A mod to deactivate memberships?

Like, if they're inactive for xdays then they are sent an automated message being told to get on the boards within a week, and if they don't then their account is deleted. And they are sent a second email telling them so.

I guess some forums like the massive member count to make them look good and popular but I for one would much prefer to only have members who really were "members" and not just names.

I'm not handy with any language save HTML/DHTML, so I am of no use, which is why I came to suggest it. It's feasible right? And productive?

Someone should give it a go.

Automation in asp is not really feasable, something like this would need to be done manually.

Also if people have posted at some point if their account is deleted then who do you show as the person who posted the messsage, you would have lots of messages that would say they are posted by guests.

I find that allot of people do make many posts in forums, then they disappear for a few months, off doing other things, before they come back to the site again. Very few people post constently.

Yeah that's the thing. If they were inactive for that long none of their posts would be in view anymore. So that wouldn't be a problem.

And yeah I see what you mean, but I'd set it to every 3 months. And then no appearance for 4 months would get it deleted. With this sorta forum that might be seen as harsh as many people only come here when they need it (I say many, not all), my forum has a general community where people meet up etc. and it's all very constant. So people that don't show up should be made inactive. As it shows lack of dedication (I know there's not "rule" for this, just an etiquette on most message boards like mine).

But hey.. if it ain't feasible (positive it couldn't work?) then there's nothing I can really do about it, I'll have to get one of my admins to do it manually.. it's a damn tough job though..

If it was a fairly active forum, the following would work.  (Although I could maybe code this, I am currently working on something else and offer this only as a suggestion!)

A new table could be added to the database that keeps track of the last time a user logged on.  In the code for logon_user.asp, you could add a script to check the new table for any user who had not logged in in X many days.  They would get a warning in Y many days, and then get deleted in X many days.  Since everyone uses logon_user.asp, essentially your database is constantly being checked for dead accounts.  This will however leave the users old posts with no owner (once they get deleted)!  But in time, I guess, this may not matter.

Just my two cents.....