This a message to fellow users. I understand privacy issues have little or no significance to most Nigerians. However, to a select few that cherish their privacy and would always seek ways to protect this, i hope you would appreciate this and join the voice of reason to prevail on people to do things the way it ought to be.

Few weeks back the wishes and long cravings of many people on here came to pass when seun implemented the de activate button. This link which allows the cancelling of one's online presence here came into effect and all you had to do was go into your profile and deactivate. Voila...your account and posts turns to "nobody" the acronym coined by our Oga at the top to identify former but now deactivated handles.

Although a necessary thing but one question we have failed to ask ourselves is how effective is this seun's so callled deactivation link is. Most people here are not that tech savvy but my curiousity played one on me and i decided playing around the platform to get insights. I was kinda shocked at what i found out and I would be posing some questions and practicable steps which we could discuss and from there on share views about the whole deactivation issues and what it portends on our collective privacy.

First question: is your account really de activated as claimed by seun?

Answer is quite simple. your id might have turned to nobody. However apart from that your full data is still holed up on the site's database and available to anyone wishing to do a little digging. One notable thing to notice is the availability of a supposed deactivated account user's birthday details. Shocked?

Try this- register an account and make the birthday today. Deactivate the account then view the birthday board at the bottom of the homepage . Low and behold your id still springs up.

So tell me.. Was your account really deactivated. ? This is just one of the numerous issues i will be discussing and listing out here on the deactivation issue and wishing the admin would do the right thing to amend this obvious but pre known issues.

Hmmmmm, i having been thinking about the deactivation also but since am not really into tech so i cant say. Let see how it goes

Ok. Now that you have deactivated your account. Go to the nairaland login page. Click on the forgot your password link. Input your email address that you used in registering for the account. Click on submit. Dear friend check your email... lo and behold a link to reset the password for your so called account is recieved. So tell me is your account truly disabled? These are practical things you can try out and report back on your findings. This is just number 2..there still more to follow.

It seems all Seun did was button to change your moniker to nobody. Wuruwuru everywhere.

Alfa Seltzer: It seems all Seun did was button to change your moniker to nobody. Wuruwuru everywhere.

He had always been foot dragging on the issue. I don't know what he stands to gain holding on to people's personal details submitted to you in good faith. I want to give him the benefit of doubt that this was a bug but the things i have seen and the way the stuff came into being leaves much to be desired.

Another obvious red flag. When you deactivate a Facebook account and do a search for that account , what you get is a no results return. But do a search of a deactivated nairaland account you would get a result page telling you the account is deactivated . Ain't that just like a big ad poster saying yeah. This guy was here and his account was deactivated. Also technicallly this shows your account still holds its unique id linking it to the username.
Also another analogy you know that page is under construction you get on new websites or websites under going repairs or re works. You do know that those pages are just a demo but that does not mean vital data such as even the total website file and images are not present on the website database.

Same way....the page on nairaland that tells you 'this account is deactivated' functions. All your data are still behind that veil.

Which other privacy again? Did u use ur real name as ur moniker? Is ur picture in ur profile? Its supposed to be an anonymous site unless u decide to reveal urself.

zeelo2014: Which other privacy again? Did u use ur real name as ur moniker? Is ur picture in ur profile? Its supposed to be an anonymous site unless u decide to reveal urself.

i said it already in the first post. Most Nigerians don't really understand what privacy rules or what their rights are. Yes you might not have used your names but i could string one plus one together and detect who you really are. Its not as anonymous as you think. Also , i have a right to whatever i put up online on a public forum. Its a public material but i so have a right to privacy for these things to be withdrawn from the public as at when i want or wish. Its not rocket science dude. You might not appreciate it, and i don't blame you. Its your personal opinion and everyone has a right to one.

Also the dishonesty stemming from this is bad . Just tell me i can't deactivate. Not coat it with oil and tell me i deactivated while in the true sense of it. Nothing of such happened. Get it?

mr onegig, i get ur point sir, bt unlike u we came here anonimous,

wen registerin to nairaland it dosent require ur real name, ur state of origin ur personal data and so on, on like there facebook ur comparin it to..

Pls note that 75% percent of facebook user bear their real name onlike on 3% percent of nairalanders bear their names. so pls what privacy are u talkin about.

If u ask me what seun did was jst an adition, it was nt nesesarry. He realy showed he can be creative, cos in most forum u cant even edit or modify what u typed. Not to talk of deactivatin ur accout, pls give seun a medal. I respect dat dude so well.

Nairaland is not a social network stop comparin it as such.
Critism everywere

Zumarocket: mr onegig, i get ur point sir, bt unlike u we came here anonimous,

wen registerin to nairaland it dosent require ur real name, ur state of origin ur personal data and so on, on like there facebook ur comparin it to..

Pls note that 75% percent of facebook user bear their real name onlike on 3% percent of nairalanders bear their names. so pls what privacy are u talkin about.

If u ask me what seun did was jst an adition, it was nt nesesarry. He realy showed he can be creative, cos in most forum u cant even edit or modify what u typed. Not to talk of deactivatin ur accout, pls give seun a medal. I respect dat dude so well.

Nairaland is not a social network stop comparin it as such.
Critism everywere

you can't understand this. Can you? I am not criticising him. Even if i am, this is constructive criticism not peddling of rumours or heresay.

I am only opening this up for discussion and getting the right things done. Sometimes these things are bugs but seun can not tell me he never noticed it.

Mind you..Before you roll out a service in the computer world maybe you don't know this..you back test to fish out errors. This is one of the 4 integral steps in programming and project deployement. So please i am even doing him a favour showing the obvious lapses in the platform since he has chosen to turn a 'black eye' .

Also please pocket that you cannot edit your post or de activate on other forums. Don't talk authoritatively on/about things you have little or no knowledge of. Also if i used a dog's or cat's name does not take it away from me . The Name is a representation of something. And that thing has a right to privacy. You can go google it up. Am not here to start preaching privacy rights. Good luck

[quote
author=onegig] i said it already in the first post. Most Nigerians
don't really understand what privacy rules or what their rights are. Yes
you might not have used your names but i could string one plus one
together and detect who you really are. Its not as anonymous as you
think. Also , i have a right to whatever i put up online on a public
forum. Its a public material but i so have a right to privacy for these
things to be withdrawn from the public as at when i want or wish. Its
not rocket science dude. You might not appreciate it, and i don't blame
you. Its your personal opinion and everyone has a right to one.

Also the dishonesty stemming from this is bad . Just tell me i can't
deactivate. Not coat it with oil and tell me i deactivated while in the
true sense of it. Nothing of such happened. Get it?[/quote]dis is some serious things, nice observation. waiting for more. d truth is very bitter,and most ppl dont agree to it.i just hope ur thread wnt be closed.

Lol. Joy. This ain't a conspiracy. This is much more link pointing out bugs. I believe the admin would attend to it. And correct seeming lapses.

What privacy again? I don't just get it. I mean Nairaland is different from other sites like facebook e..t..c. Nairaland aint a social network,so i don't see what privacy you are talking about..

Ok, lets look at the things that has to with privacy on Nairaland..
Username------ Many people do not use their real names in registering and besides, its a matter of choice. Those who cherish privacy, use coined names while others who do not care that much, use their real name. If you know you are privacy conscious,then use a coined name. As simple as ABC.

Picture------- Its a matter of choice. Some people do not have profile pics,while others who don't care about privacy have pics on their profile. Anybody who feels its he or she is privacy conscious should not upload his pics.. As simple as ABC.

Location--- Anyone who is privacy conscious will not give his or her location while others who feel its ok can give their real location.. Its simple as that.

Nairaland is a public forum where issues are debated,discussed and where information is passed. Wiping out the complete data of deactivated accounts will introduce disorderliness in the forum because those same deactivated accounts have been quoted by people,some of those accounts have done some controversial things in the past, and people might like to refer others to some of those comments made by deactivated accounts in the past.

Lets say a certain username "bon", creates a topic ,and people contributed to his topic. Now,this same "bon" decides to deactivate his account, going by your logic, the topic should be wiped out completely right? Now,how about those who contributed to that topic? So their posts should also be wiped along side the OP's right? Isnt that also a violation of their rights?

Lets say a certain username "mag" verbally attacks another moniker "pin". Pin replies mag and both of them engage in an exchange of words by quoting eachother. Now, mag decides to deactivate his account, going by your logic, all mag's data should be wiped off.. Now if all mag's data should be wiped off, what happens to the quotes exchanged btw him and pin? If mag's data are wiped off,Pin ends up looking like a mad man who was quoting and speaking with a ghost.

You claim that you want your personal data to be wiped off from the database right? What personal data are you even talking about? Did anyone ask for your bank account details,your real name,your location or anything personal about your life and you willingly obliged ? How can you call posts you made on a public forum, private data? What is so so private about it?

One of the aim of Nairaland is to pass info across,' and each moniker, i repeat "each moniker who posts on this forum" is somehow connected to the post made by another moniker, so completely wiping off their data(posts) will cause disorderliness and make everything look scattered, where new people who just registered keep seeing thousands of random posts that dont even make sense just cos the people whom those posts were meant for have deactivated their accounts.

I see no reason why someone who is privacy conscious in the first place should even upload his pic,his real name,his real location or answer personal questions on here. Changing the moniker to "Nobody" is more than enough for those who want to deactivate their accounts.

Nairaland is like a book with many characters who play different roles and in time to come,many people will like to refer to some posts made in the past. The history behind each moniker is what makes this forum what it is..

If i were Seun,this is what i will do to those who want to deactivate their account---- Their username will still appear even after deactivation so that people can know that so so and so post was made by this moniker before the account was deactivated.

To be honest, Anybody who is so privacy conscious and claims that not wiping-off all the data(posts) made by his or her moniker shouldn't have bothered registering in a public forum in the first place. The funny thing is that this same forum they claim violates their privacy by not wiping-off their data(posts), Doesn't require one's private detail to become a member.

To be honest, I still don't get the Privacy some members are crying for AND how not wiping-off their data after deactivation violates it?

Nairaland is like a book with many characters,where each action made by a character is somehow linked to all of them)the characters) collectively. Completely Wiping off the history of some characters will alter the story line,thereby making it look like the den of mad people. The best the writer can do for the characters who do not want to partake anymore is to refer to them as "Somebody-- anonymous" when narrating the story to his kids because wiping off their existence will make him look like a mad man who has absolutely no idea of the gibberish unconnected haphazard story he is narrating.
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All izz well!

^^man you jst nailed it, iwonder what privacy dis dude is talkin about. u brought the word off my lips.

And here lies the correct definition of Uuzbering: Rotating about the same spot and not achieving anything.

I coined up this word, because I believe it describes what Nigerians love doing a so much.

Nigeria is in the hands of the new generation and we need to move on. Someone has given constuctive critisism about an error/fault on a web forum and how it needs to be worked on. Can we not jut put intergrity into anything and accept the correction?

When You joined Facebook, did you know Mark Zukkerberg? But he cared enough for your privacy because facebook contained pictures of you. So wether you fake your name or anything, you can safely delete the account. Oyibo has done it (year 2 student) and we are enjoying it. Which day will we do something for ourselves that we will enjoy?

Nairaland did not inform you what type of site it is... You just joined, used your name and later cannot delete your account. And now your details are all tied in there.

Lets stop all this Nigerian mentality of, "Na so e be na?"... And put integrity into our work. Mr Seun, work on the delete account button. Make the account delete totally. All user name data, date of birth...

But the name will still have to appear in whatever string of conversation it contributed to.

The scenario should be:
Yes, you were once on Nairaland, but no more a valid user...however, here is what you said dot, dot, dot.

Geeez!!! What da ffuck? Who hid my post? Did i break any rule?

Was it offensive or what? Ah han,whats all this sef?

Whoever that mod is, who hid my post should better respect his or herself and un-hide it..
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All izz still well!

Kslib: Geeez!!! What da ffuck? Who hid my post?

Was it offensive or what? Ah han,whats all this sef?
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All izz still well!

As in, that was exactly what I was about to say.

Even though I am more inclined to favour the op, and you spent most of the time criticizing him, I still do not understand why your post was hidden.

Like you said, it wasn't in anyway offensive but was a critical counter argument.

These mods ehn, I hail them.

barefootbandit:

As in, that was exactly what I was about to say.

Even though I am more inclined to favour the op, and you spent most of the time criticizing him, I still do not understand why your post was hidden.

Like you said, it wasn't in anyway offensive but was a critical counter argument.

These mods ehn, I hail them.

Me sef tire oooo..

So annoying. The Mod who hid it better correct his mistake and apologize. lol

I just table my argument, na im dem hide am. No wahala sha..

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All izz well!

.

barefootbandit:

As in, that was exactly what I was about to say.

Even though I am more inclined to favour the op, and you spent most of the time criticizing him, I still do not understand why your post was hidden.

Like you said, it wasn't in anyway offensive but was a critical counter argument.

These mods ehn, I hail them.

i also don't support hiding his post but seriously he went off topic totally. I was discussing the evident lapses in the deactivate link and he was here talking about why we don't need privacy. I intentionally avoided replying him because i knew it was a waste of time. Seun that acceded to the request of users to create a deactivation button knew how imperative it was.

It was out of place for him to be arguing on whether we needed it or not. We sailed past that bridge already. To remind everyone...i was talking about the effectiveness of such platforms and ways of improving it to achieve its desired goals not whether we needed it or not. Its a basic right and not a luxury.

onegig: i also don't support hiding his post but seriously he went off topic totally. I was discussing the evident lapses in the deactivate link and he was here talking about why we don't need privacy. I intentionally avoided replying him because i knew it was a waste of time. Seun that acceded to the request of users to create a deactivation button knew how imperative it was.

It was out of place for him to be arguing on whether we needed it or not. We sailed past that bridge already. To remind everyone...i was talking about the effectiveness of such platforms and ways of improving it to achieve its desired goals not whether we needed it or not. Its a basic right and not a luxury.

Geez!!! Who was arguing whether we needed the deactivate button or not? And who said you or other users shouldn't have their privacy? Like seriously? Was my post that confusing?

You used your complaint to link how the lapse in the deactivate button somehow violates the privacy of users unless it's well fixed according to you. Now i made a post based on that same line and now you're here stating that i was talking off point. Guy, You need to re-read what you typed and see the link.

Lastly, i hope you also dont reply---- Heck, i wasn't even planning on wasting my time replying you also, but had to go through the pain of doing it cos you addressed me up there. I know i just wasted my time replying, but i just had to..

I just hope the mod who hid that post un-hides it,so that i can ffucking modify my post with a blank space, and get da ffuck off this place.

There will always be two sides to a coin and i stated the other side. Get used to it.
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All izz well!

Kslib... I understand there are always two sides to a discussion. Thats why i pointed to a guy up there that he was entitled to his opinions. I just wanted the thread to focus mainly on the issue at hand and not via off towards other trivial issues. Thanks for responding .

Uuzba
Guuzba

Uuzba Guuzba: Uuzba
Guuzba

lol.. You are quite right about your analysis there. Most see this as criticizing. Its normal parlance in the programming world to test and debug... Also What most don't understand is...this privacy thing is encompasses much more than your posts alone. Thats the point. No one is advocating for the clearing of people's post. Thats virtually impossible on a forum. We quite know that. Its a no brainer..but what about the other little details? Thats where the main issues are.

Y'all are just taking this matter too far. Seun has got to do what he deems ok to protect his biz. Have u ever tried deactivating your FB, TWITTER accounts (which even request for more personal details than FB & co.), i bet u havent, else you wont even complain about Seuns' style. You can deactivate ur fb account today buh via a little trouble of searching after months you'd find ur fb details, happened to me.

onegig: i said it already in the first post. Most Nigerians don't really understand what privacy rules or what their rights are. Yes you might not have used your names but i could string one plus one together and detect who you really are. Its not as anonymous as you think. Also , i have a right to whatever i put up online on a public forum. Its a public material but i so have a right to privacy for these things to be withdrawn from the public as at when i want or wish. Its not rocket science dude. You might not appreciate it, and i don't blame you. Its your personal opinion and everyone has a right to one.

Also the dishonesty stemming from this is bad . Just tell me i can't deactivate. Not coat it with oil and tell me i deactivated while in the true sense of it. Nothing of such happened. Get it?

this is a public forum and not your personal private timeline like in facebook! You create a thread for knowledge, entertainment or wateva, and other people make their inputs, why would you want to take it out? What happens to my own input? Doesnt that mean anything to you? People scramble for their threads to make frontpage, many are willing to pay to have it there, it eventually gets there, just when I want to learn a thing or two from it, you decide to deactivate and take along all the comments? That is absurd.
There is a modify button. Take your time and modify all your posts, deactivate your account and move on. Nobody is your name!

Gboliwe:
this is a public forum and not your personal private timeline like in facebook! You create a thread for knowledge, entertainment or wateva, and other people make their inputs, why would you want to take it out? What happens to my own input? Doesnt that mean anything to you? People scramble for their threads to make frontpage, many are willing to pay to have it there, it eventually gets there, just when I want to learn a thing or two from it, you decide to deactivate and take along all the comments? That is absurd.
There is a modify button. Take your time and modify all your posts, deactivate your account and move on. Nobody is your name!

could this get any worse? I just understand that phrase that if you want to hide something from a Nigerian. Put it in a book or writing.

onegig: could this get any worse? I just understand that phrase that if you want to hide something from a Nigerian. Put it in a book or writing.

Don't bring your very dirty laundry or your family history or any dirty secret here. This is a public forum, not your private study!
When you get tired and want out, hit the deactivate button and become nobody! Is that too techy?

Gboliwe:
Don't bring your very dirty laundry or your family history or any dirty secret here. This is a public forum, not your private study!
When you get tired and want out, hit the deactivate button and become nobody! Is that too techy?

ok. I give up. Seriously. Did you read through the thread at all before rushing to comment?

From what I read here the poster thinks if you deactivate your account on facebook all your data has been deleted? Pls don't use facebook and privacy in the same sentence. They just have a smarter way of cleaning up your stuff away from the public.

Djtm: From what I read here the poster thinks if you deactivate your account on facebook all your data has been deleted? Pls don't use facebook and privacy in the same sentence. They just have a smarter way of cleaning up your stuff away from the public.

and he is usin facebook as an example.

Is facebook a public forum? =no
Is nairaland a public forum?= yes.
Public and privacy has difrent meanin..
So what is the privacy isue hear?

@OP I truely understand what you mean.
from the password reset example you gave, that means that your are still tracable with your email address even after deactivating your account. Now that can be very tricky and I think Seun should look into it. I also believe it is a work in progress. Idon't understand why people are criticizing the OP.
@ Gboliwe
I can't find where the poster suggested that every comment or thread created by a deactivated account should be automatically deleted. Please read before you make comments like you did.

dustydee: @OP I truely understand what you mean.
from the password reset example you gave, that means that your are still tracable with your email address even after deactivating your account. Now that can be very tricky and I think Seun should look into it. I also believe it is a work in progress. Idon't understand why people are criticizing the OP.
@ Gboliwe
I can't find where the poster suggested that every comment or thread created by a deactivated account should be automatically deleted. Please read before you make comments like you did.

Abi o . help me truly explain to them


This is a not a fight for or against privacy. This is about apparent lapses.

You don't tell me i have deactivated my account but my email is still located on the server and can be still be referenced.

That's what we are discussing here but like most Nigerians we lose focus of the main issues and face irrelevant or off topic issues.


If you want to argue about removing the deactivation link and denying people the right to their privacy then suit yourself and open a new thread for that.