Does Deactivating your Facebook account permanently delete it?

[Azmah]

I'm looking at using the Deactivate feature of Facebook to temporarily close my account down, without actually deleting it as I wish to come back to it in the future. I'm not sure what it exactly does, as in permanently delete it, temporarily close it or just leave your account idle and others can still see it/search/post/.etc .

Is there a better option?

Also, are there any alternatives to Facebook? I've heard of some but not sure which is good.

Thanks in advance :D

[firstPerson]

No it deactivates it, but if you sign in within 2 weeks it reactivates it for you. If you pass the 2week period then they 'delete' it, but they might have you still on their database who knows. If you want to stop using it for a bit, then tell your friend to change your password and not give it to you until a week or so.

[CA50]

^^ does the same thing apply to orkut, because i deleted my account few days back

[firstPerson]

^^ does the same thing apply to orkut, because i deleted my account few days back

sorry, idk about orkut, didn't even know it existed.

[diafol]

Are they allowed to do this? DW always say that they're not allowed to delete a member account.

[VernonDozier]

>> Are they allowed to do this? DW always say that they're not allowed to delete a member account.

They've said it, but they've never cited a law that states that to my knowledge. I'm guessing it's more along the lines of an agreement they have with whoever pays them for advertising. I can't imagine any law that would prohibit it unless there was some crime the police were investigating and they subpoenaed the database. If you deleted records, that might interfere with the investigation. Short of that I can't think of any reason.

>> If you pass the 2week period then they 'delete' it, but they might have you still on their database who knows.

This is the point. Who knows? We sure don't. "Delete" is in quotes for good reason. Nothing ever gets deleted anymore whether you want it to or not. Just assume that anything you post at any time in your life will remain SOMEWHERE out there in perpetuity. St. Peter and Santa Claus no longer keep lists. They just query the big database. We're already writing everything down here on Earth.

[firstPerson]

Once you create a facebook, there is no reason to delete it completely. You can use it to your advantage,just filter out the bad and leave only the good for future employers to see.

[jwenting]

I seriously doubt they ever delete the data, it's far too valuable for their marketing departments (and too much links to it, like "friends" networks).

Orkut, being owned by Google, of course (like Google) never deletes anything at all. Same is true with GMail. If you delete a message there it's just made invisible to you, but still used by Google themselves for their purposes (thus can be sold to 3rd parties if they pay enough).

That's where the income from those sites comes from. If you don't like your private data being sold to the highest bidder, don't use them.

[firstPerson]

I seriously doubt they ever delete the data, it's far too valuable for their marketing departments (and too much links to it, like "friends" networks).

Orkut, being owned by Google, of course (like Google) never deletes anything at all. Same is true with GMail. If you delete a message there it's just made invisible to you, but still used by Google themselves for their purposes (thus can be sold to 3rd parties if they pay enough).

That's where the income from those sites comes from. If you don't like your private data being sold to the highest bidder, don't use them.

Where are you getting this information? It sounds absurd that google can keep by gmail in their database and sell it to whomever, I was thinking more like they make their money from advertisements and such.

[iamthwee]

>It sounds absurd that google can keep by gmail in their database and sell it to whomever

You'd think wouldn't you. But the 'google-sphere' is probably more sinister than we realize, or at least has the potential to be. They probably even keep tabs on what users search for.

Building these type of profiles can clearly bolster their dominance over would be competitors, yahoo pffft. Anyway, I digress.

[diafol]

You've done it now, iamthwee. They know where you live and they're sending the boys round to silence you. They will grab DW staff and force them to take down your posts. THey own the world. They have all the searches from world leaders and are blackmailing them.

[firstPerson]

>It sounds absurd that google can keep by gmail in their database and sell it to whomever

You'd think wouldn't you. But the 'google-sphere' is probably more sinister than we realize, or at least has the potential to be. They probably even keep tabs on what users search for.

Building these type of profiles can clearly bolster their dominance over would be competitors, yahoo pffft. Anyway, I digress.

Your making google sound like the government lol.

[frogboy77]

A good motto

"I'm paranoid, but am i paranoid enough?"

[Azmah]

Where are you getting this information? It sounds absurd that google can keep by gmail in their database and sell it to whomever, I was thinking more like they make their money from advertisements and such.

http://www.daniweb.com/internet-marketing/ecommerce/news/365888

^^^ Just saw it today XD

[Azmah]

So what if I just never login for awhile? AS I only want to stay off for awhile not forever - I have valuable information on there; laughs, fights, cool things, discussion, relationships, .etc .

By the way - Why can't DaniWeb actually delete your account.

You do you know that once something is written on a harddrive (or even a ssd), you can never delete it as you can recover it. There are even companies who have recovered data from BURNT harddrives :D

[qq7434138]

Once you create a facebook, there is no reason to delete it completely

[Capt. Fantastic]

You can deactivate your account for as long as you like and still come back to it. There is no 2 weeks thing..

[VernonDozier]

>> Once you create a facebook, there is no reason to delete it completely

Of course there is. Maybe you have second thoughts. Maybe you want to start all over again and join the French Foreign Legion and don't want the new people in your life to find out about your past and you don't want the old people in your life to find you. Maybe a lot of things. Whether you CAN delete it completely is an entirely different matter.

[Azmah]

Yeah, I guess. I have no intention to join teh french foriegn legion - I respect them though.

When I deactivated, it said hope to see me back soon.

When my friend told me he wanted t tag me in a photo, he couldn't. He couldn't find me with my old and new name.
So perhaps my account may 'reappear' when I return in the near future ... if I do.
Thanks for teh help thus far.

Google? Our data is FAR to valuable for Google. Why would they delete it? Its GREAT for market research, to say the very least.

[jwenting]

>It sounds absurd that google can keep by gmail in their database and sell it to whomever

You'd think wouldn't you. But the 'google-sphere' is probably more sinister than we realize, or at least has the potential to be. They probably even keep tabs on what users search for.

they do indeed. By law they've been forced to delete those records from their EU servers after 6 months, but there's no such restriction in the US where it's kept essentially indefinitely (and of course 'd not trust them to not circumvent those laws by simply moving the data from an EU server to somewhere else so they comply with the letter of the law and still have the data.

Those searches are used as a powerful marketing tool, in order to drive click revenue by tailoring the ads you see based on not just the site they're shown on but the profile of the viewer (so for example if you've recently visited a lot of sites about cooking, you're more likely to see ads for cookware pop up all over the place, on any site that's ever so slightly related to the topic).