Wikipedia:Courtesy vanishing

This page documents an English Wikipedia WP:VANISHED

This page in a nutshell: Courtesy vanishing allows a user who is permanently leaving Wikipedia forever to have their account renamed and userpages deleted for privacy reasons. It does not include deleting the user's contributions or talk pages. This is done as a courtesy, not a right, and the user is expected not to return to editing.

The usual way to leave Wikipedia is simply to stop editing and abandon the account. However, a courtesy vanishing may be implemented if a user in good standing decides not to return and wishes to make their contributions less easily traceable or to remove their association with their edits. If there is no administrative need to retain the information, a departing user may request the deletion of a wide range of their

Courtesy vanishing is discretionary and may be refused. It is not intended as a temporary measure, nor as a way to

Because all contributions are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 License and GFDL, every edit must be attributed to a user. Consequently, it is not possible to delete an account.

Vanishing typically involves the following:

• A global renamer or steward responds to a vanishing request and renames the account to a randomly-generated string of characters, such as "Renamed user 157yagz5r48a5f1a1f".
• The account is then automatically globally locked, preventing any future logins.
• References in
  page histories are updated to the new username, but direct references made by other users remain unchanged. Signatures (on user talk pages, article talk pages, and project discussion pages) will not be changed, and will redirect
  to the new username by default, although this redirect can be removed upon request.
• The account's
  user talk pages are rarely deleted and may be restored if there is community consensus through a deletion review
  .
• Because of account unification, these actions have a global effect.

• Vanishing is not a way to start over with a fresh account. Requesting courtesy vanishing implies that you do not intend to return. If you wish to start over, follow the instructions at Clean start instead of, not in addition to, vanishing. Should you vanish and then continue editing under a new account, and are later discovered, the vanishing can be reversed, and your old and new accounts may be linked.
• It is not a way to avoid accountability, an escape from criticism, sanctions, or other negative attention unless you genuinely intend to leave permanently. Users who have been disruptive, lost the community's trust, or are blocked or banned may not be granted courtesy vanishing.
• It is not a method for erasing evidence of
  conflicts of interest or organizational affiliations that contradict Wikipedia's community values
  . For instance, a business account criticized for its editing cannot use vanishing to remove that record.
• It is not a suitable response if you wish to continue editing after unintentionally revealing personal information. In such cases, consider contacting Oversight.
• Users in good standing can request a
  username change at any time, with contributions re-attributed to the new name, maintaining the edit history.^[a]

• The preferred method is to use Special:GlobalVanishRequest to access the vanish request interface. Requests submitted here are handled by global renamers or stewards.
• If your request is particularly sensitive, contact the global renamers via e-mail, using "Request for courtesy vanishing" as the subject. The contact interface is available at
  VRT
  system, accessible only to current renamers, stewards, and Wikimedia Foundation staff.
• Although a
  public request page
  exists for name changes, using it is not recommended, as it creates a public record of your vanishing request that cannot be hidden.

For questions about vanishing or to explore less permanent solutions, consider contacting a

Finally, take these steps before completing the vanishing process:

• If you have an email address associated with your account, remove it at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-personal-email.
• Review and reset preferences to their defaults at Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-personal.
• Scramble the account's password with a long, random string to prevent anyone else from accessing the account.

While

• Wikipedia:Anonymity
• Wikipedia:Changing username
• Wikipedia:Clean start
• Meta:Account vanishing
• Wikipedia:Retiring
• Wikipedia:Sleeper account
• Template:Userbox Ex-Wikipedia
• Wikipedia:Missing Wikipedians