Redacting Previous Topic

  • Unknown's avatar
    uu35l · Member ·

    Hi there –

    I understand topics cannot be deleted, but that they can be redacted/edited by WordPress staff/Happiness Engineers.

    I created a topic a while back to inquire about privacy options. At that time, I wasn’t aware topics couldn’t be deleted. In making that post and asking my question, I defeated the very purpose of my question, which was about preserving my privacy. My concern is that my username is now associated with that topic/question and my site is also listed in the topic because that was information I thought I needed to provide in order to get a response.

    Now my WordPress username is google-able, which leads to that topic, which displays my WordPress site (albeit now privatized). Since topics cannot be deleted, would it be possible for WordPress staff to redact my username and the mention of my website from that topic?

    I had to create another account to ask this question because I don’t want to change my original username (which I considered as a potential solution; however, I want to preserve my original username) and I don’t want to add another topic associated with that username. And I also know there’s not option to email WordPress support directly/privately about this issue if I don’t have a paid subscription. I know this may seem extreme, but I’m rather private and uncomfortable with my username and WordPress site being available publicly on WordPress forums, which are google-able.

    The topic I am referring to is here: https://privatty.com/en/n/mhbCXoLk#password123

    Please let me know if you need me to verify my identity in some way to confirm that that topic is from my account.

    Thank you!

  • kokkieh · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    I’ve redacted your site URL from that thread, but it’s not possible to remove your username. And I literally mean impossible. The username is the unique identifier for your account used in the forums.

    WordPress.com usernames are considered public information – they are revealed whenever you follow, like or comment on a site, on a public website it can be discovered directly in the source code, and it is the identifier used for your public Gravatar profile.

    If you used your real name in a username, the only way to obscure that is to change the username to something more anonymous.

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