactivity. Maybe your account was a victim of the forum problem (reconstruction ? don't know) a few years ago, where many posts were lost; they could be reconstructed but without the attachments.
Anyway, I personally feel better not to expect these things working perfectly and forever. I agree that I would prefer to be informed before deletion of my account but then - it is not a tragedy, is it ?

@Sabine: I don't quite understand your fundamental decision "never" to register again. I registered to the winamp enthusiasts forums, and a while later it was closed. So what ? These are playgrounds, and if they cease working, move on.

[musicf8]

heh... my 11 year old account is still active.... I wonder if i should see if the mods would merge them

[UniqueUsername]

Yes, certainly no tragedy. I just wanted to submit the enhancement request to the Lords of the Forum.
Also noting now that nothing happened when I hit the reply button to answer your post. Had to use the reply with quote.
Eric

[Sabine Klare]

You are right, Martin. Maybe I should have forgiven the administrators of the SkinConsortium and maybe I should have joined on Winamp Enthusiasts, although one of them had also deleted the friendship with Frank and me in Facebook. There were many incidents in 2013. I am innocent in all the conflicts in the internet, and I never wanted to be dragged into conflicts.

But I was not only a little bit angry, I also didn't want to give up on the Winamp & SHOUTcast Forums. I didn't want to accept, that Winamp should be shut down by AOL. Fortunately it didn't happen.

I had already posted my .txt-file in "Why are some websites damaged and changed completely?":

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=396892

and I did a minor update of it, which I want to leave now.

I am the listener and artist in the same person, and I also take care of our music-project "Sternenmaschine". The last time I did my bigger "control visits" in Spring 2016, and in the following days I should do that again.

Possibly also my Spotify-Account is away, where I had registered with the E-Mail-Account and not with the Facebook-Account. I never had connected the accounts, I also never had installed the software, I had used only the web player. In 2016 many streaming services had been tested, and Spotify had been criticized, that they would delete user-accounts without any reason. But also MySpace had been criticized for that in the past. Because I myself had liked more Deezer and Simfy than Spotify, it would not be a big loss for me.

Frank and I ourselves had to deactivate our Facebook-Accounts because of unknown enemies in December 2014, and we are not sure, if we can return with our old accounts. But I don't want to start from scratch. Also Frank and I dislike Facebook itself more and more.

About internet-friends, followers and followings: In the times of today I prefer more the feature with the followers and followings, because I had made very bad experiences with the "Facebook-Friends". Many of them had deleted me in their friends-lists, without any reason or because of ridiculous reasons, for example because of opposite opinions, or because I had tried to mediate between the fronts. Now the rivaling artists can do their public mud-battles in Facebook without me.

Many good music websites had been shut down, and it will happen also in the future. As artists we hope, that we can keep at least the most important accounts and profiles. Also I want, that my own artists works never will get lost in case I myself would die.

I am very glad, that it was possible to reconstruct the forums posts, and with the lost attachements it is a pity. When did it happen with the "forum problem", was that before November 2010?...

[Nitorami]

Sabine
There was a "forum upgrade" I think in spring 2010, or maybe a bit earlier. All I remember is that most attachments of older posts were lost. I re-posted my older presets as a zip file in May 2010.

[Sabine Klare]

I myself saw Winamp the first time on my PC on 22nd July 2010, although I had seen the Winamp-Milkdrop-Videos on YouTube much earlier. And in November 2010 I had registered on the Winamp Website and on the forums.

It is a pity with the lost attachements. Because in 2011 I was not yet so forgetful than now when I began to download the presets, I am thinking now, that maybe some of the necessary textures for some of the presets were lost, too. Fortunately I found them in 2 collections by 2 other big fans.

And now I myself remember 2 other forums where a moving to a new server had become necessary because the problems with the old server had increased. Then they had a new "php". I took my knowledges from here when we posted the next music-video with our music. And I remember a 3rd other forum by someone else where the server had closed without notifying the administrator.

What I dislike very much: In Germany and Austria the owners of websites and forums are obliged to have their postal address, e-mail-address and telephone number in the infos, and in the times of today I say, the owners cannot feel secure anymore. That was then the other side of the medal. We had no other choice than to give up on our website. And we had enough time (2 years) to change our opinions about some of the bigger websites and also about the internet itself.

I have planned already a new thread about virtual contacts in the internet and contacts in real, and it should go to the Bitchlist. My basic-text is ready, I just have to check it again. Maybe this week the thread will come.

Thank You for the info, Martin. And we will continue, also if times change from time to time...

[Sabine Klare]

I have needed a little bit longer, but my new thread "About virtual contacts in the internet and contacts in real" is in the forums now:

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=399790

And we can discuss about contacts and friends there, in virtual and in real...

[xhilaration]

Thank goodness this account that I am on, hasn't gotten the hatchet :/

I visit the forum here & there sooo

[Sabine Klare]

I had already opened also another thread, "About computers, routers, internet, backup-copies, accounts and more", after in the thread "cPro2 - Winamp for Mac Sync" in Winamp & SHOUTcast Forums > Skinning and Design > Modern Skins the problems with malware and cybercrime had been mentioned:

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=400695

Both threads are very similar and also very different.

Because I myself didn't make my first posting immediately when I had registered, maybe it is very good, that I didn't have registered already in January 2010 or in December 2009 before the forum upgrade in Spring 2010 had happened.

In December 2013 I got in panic and I downloaded also the presets and preset packs from all older threads. I had unpacked them all much later, put them together with my own edits, added also the presets from deviantART and the presets by one of the other big fans, so that I am on nearly 52000 presets now. I had also put all textures from the forums and both other fans together incl. my color-edits, and addionally I have also very much other textures and wallpapers. I have planned to continue with my nature-walks for new photos.

In Winamp & SHOUTcast Forums > Community Center > General Discussions on Page 2 of the thread "The day of reckoning for adobe flash moves closer" another big problem had been mentioned together with a screenshot by iomegajaz, and this problem affects to the posted YouTube-Videos. Maybe with a future forum upgrade also this problem will have to be solved, and I want to hope, that the loss of accounts, threads, postings and attachements will not happen again. For now, I myself post also the links to the videos.

Since January 2015 many big private problems around Frank and me had increased very much, also because of some more criminal and nasty people in real (not only in the virtual world). I have to do also many other things than only computer and internet, and this means, I can stop by in the forums less often than until December 2014.