Wikipedia talk:Courtesy vanishing

Wikipedia

sorta out of date

While we can say whatever we want locally, things have changed with global accounts. (Copying from some of my discussion on meta): The most important recent change to keep in mind is that in order to comply with laws in multiple countries, as well as the requirements for participation in services such as the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store - the Foundation implemented a close my account utility. This utility has replaced the courtesy "vanishing" that we used to do by manually renaming accounts. Using this utility is a one-way workflow. The Foundation's Terms of Service do not require that someone that closes an account in this manner will be forever barred from ever contributing to Wikimedia projects in the future..

So what does this mean for us? Well first , "reversing" vanishing is mostly a non-starter; as the account is going to be unusable. Second, abandoning an account and later starting a new one shouldn't shouldn't be stigmatized in isolation. Anyone using multiple accounts disruptively (regardless of if the new "vanish" process is involved) should of course still be dealt with however is needed to stop and prevent disruption. I'd expect more CLEANSTARTS to happen that also involve "vanish" as opposed to just abandoning the old account though. — xaosflux Talk 14:46, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

Vanished my Wikipedia account

Dear Wikipedia team, I want to informed you to delete my Wikipedia account that i'm not using it, please delete it. Thank you.

Username: ShaunTheCatBoy2005 ShaunTheCatBoy2005 (talk) 02:59, 7 November 2025 (UTC)

There is no global account for "ShaunTheCatBoy2005". — xaosflux Talk 14:14, 7 November 2025 (UTC)
Looks like this was already done in GVR 159158. — xaosflux Talk 14:15, 7 November 2025 (UTC)

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)