I think that is a good idea!

Not a bad idea....I would say send maybe a couple of reminders, then an email saying you are going to be deleted as of this date....because not everyone is like "us" attached to the computer. LOL there are some people in this world who DON"T check email every day LOL, sad but true...
Like I know that there are some in the bereavemnt and SIDS communities who keep DS around for emergenices, but don't log in often...yeah Joe you do have a good idea but I'd also say give em a little time before you "pull the plug" on their profile.

I agree. This is definitely a great idea though what NickNicksmommykitkat said makes sense too. I know of some friends who haven't been on here in a while but they plan on coming back soon. Some just need to stay away to take a break. Maybe give them three warnings across a time area of 3 months. If they don't get back on then they're banned on the fourth month.

I think this is an excellent idea. I think it happens on some groups more than others.

On the Smoking Addiction & Recovery Group there are hundreds of members who never seem to be online.

People sign up intending to quit smoking then after a few days or weeks they go back to smoking and are never seen again.

On a side note. IF DS would clear out old profiles is there a way that any posts they made in topics have under their name that their profile is gone.

I know there are some on my boards. Where someone asked a question and perhaps they got the answer they were looking for and left. But since the Topic stays then others post to it brings it to the top. Then some get concerned if they don't hear back from the Org. poster.

I've tried to explain that on old posts (tho many don't look at the date *sigh*)it's a good idea to go to a profile and see how long ago it has been since the person was active before they get themselves worked up about a person.

Yes a system where they get several reminders about their account. And have it CC'ed to their email account and their DS account. UPS.COM does this. When you dont sign into your account for xx amount of months, you will start getting reminders.
~Joe

crzychick...maybe that's a job for a CL or someone connected with DSHQ? They could find out which members are banned or which members haven't been active within a certain amount of time and close any recent discussions made by them, explaining why it was closed. Then again, that may not be a good idea after all.

I like this idea and while they are at it they cld clean out dead groups, from people that have been banned and no admin just left, plus I am in two homeschooling support boards and they seem next to dead how can a support board do that with that many people there.

Well, the dead group thing can be taken care of by the creator of the group. A member chooses to open a group and can choose when to close it so DS doesn't have much control over that. But still, you have a point. Maybe, instead, if the founder of a group has been banned or has left DS, they should delete the group.

Wouldn't this be bad though, say, if someone was in the hospital battling something for a long period of time with no access to a computer?
In 2008-09 I was hospitalized for five months and had no way to even check my e-mail.

What if it were a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan(or somewhere else)?

When those people came back would be the time they would most need old friends and support and they would find their account had been deleted. How sad.

What if the time limit was like 2 years of inactivity? Something more reasonable like that?

I think it's a great idea and if it is known ahead of time that your account will be closed after a certain amount of inactivity (whatever that is) , there shouldn't be a problem. If you've been gone for awhile and come back to find yourself deleted; open a new account. It's free and not a big deal; which is probably part of the problem. Everyone wants free stuff but no one wants to be respectful of it.

I think if we all took some personal responsibility, we probably wouldn't be discussing this. I try to keep myself current on here. If I find my self no longer seeking support from groups that I have joined, I edit my membership. Same goes for other sites (professional & social) that I've been members of.

Many places I've worked had a three day no call/no show policy. After 3 days of no word, you were no longer considered an employee! That's harsh!

I know one man on here (retired) who has two sub- groups and many friends and just got tired of DS and left the admins can't do nothing and have seen this happen alot I dont mean for months no action a yr.. Twirlergirl why is your avatar gone???