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I was wondering how to completely leave this community. Please guide me. I have gone through FAQ section but of no use.

What should I do ?

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4 Answers 4

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There are two ways to go about it:

  • Quit and keep your account: Just stop visiting the site. That's all. As far as Stack Exchange is concerned, it's fine if your account sits around unused. Leaving your account intact allows you to change your mind and come back to the site in the future.

    On some other websites, a member who wants to take a break can ask for their account to be suspended to prevent them from accessing the site. But on this site, moderators generally will not grant such requests.

  • Quit and delete your account: You can find instructions for deleting your account in the help center, as other answers have mentioned. Account deletion is irreversible. Deleting your account means that your reputation and other accomplishments on the site, as well as your profile page, will be completely erased from public view. Your questions, answers, and comments will be anonymized - that is, your username and profile will no longer be associated with that content. You can come back and participate in the site in the future, but you will have to start from scratch with a separate account.

    Again, the questions, answers, and comments you have contributed to the site do not get deleted along with your account. The legal basis for continuing to display your submitted content after your account is deleted is provided by Stack Exchange's terms of service, which you agreed to prior to submitting the content in the first place.

    When you submit a request to delete your account following the directions in the help center, that request goes directly to the Stack Exchange community team. They may ask you some questions about why you want to leave the site, which I believe are for information only. I don't think they will refuse your request to delete your account regardless of why you want it deleted, but I am not part of that team and I can't authoritatively speak on their behalf.

    The moderators on this site are not involved with the voluntary account deletion process in any way. We do not handle or even see account deletion requests. Although it is technically possible for a moderator to delete an account, we will not do so at the request of the account owner.

You can also look at the corresponding FAQ post on Meta Stack Exchange, but it doesn't really tell you anything useful beyond what you will find in the help center.

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Go to https://physics.stackexchange.com/help/user-deletion

Exactly why do you want to delete the account, though? Don't get discouraged due to a few downvotes.

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  • $\begingroup$ Sorry! But he had asked for the physics account deletion, not Physics Meta account. Check out once more you had provided Physics Meta account deletion url. $\endgroup$
    – Saharsh
    Commented Nov 23, 2012 at 16:01
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    $\begingroup$ @Alpha: It doesn't matter, the account is the same on Physics and Physics Meta. You can't just delete one of them. Anyway, fixed :) $\endgroup$
    – Manishearth
    Commented Nov 23, 2012 at 16:28
  • $\begingroup$ Oh, ok. I was just a bit confused. Anyway thanks $\endgroup$
    – Saharsh
    Commented Nov 26, 2012 at 10:33
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If you want to left only the Physics Stackexchange site then you should go here and enter some of the reasons or problem due to which you are quitting it. After submit check your inbox and confirm the submission and this is how your account will be deleted. But do say good bye to all who had helped you in physics difficult questions. If there is any problem then you can comment on my answer.

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Account deletion is not helpful, with it you only give up rights and nothing get you back.

(Extension: it also gives up the possibility that once you get back and try to fix things what caused your wish to leave. It is much better to leave on a way while you still hold the possibility to once get back and try to fix things here.)

If you think enough is enough, it is a better idea to simply stop visiting the site any more - maybe once in the future you will need the privileges and the rep here.

You can't really delete all of your posts:

  • questions can only be deleted if they have at most 1 answer without an upvote
  • you can delete your answers only if they aren't accepted
  • the system alarms if you are starting a massive own-post deletion and avoids it
  • furthermore, mods can any time un-delete your deleted posts

If you want to leave because some unhappy social situation, then don't worry. Simply stop posting, and nobody will remember you after some weeks (for old, active or particularly.... controversial accounts, it can be even a year, but not more). But you can come back any time if something would change your mind in the (maybe far) future.

If you want to leave because it is your only way to make some of your data unreachable, then note: most of the sensitive information is only available here for only a narrow circle old high-rep users (or mods). Consider a nickname change, or ask the help of the mods/CMs, they are sometimes cooperative, sometimes they want to be but can't (for example, also mods can't delete a single edit from a post history, they can only delete the whole post).

I think the only real reason to delete your account if you fight stackexchange addiction and it seems to be the only way out. But think first for these:

  • using site blocking plugins in your browser.
  • asking the mods/CMs for a temporal suspension, again they are sometimes cooperative.
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    $\begingroup$ There are some falsehoods here (e.g., the sensitive info is not available to high rep users). This might be a decent answer otherwise. $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 11:07
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    $\begingroup$ @KyleKanos Deleted posts can contain sensitive data, this is the reason why the SE so strictly hides them. $\endgroup$
    – peterh
    Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 19:07
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    $\begingroup$ what sensitive data do you think exists in deleted posts? $\endgroup$
    – Kyle Kanos
    Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 21:29
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    $\begingroup$ @KyleKanos Anything what you inserted accidentally, or later you think it shouldn't have been written into on any reason. If you edit it out, it will be still available in the post history, you have no way to get it ever out. If you delete the post (what may be combined with posting a new one, without the sensitive content (*) ), 10k+ users and upward will be still able to see that. In this case, even the CMs can't help, only the ones having direct DB access (and it is very unlikely that they would be helpful). $\endgroup$
    – peterh
    Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 21:47
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    $\begingroup$ If there is truly sensitive (i.e. personally identifying) information in a post that you wish to be gone, you can raise a custom flag and moderators will redact the corresponding information so that not even 10k users can see it. It is not true that CMs can't help, nor that it is unlikely that they would help. $\endgroup$
    – ACuriousMind Mod
    Commented Jul 12, 2017 at 9:25
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    $\begingroup$ "You can't really delete all of your posts:" Is absolutely correct. And you never should have expected anything else because you have irrevocably licensed that content the to Stack Exchange under a Creative Commons license. If you really can't stomach that idea then you should probably find another way to spend your internet hours. $\endgroup$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Mod
    Commented Jul 12, 2017 at 22:29
  • $\begingroup$ @dmckee It was only a neutral statement, not a complaint. I don't have a problem with it. $\endgroup$
    – peterh
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 4:13
  • $\begingroup$ @ACuriousMind Thanks the correction. I never heard about this redact thing until now. $\endgroup$
    – peterh
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 4:15

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