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How-to: Block; Censor; Delete; Erase; Hide; Ignore; Leave


A Smug Dill

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I don't know whether all of these qualify as Frequently Asked Questions, but they have at least been asked and/or discussed before on FPN. Since I'll probably be referring others to the same old discussions, tutorials, and information pages next time the questions are raised, if at least to fill in “the story so far”, I may as well gather them in one place now for my own convenience.

 

Last things first:

 

How do I…

 

delete my FPN account? You can't; but you can always just walk away, if you so choose, and not sign in again. If it's a matter of needing help to catch oneself when self-control fails, I suppose you could contact a moderator and request to be banned from FPN. Your account will remain in the system in perpetuity.

 

remove everything I've posted on FPN, then? You can't. I am not a lawyer, but I don't suppose information one has shared, and opinions one has expressed, about fountain pens, inks and paraphernalia, and/or the marketplace and industry related to the hobby, count as personal data under the GDPR in the EU; and such would be the purpose for which the “data” is collected, when entirely volunteered by each individual user of the discussion forum, by FPN in the first place. (Religious beliefs and political opinions can be personal data, which is as good a reason as any why overtly political or religious threads are prohibited on FPN.)

 

selectively erase content I no longer want to share on FPN? Generally speaking, you can't, especially when others could have legitimately taken copies of such, most commonly by quoting your post(s), which then becomes content entirely removed from your direct control. (I've learnt from experience, for example, to quote certain fellow members' posts in their entirety before challenging strong assertions they made, because they have a history of wiping their earlier posts clean — where they still could — of misguided statements, once their fierce arguments in defence of such have been defeated for all to see.) Within the limited window of opportunity for editing what you have posted, you can change or redact text in posts and delete embedded attachments, or overwrite gallery images, to remove other's access to information in the ‘copies’ or instances that are yours. Once that has expired, you can only report what have posted to invite moderator intervention, and your requests will presumably be considered on a case-by-case basis.

 

cull old images to reclaim some of my storage quota? Generally speaking, you can't reclaim the container for content you posted; a post that is wiped clean of content would still show up as an ‘empty’ post in your name, and an overwritten gallery image will still take up one of 100 slots in the album (and the countdown on edit window expiry, calculated from the time of initial posting, will continue). You can only delete attachments (not gallery images) in a recent post before the edit window for it closes. If you simply need more quota, either for attachments or images in the gallery, you can become a Rhodium or Platinum supporter or get a premium account, any of which will entitle you to larger quotas.

 

delete private messages to reclaim some of my storage quota? You can do this to declutter and/or make space. However, you can only delete your private copy of a conversation conducted in private messages. Each participant has his/her own copy of the conversation, so if the motivation is to rescind something you wrote or redact information you previously shared, deleting a conversation will not do anything for it. In any case, if a participant received automatic and immediate notification by email of new private messages, then a copy of what you wrote would have been sent outside of FPN, beyond the reach of even the forum administrator and moderators. In that case, all you can do is ask other participants nicely to delete their copies and pretend you never wrote what you now want to take back.

 

… remove something someone else posted in the public feed on my profile page? You can't, at least not by self-service. It requires foresight and preventative action (and preferably double-checking one's settings), if you want to prevent that from happening; and you'd have to prevent friend and foe strangers alike, and in fact even yourself, if you want to assert that control. Of course, nothing stops you from using the toggle switch the enable status updates, post your update quickly, and then just as quickly disable it again, if you want to be the only member able to post in your public feed on FPN.

 

… banish ads where I can see them on FPN? The option to disable ads is available to FPN supporters and premium account holders.

 

… not be disturbed at all by the actions of fellow members I dislike on FPN? You'd have to perform a Jedi mind trick or hypnosis on yourself, to block those elements from your consciousness; or just find some way of achieving inner calm in spite of them. As a rank-and-file FPN member, you have no power to censor or block a fellow member's participation in the forum in any way, but can only pretend they don't exist and fool yourself, if that makes you happier.

 

… shield myself from what they wrote, at least? 1. You can unilaterally put individual fellow members on ignore (one at a time!), and categorically (i) cover up what they wrote, from your view only, on a page of posts as well as in an activity stream; (ii) block them from sending you private messages; (iii) not be alerted when they mention you (using the @ notation); and/or (iv) hide the content their signature blocks. (However…) 2. You cannot avoid seeing evidence that they have posted something, in a page of posts or an activity stream, even if the content has been covered up; the containers will be right there with their names and avatars on such. That includes animated GIFs as avatars that you may find particularly annoying. 3. You cannot avoid seeing what they have written, if someone else you are not ignoring chooses to quote them where you are looking. 4. You cannot avoid seeing, in image carousel panels on various forum pages, the content of gallery images they have uploaded; or their albums and images therein if you browse the FPN Image Gallery. N.B. I'm only talking about functionality that FPN's software platform provides its users. That does not mean it is impossible for you to implement a local solution on your computing device(s), at your effort and/or cost, to achieve some of those things in ways that have no effect on any other user.

 

… remove the image carousel panels and such, then? You can't, at least not without employing a local solution. It is not something you can expect FPN's software platform to allow you to do at this point.

 

… take someone off ignore? Are you sure? If so, then go to your personal Ignore Users page, find that someone in the list, then click on the downward-pointing triangle next to the cog icon for that individual, and select “Stop ignoring user” from the drop-down menu.

 

… hide the fact that I made monetary donations to FPN? After the fact, not even the forum administrator can remove the Donor label against one's posts, as far as I know. (There is no hiding the total amount given as an Iridium donor on one's profile page, either; I vaguely recall having written a post about it a while back, but I can't locate it just now.) You can only prevent it from happening by only making donations to FPN directly by PayPal away from the forum software platform.

 

… keep my status as a Rhodium or Platinum supporter private? There are ‘Stealth’ or ‘anonymous’ versions of Rhodium and Platinum supporter options. Only Wim can convert current supporters from regular to ‘anonymous’ behind the scenes, if they regret their earlier choices.

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