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GDPR - Right to Erasure

GDPR and you

In short
We have many options for you, the user, to be able to remove much of the information yourself:

  • You can edit your email address if you would no longer like to have that email associated with your account. If it's an email you don't have access to, your account will be rendered useless until such time you confirm the email address you provide. We do not sell your email account to 3rd parties but the option is there if you want to change it so a specific email isn't associated with your site account.
  • You can edit any of the personal information you've put in your profile. You do not need us to remove it.
  • You get one free name change. If you don't want your current username associated with something you posted on the site, you can use that free name change to change that. If there is a specific post you are worried about and have been quoted, we can help you edit the quoted name (when you change your name, if someone quoted you, the old name stays in that quote - technically, we don't have to do anything, based on the longer descriptions below, but if it is reasonable and only a post or two, we can help you with that).
  • If you have a post that has personal data (your name, address, email, etc. anything that can identify you as a person), use the report button and we can have it removed. Note: All your posts do not consitute as personal identifying information. We may ask for additional information below. If you are demanding things, then we will have to follow the law to the T and ask you for all your personal information to verify what you are wanting removed. See our "Confirm your identity" part below.
  • If you want to remove your account: Use your free name change, change your email address to something random, remove your personal profile data, change your password to something random, and log out.
  • If you get banned, you don't have any of these luxuries. You can read some of the GDPR links below as to why we need to keep your information on file.

The Long on GDPR
GDPR states we must verify the user's identity. While this law is specific to the EU, if your personal information was posted by you or another person and you are outside the EU, we will apply the law the same. You can find the information on the Right to Erasure here. To quote: “However, the identity of the impacted person must be proven in a suitable way, as otherwise additional information could be requested from the responsible party, or the erasure could be refused.” If you are demanding and rude to us, we will kindly ask for the information required by us by the law to obtain, confirm, and move forward with. Act like a nice human being, then we will help you without the need for these steps (within reason):

To confirm your identity, please submit a ticket and upload all 3 images:

  • Government issued ID with current address
  • Member must be holding ID next to them + a piece of paper with the date and “se7ensins” written on it.
  • The most current utility, cable, phone, or credit card bill with the current address that matches the address in the Government issued ID.

You must be able to log into the user account you are requesting erasure and the history of the IP addresses must match up (i.e. hacking someone’s account and requesting erasure will not be tolerated). Once you have verified your personal information by providing a ticket with your logged in account, we can move forward with your request.

GDPR dictates that the Right to Erasure is for personal data only. Forum posts (such as tutorials, discussions, private messages, profile posts, etc.), unless you actually posted your personal data, those types of posts/threads do not constitute as personal data. As per Article 17, 1(a)the personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed;”. When signing up on the site, end users agree to accepting cookies, submission of their email address to be stored in our database, as well as logging IP addresses to ensure the safety of the community; in short, it is still necessary to retain these bits of personal data in interest of the safety of the public and to protect the rights and freedoms of other individuals. Data which is kept in the interest of freedom of information or for statistical purposes is exempt from the "Right to Erasure." For further information on the exceptions to the Right to Erasure, please refer to Article 17 (3), Recital 47, and Recital 49.

If it is personal data that you posted in a discussion(s) and would like it removed, you can either edit your own post or it is up to you, the user, to point us to the exact post(s) containing your personal data that you posted. If you are a member still in good standing (not banned), please report the posts that you’ve posted that contains personal data. If a user has quoted you on previously public data, that situation does not fall under the Right of Erasure or Right to be Forgotten; however, if we feel it is a breach of your privacy, we will take appropriate steps to reconcile.

For unbanned users, you can navigate to your "Personal details" option (using the drop down on your name or clicking that link) to remove any previously submitted personal details that you wish to remove from the site. This feature is not available for banned users as we use it to cross reference those users that are subverting our rules on our "One account policy".

If you wish to subscribe or revoke your subscription to receive emails from us, edit who can view your account details, who can contact you, etc. you can do so on the Privacy and Preferences options in your users settings found in the user drop down.

Those demanding we remove all their posts will end up being ignored. Feel free to contact the ICO so we can talk to them in regards to your case. If you come to us kindly and have links to specific Personal Data posts, we will help. If you come out the gates demanding we remove everything, we will gladly speak to the ICO. If we can't find your Personal Data from what you've posted, it will be fun having the ICO waste their time figuring it out as well; since they know regular forum posts with randoms discussions do not constitute as personal data. And demanding things will only make us move as slow as the law allows us to. Be nice and we will work with you.

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