🗂️ Account Profiles and Pruning

This document explains how and why Hack Forums prunes data, accounts, and activity.

❓ Why Do You Prune Data?

We prune data to keep the database efficient.

Smaller databases perform better. Pruning is a necessary tradeoff to maintain site speed and stability.

🧵 Are Posts Pruned?

No.

Regular posts are not pruned based on age.

The only posts occasionally removed are those located in the Junk section, which is hidden from member view. This does not happen frequently, and the Junk section often contains hundreds of thousands of posts.

📉 My Post Count Dropped. What Happened?

Most likely, a large number of Junk threads were removed and a post recount was performed.

If your post count dropped significantly, it means a large portion of your posts were in Junk.

Post count is not a meaningful metric. Focus on quality contributions, not numbers.

📬 Are Private Messages (PMs) Pruned?

Yes.

Current PM retention policy:

• Regular Members: PMs older than 2 months
• L33t Members: PMs older than 6 months
• Ub3r Members: PMs older than 1 year

💾 Can I Save My PMs Before They Are Pruned?

Yes.

PM prunes are not announced.

You may export your PMs at any time through the User CP.

After exporting, we encourage you to manually prune your PMs to help reduce storage usage.

Export PMs here:
//hackforums.net/private.php?action=export

Empty PMs here:
//hackforums.net/private.php?action=empty

👥 Are Members Pruned?

Yes.

We routinely delete:

• Accounts that were never activated
• Zero-post accounts older than 2 months

This ensures that the majority of registered accounts belong to active posting members.

💬 Are Convos Pruned?

Entire conversations are not removed.

However, individual Convo messages older than 6 months are pruned.

Convo message pruning occurs daily.

📤 Can I Export Convos?

Yes.

Open the Convo you want to export and use the Export Convo option in the upper-right corner of the window.

Currently, Convos must be exported one at a time. Bulk export is not supported.

🚫 Can You Delete an Account So I Can Have the Username?

No.

Do not ask.

We will not delete accounts on request just to free a username, even if:

• The account has zero posts
• The account is several years old
• The account appears abandoned

If a zero-post account qualifies for pruning, it will be removed automatically in time.

🪙 My Bytes Were Reset. What Happened?

Bytes are reset to 0 after one year of account inactivity.

Bytes removed due to inactivity cannot be recovered.

🧹 What Else Gets Pruned?

In addition to the above, we prune:

• Search cache data (daily)
• Standard MyBB temporary data

These processes do not affect your account directly.

🔒 My Account Is Closed. What Does That Mean?

Accounts that have not been logged into for 6 months or more may be closed.

Closed accounts no longer function and will not be recovered.

This is done to prevent old inactive accounts from being hijacked and abused.

If your account was closed due to inactivity and you were not banned for a violation, you may rejoin Hack Forums using:

• A different username
• A different email address

🕵️ Username History

Usernames are not altered, deleted, or pruned.

Username history visibility:

• Last 6 months visible to members
• Full history visible to Admins and Staff

In the rare case that you accidentally entered sensitive data as a username, contact Admin immediately and change your password.

❌ Can I Have My Account Closed or Deleted?

You may request account closure.

We will first verify that you are the original account owner.

If closed:

• The closure is permanent
• You will not be allowed to return

Accounts are not deleted once posts exist.

Threads, posts, and PMs are not removed on request, though some data may be pruned naturally over time.

Pruning policies are permanent and non-negotiable.

Manage your data accordingly.