User:SlimVirgin/Right to vanish

The usual way to leave Wikipedia is simply to stop editing. The right to vanish (RtV) may be exercised when a user in good standing decides not to return, and for whatever reason wishes to make their contributions harder to find, in order to remove their association with their edits.

A permanently departing user may request that his user account be renamed—for example, to "Vanished User 100"—and that a wide range of user pages be deleted, blanked or moved on departure. This can extend to other pages that affect the user alone, such as pages related to his conduct, where there is no administrative need to retain the information. The old account may be blocked indefinitely. Contributions, logs, signatures, and user-page templates (for example, templates related to blocks or bans) are usually not removed. User-talk pages are usually not deleted.

The right to vanish is discretionary and may be refused. It is not intended to be temporary. It is not a way to avoid scrutiny or sanctions, and does not guarantee anonymity. Any of the deleted pages might be undeleted after a community discussion. If the user returns, the "vanishing" is fully reversed, the old and new accounts will be linked, any outstanding sanctions will be reinstated, and any interrupted dispute-resolution processes may be resumed.

An alternative to "vanishing" is to make a clean start by retiring one account and starting again with another. This is permitted so long as sanctions are not being avoided, and where there is no violation of the sockpuppet policy; see below for more information.

Vanishing from Wikipedia
Vanishing typically involves the following:
 * A bureaucrat changes the username of the account. As of 18 March 2011, the account must have made fewer than 50,000 edits, including deleted contributions. This is a technical limitation in the rename tool, not a policy limitation.
 * References to the former username are replaced with references to the replacement username.
 * The account's user page and subpages are deleted. User talk pages are rarely deleted and may be undeleted by community consensus. Oversight should be used to remove personal information, subject to the oversight policy.
 * The old account may be blocked indefinitely.

How to exercise the right to vanish
You may wish to blank your userpage and any subpages in your userspace. To have them deleted, add to the top of each page, and an admin will delete the page. This will work on all the pages in your userspace except user-talk pages. A bureaucrat should be contacted on their notice board or by e-mail at  to implement the renaming.

What vanishing is not

 * Vanishing is not a right, but a courtesy. Vanished users have no right to return under a new identity or as an IP. The right to vanish applies only to cases of permanent departure, although in most other cases some scope for blanking exists.
 * The right to vanish is normally extended to users in good standing. It might not be extended to users who have been disruptive, who left when they lost the trust of the community, or who have been banned.
 * The Wikimedia Foundation does not guarantee that an account name will be changed on request. Decisions to rename an account, if contested, are determined by community consensus.
 * Users in good standing are free to request a change of username at any time, without exercising the right to vanish. All contributions made under the old username will be re-attributed to the new username, including deleted contributions, preserving the edit history. Old signatures embedded in past posts cannot be changed due to technical limitations of the Mediawiki software, although in some cases collapsing or blanking is possible.
 * The deletion of personally identifying information about users does not fall under the right to vanish. Such information can be deleted or oversighted on request.

Deletion of user-talk pages
While user pages and subpages may be deleted, the deletion of user-talk pages is invariably controversial, and should be the rare exception, not the rule. The reason for this is that user-talk pages, unlike user pages, have largely been written by other editors. User-talk pages should not be speedy deleted by admins. Whenever there is a request to delete a user-talk page, a bureaucrat should be consulted. Community consensus is that bureaucrats should delete user-talk pages only where there is a compelling reason to do so—related to serious privacy concerns and the potential for real-world harm. They should otherwise be deleted only at MfD. Any deletion, including deletion by bureaucrats, can be challenged and overturned at deletion review. User-talk pages should never be moved to become user subpages in order to facilitate deletion.

Clean start
An alternative to exercising the right to vanish is to make a clean start. This is done by discontinuing the use of your account and creating a new one that becomes the only account you use. Discontinuing the old account means it will not be used again. It should note on its user page that it is inactive—for example, with the retired tag—to prevent the switch being seen as an attempt to sock puppet. The difference between "vanishing" and making a clean start is that under a clean start your old account's contributions are not moved to a new name, so the association between your old account name and edits remains.

A clean start is permitted if your old account was not banned, and so long as no deception is involved, particularly on pages the old account used to edit. That is, you should not "cross the streams" by turning up on a page you edited as User:A, to continue the same editing pattern as User:B—particularly while denying any connection to User:A, or if the edits or subject matter are contentious. You should also not, as User:B, engage in disputes you engaged in as User:A without making clear you are the same person. If you act in a way that appears deceptive, you risk placing yourself in violation of the sockpuppet policy.

If you are operating a clean-start account, you are expected to reveal the existence of your previous account if you stand for adminship or similar functionary positions. If privacy is an issue, the Arbitration Committee can be informed in confidence. Failure to do so may be considered deceptive, and will be poorly received by the Wikipedia community.

Arbitrator and bureaucrat discretion
Occasionally situations arise where users not wishing to leave Wikipedia will nevertheless want to disassociate their account name from their contributions by having the account name moved—as under the right to vanish—before continuing to edit with a new one. This option should be used sparingly, because it can appear to the community as an attempt to avoid scrutiny. Examples where arbitrators and bureaucrats might allow this include where the old account is a real name or has a real name associated with it; or where there has been demonstrable harassment or real-life concerns deemed sufficiently serious to justify overriding the policies and guidelines.

Arbitrators and bureaucrats granting this option should balance the needs of the vanishing editor with the reluctance of other volunteers to work in an environment in which they may feel they have been deceived. Users allowed to vanish and return with a new account should take particular care not to engage in old disputes or interactions, broadly construed. Any misuse of the option may result in the vanishing process being reversed. Users requesting this option should be in good standing. Arbitrators and bureaucrats should consider declining the request if the user is facing sanctions.