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 ?
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
Timwi schrieb:
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
Thanks. A last question: It appears to be safe to delete user entries from table user for users who haven't made edits (can you confirm this ?) T.
A last question: It appears to be safe to delete user entries from table user for users who haven't made edits (can you confirm this ?)
No. Even if they haven't made edits, moves, deletes, protections, and don't have any watchlist entries, even then there could be entries for them in 'user_groups' and/or 'user_newtalk'. You're safe only if you remove all of these, and I'm not making any guarantees that I haven't forgotten any ;-).
Timwi
On Wednesday 02 November 2005 20:27, Thomas Gries wrote:
My question: is the last sentence "Do no remove ..." still valid and important ?
I'd imagine so, see http://www.google.com/search?q=sql+deletion+anomaly&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-...
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