Like I said, this thread needs to stay on topic, but I will address this -
@Soapy4me said
@DrZ - If you took my comment about short-lived accounts as an indication that these people are fakes, that was not my intent.
No, I was addressing comments made by @Michael001.
@Soapy4me also said
I must respectfully disagree that accounts should never be deleted automatically after some period of inactivity. As I said, if a member later decides to come back, they can rejoin as easily as they originally did.
With all due respect, being able to re-register is not the point.
Some members care about their site contributions still having their name against them, and 'belonging' to them. To have to make a new account would mean their old posts were no longer theirs. Deleting an account breaks that ownership, making contributions 'orphaned' with no name against them. People have discussions on this forum, and the loss of names against many posts would make it difficult for others to identify and follow conversations in older but still interesting exchanges of posts. It would be much more difficult to tell who was talking to who, and that is why it would be so damaging.
I can think of a number of members who, if they had an enforced absence, would be very angry and offended if their accounts and possibly their posts were destroyed against their will just as if they were never here.
@bbw4doc also made very valid comments regarding loss of control over story contributions. There would in effect be no ownership of material written under deleted accounts.
What would it achieve? If someone's idea of 'tidiness' is that the site should be reserved only for currently active members and the rest should be deleted, no thanks. In my view that would be destructive. It would certainly be irreversible.
If a member does not enjoy reading certain material such as older threads, they don't have to read them. They should only read what they do actually enjoy. If they want to only read new threads, that's all they need to read. Let those who do want to read older material read it. There is individual choice and preference here, something for everyone. It's very simple.