RICK REA: Helping You Grow Through Online Marketing
  • Home
  • Blog
    • Social Media News
    • SEO Marketing News
    • Digital Trends News
    • Photography News
    • Mobile Marketing
    • Business News
    • Gadget News
    • Printing News
  • Contact
  • About
  • Subscribe


No way out: You can't delete a Mastodon account

4/6/2017

0 Comments

 
http://ift.tt/2p6j3cK

No way out: You can't delete a Mastodon account

http://ift.tt/2oJaGax


Mastodon, the upstart anti-Twitter that everyone is talking about has one glaring problem.

You can't delete your account.

In reality, Mastodon has many issues, including this one. For example, it's a distributed social network, so there are clusters of users living on different domains. That means not everyone can find and talk to each other. Some consider this a plus, since it allows for whole topic-based Twitter-like communities where people needn't worry about being bothered by off-topic conversations or topic trolls.

Multiple servers also means that creating one account for yourself on one instance or domain does not mean you have that handle locked up for all of Mastodon. Anyone can swoop in a create an account with your name.

Even verification is fake. There is no Mastodon verification, but users created one and now green checks are growing like weeds across the platform.

For all these reasons, you might want to delete your Mastodon account. Yet, as hard as we looked across multiple nodes/instances/domains and in one of the best Mastodon apps, Amaroq, there simply is no way to do it.

Actor, author and social media star William Shatner told me on Thursday that, after joining a few days ago, he has deep concerns about the platform and the inability to delete his account. He voiced many of them in message to the owner of his Mastodon node, Adam Thurlow. In the note, Shatner takes issue with what he perceives as a lack of security checks and balances for all the myriad nodes:

Anyone can create a node by taking the open source code and placing it on a server.

If a public persona then creates an account on that server under the misconception that it is a secured site; then private conversations, passwords, email addresses could all be made public by an unscrupulous node admin.

As a public figure, Shatner is often beating back fake accounts on various social media networks. The situation on Mastodon, he wrote, could be worse:

In addition there can be a WilliamShatner account on every node. So a troll could set up an account in my name and start saying or doing acts of harm that will get attributed to me. Then I have to defend myself and try to get the world to understand that @WilliamShatner@badnode.com is not the same as @WilliamShatner@mastodon.club.

Shatner wants off of Mastodon, but he may, like a growing number of other Mastodon users, be stuck:

For these reasons I want to delete my account; yet that seems impossible to do. I was wondering what steps I have to go through to delete it?

According to other Mastodon users, account deletion as a feature is in the works. It is listed as open issue #109 on Github. In the meantime, Mastodon users, you can't delete your Mastodon account, but your node or instance admin can. That will kill the account for that node, but not other instances. You must contact each admin to do that. 

The other option is to individually delete each post, essentially empty your account. 

These options feel like a step back from current, modern social networks that give users control over this most basic privacy and security function.

Shatner, by the way, did get a reply from Thurlow, who more or less deleted Shatner's Mastodon account on the .club node. Unfortunately, Thurlow could not guarantee that other instances are also gone: 

"Due to the nature of federation, we cannot tell other instances that have already federated your public data to delete it on their servers. Only on your home server, where all references now kaput."

Shatner was less than comforted, especially since it's clear that his profile remains on Mastodon.club, but no one can access or interact with it.

Thurlow also compared Mastodon and what users are calling the "fediverse" to email. It's an analogy I heard within Mastodon, as well:

I find a good analogy of the users around the mastodon fediverse is email. You can have williamshatner@gmail.com, but anyone can sign up for any other email provider with williamshatner@[yahoo|hotmail|badnode].com. It's the same here on mastodon, that you choose your trusted home instance and your communications are homed from that location primarily.

But Mastodon is not email, is it?

This is exactly why having a distributed social network can be such a problem. No one really owns their core handle and no one can effectively delete the ones they have created.

"It's a headache at best and a disaster in the making," said Shatner.

WATCH: Surprise! Turns out blue eyes aren't really blue





Social Media

via Social Media http://ift.tt/1N1mMj1

April 6, 2017 at 06:20AM

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Amazing WeightLoss

    Click Here!

    Categories

    All
    Analyze Top Competitors
    Anti-Abuse
    Apple
    Apple Watch
    Blog Posts
    Brainstorm
    Brand Awareness
    Communications
    Content Marketing
    Conversion Rates
    Editorial Calendar Tips
    Engagement
    Facebook
    Google Analytics
    How To Marketing Tips
    Influencer
    Instagram
    Instagram Live
    Keyword Search
    Marketing
    Marketing Automation
    Picture Quotes
    Podcasts
    Recording Videos
    Repurpose Blogs
    Research Trends
    Sales Funnel
    SEO Marketing
    Sharing Posts
    Slide Shows
    Smartwatch
    Social Media Marketing
    Social Media News
    Social Media Tools
    Social Selling
    Target Marketing
    Twitter
    Twitter Notifications
    User Interaction
    Video
    Video Marketing

    Archives

    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017

    RSS Feed

All content copyrighted (C) 2010 ~ 2020
​All Photos & Content Used Under Creative Commons
​www.RickRea.com 701-200-7831
Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • Blog
    • Social Media News
    • SEO Marketing News
    • Digital Trends News
    • Photography News
    • Mobile Marketing
    • Business News
    • Gadget News
    • Printing News
  • Contact
  • About
  • Subscribe