Why has my account on Stack Overflow been removed/deleted?

Question

I have had an account on Stack Overflow for some time. Today I answered a question for the first time:

Some of my text all over the website underline automatically

...and a short while later it appears my account has been removed/deleted and I just cannot understand why.

Please can you provide some insight into this?

Thank you.

To the close voters: asking on M.SO with an account deleted there and therefore lacking the 5 rep for meta is obviously highly impractical. — Nathan Tuggy, Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 20:57

Oded · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-03 20:25:31Z

16

According to our records, while logged into your account, you have clicked the delete link.

If this was not you, I suggest you look around at who else has access to your computer who may have done this.

answered Mar 3, 2016 at 20:24

OdedStaffMod

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2

I thought there is 24 hours countdown between clicking that button until the account is actually deleted, to let the user regret his/her decision?
– Shadow Wizard
Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 20:27
5

@ShadowWizard That wait doesn't exist if you have zero or one posts, and no votes.
– animuson StaffMod
Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 20:28
2

@animuson thanks, just found this - looks like it applies only for deletion activated by moderators, not self deletion.
– Shadow Wizard
Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 20:29
2

Thanks for the response. I do not recall clicking a delete link on purpose. I have just looked in my (new) profile for where this link is, and noticed it's a menu item under Site Settings. I could have accidentally clicked this, not read the JavaScript prompt and idly clicked okay.
– Steve
Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 20:31
2

@ShadowWizard The self-serve deletion system still uses that same countdown. Basically, you wait for a delete link to appear in your inbox/email, click it, and it schedules your account for deletion in 24 hours. But users with <2 posts and no votes bypass all of that.
– animuson StaffMod
Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 20:32
1

@animuson thanks, good to know. Is it documented anywhere?
– Shadow Wizard
Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 20:59
meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5999/… @shadow
– Shog9
Commented Mar 4, 2016 at 14:48
@Shog9 thanks but it does not mention the 24 hours waiting time.
– Shadow Wizard
Commented Mar 4, 2016 at 17:29

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