Is this process reversible
If I vanish, but then want my account back say a year later, can it be reversed?ALiegeWaffle (talk) 01:53, 28 November 2025 (UTC)
- While I can't think of any technical limitation preventing a further renaming of the account, I do think it is meant to be permanent and irreversible. An expert can correct me if I'm wrong. CapnZapp (talk) 16:04, 19 April 2026 (UTC)
- The current "vanish" workflow is one-way. There is no workflow for a user to request "undoing" it, and outside things like published cryptographic proofs there is no workflow method to asert ownership of the prior account anyway. This workflow is robust, in that the user must first authenticate and request, AND another user has to process it in most cases - so it is not prone to errors. An actual restoration requires sysadmin work and likely WMF authentication methods. — xaosflux Talk 19:31, 19 April 2026 (UTC)
addressing "is this fool-proof"
By not saying anything directly regarding the issue "can someone find out my account's previous identity?" I believe the page mistakenly gives off the impression it is more fool-proof than it really is. Tweaking the page to make it harder for a reader to read any promises into what is actually said. Feel free to improve further. CapnZapp (talk) 16:07, 19 April 2026 (UTC)
- @CapnZapp in the concept of current "vanishing" if you vanish, your account is renamed and locked. Determining what the original name username was is trivial if you know where to look. If someone makes a NEW account there is no technical relation, but behavioral correlations may be made. — xaosflux Talk 19:27, 19 April 2026 (UTC)
- I believe that if a non-technical user gets the impression Wikipedia's courtesy vanishing truly scrubs Wikipedia of that identity, while a technical user can simply click Random user 1234's contribs and read their talk page contributions to find out the previous identity with ease, something has gone wrong with the way we present this offering. It would then be better if we state, clearly, up-front, what courtesy vanishing actually offers. As far as I can see, what it does offer is the removal of the previous identity from the listings you encounter in everyday Wikipedia editing - that is, mainly page histories. I think this page would be improved if it said this out loud instead of kind of avoiding discussing the actual effects of being vanished. It does this by stubbornly ONLY saying atomic truth bits that leaves all of the broader-picture-painting to the reader. tl;dr: I believe the choice of name for this feature vastly oversells the product, and that this page goes a fair distance to not help the reader to go astray. To put this in direct terms: you aren't vanishing at all, except to the most cursory and disinterested eye just going about everyday business. CapnZapp (talk) 08:17, 20 April 2026 (UTC)
- I never liked the name, but it matches the upstream process and complies with some regulatory stuff. Realistically, this is a more of an "account deactivation" process. — xaosflux Talk 09:36, 20 April 2026 (UTC)
- Sure. What are your thoughts on us copyediting the information page to no longer sort-of pretending there is any "vanishing" going on, User:Xaosflux? CapnZapp (talk) 10:16, 20 April 2026 (UTC)
- Ideally I think this page shouldn't fully duplicate meta:Account_vanishing and that the primary information should be there. This page should include anything local, include perhaps a history of the local process. This page should include information on any related local processes such as: how to go about requesting enwiki page deletions, what sort of things enwiki oversight may do beyond the global and how to request that. WMF currently thinks that the global process complies with many "Right to be forgotten" regulations aroudnd the globe, especially ones needed for inclusion in major appstores (Apple, Google). This process is the only way someone can effectively "close" or "delete" their account.
- I think the biggest component that may need some discussion is: If an editor in good standing "vanishes" and then subsequently creates a new account. That process is allowed globally, and realistically I don't think we here at enwiki should try to forbid it - as there no longer is a workflow to "reclaim" your OLD account. — xaosflux Talk 13:09, 20 April 2026 (UTC)
I think this page shouldn't fully duplicate meta:Account_vanishing and that the primary information should be there.
I can agree with that. You want to add a prominent link and then maybe start pruning the most excessive duplication? As for the local "story" I don't feel qualified to write about that. (If you do, I look forward to your additions) I do think it is pretty obvious Wikipedia's courtesy vanishing is simply not anything like account deletion at all. (Closure, sure; deletion, no). Only if your history vanishes when you do can we even begin to claim that account has "vanished". Compare say Reddit - if Wikipedia hypothetically operated in a similar fashion, what would happen when somebody decides to "vanish" is that their account is renamed into "Deleted account", yes, every vanished user sharing the same account name, and, more importantly, that their contributions are no longer publicly accessible. (I'm sure records would still be kept but just not accessible to everyone) CapnZapp (talk) 10:14, 21 April 2026 (UTC)
- Sure. What are your thoughts on us copyediting the information page to no longer sort-of pretending there is any "vanishing" going on, User:Xaosflux? CapnZapp (talk) 10:16, 20 April 2026 (UTC)
- I never liked the name, but it matches the upstream process and complies with some regulatory stuff. Realistically, this is a more of an "account deactivation" process. — xaosflux Talk 09:36, 20 April 2026 (UTC)
- I believe that if a non-technical user gets the impression Wikipedia's courtesy vanishing truly scrubs Wikipedia of that identity, while a technical user can simply click Random user 1234's contribs and read their talk page contributions to find out the previous identity with ease, something has gone wrong with the way we present this offering. It would then be better if we state, clearly, up-front, what courtesy vanishing actually offers. As far as I can see, what it does offer is the removal of the previous identity from the listings you encounter in everyday Wikipedia editing - that is, mainly page histories. I think this page would be improved if it said this out loud instead of kind of avoiding discussing the actual effects of being vanished. It does this by stubbornly ONLY saying atomic truth bits that leaves all of the broader-picture-painting to the reader. tl;dr: I believe the choice of name for this feature vastly oversells the product, and that this page goes a fair distance to not help the reader to go astray. To put this in direct terms: you aren't vanishing at all, except to the most cursory and disinterested eye just going about everyday business. CapnZapp (talk) 08:17, 20 April 2026 (UTC)
I have added a notice box to make it clear meta:Account vanishing is to be considered the authoritative source. This opens the door to prune this page of details deemed better handled by Metawiki and WMF themselves. It should open the door to us (at English Wikipedia) to clarify that the comparison to "close account" on some other websites does not include a comparison to "delete account" on the same other web sites. In other words, while WMF might be constrained we are not lawyers here at English Wikipedia, so we can make it clear that account vanishing is more of a "right to be swept under the rug" — that is we don't need to pretend it isn't trivial to find out a removed user's previous identity: it does not come even close to the privacy you would expect from a true "right to be forgotten" implementation.
I have also tweaked the nutshell. There is no enforcement method, so we shouldn't say it is only for people leaving permanently, we are instead saying it is for people we expect to leave permanently. CapnZapp (talk) 13:06, 29 April 2026 (UTC)
After awaiting comments and objections, I conclude there is silent consensus to proceed. I have clarified what I believe our page did a very poor job of making clear. I believe the way the page is phrased makes it far too easy for casual readers to walk away with a misleading or outright false impression regarding how close to actually eradicating your previous activity here on Wikipedia the process comes (i.e. not close at all). Regards CapnZapp (talk) 16:03, 9 May 2026 (UTC)
- Ideally we would rewrite the entire introduction to say something like
The usual way to leave Wikipedia is simply to stop editing and abandon the account. However, a courtesy vanishing may be implemented if a user in good standing decides not to return and wishes to obscure their previous activity so it doesn't constantly remind others. Since this process involves an active step, as opposed to just not editing anymore, it can represent adding more intentionality and finality to your decision. This process renames your account and associated user pages are blanked or deleted. You account is not deleted and most of your previous activity remains untouched, including your discussions on article talk pages, complete with signatures. Determining the renamed user's previous identity is a straight-forward process. This process is very much not like how accounts can be terminated on other sites — you cannot remove or sanitize your Wikipedia editing history other than what courtesy vanishing offers, except to have revealing personal information removed (by requesting Oversight).