Thomas Gries wrote:
The entry on http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_FAQ#How_do_I_delete_a_user_from_my_...
says "MediaWiki does not support the deletion of user accounts. To prevent an account from being used, either scramble the password or set up an indefinite block on the account. Do not remove users from the user table in the mySQL database; this causes problems with other parts of the wiki due to the relational structure of the database."
My question: is the last sentence "Do no remove ..." still valid and important ?
Yes. Loads of database tables contain references to users, including (but not limited to) article revisions (i.e. edits).
If you feel *reeeaaally* confident, you can track down all of those references and remove them (or change them to point to another user), and then delete the user row. But seriously, it would be easier to follow the suggestions you quoted from the FAQ. Don't do it the complicated way _just_ because you think it will make your database "cleaner". :-)
Timwi