Expiring Old Accounts

I would say that performance is a serious topic for Diaspora’s future.
I understand that we should do our best to preserve server performance. We cannot go frenzy with uploading pictures and stuff like on Facebook.
On the other hand I was thinking about remembrance aspect of social networks e.g. someone dies in a car accident or dies of old age. We don’t want to terminate their accounts.
Either we give enough notice time or think about alternative funding plan so a member pays e.g. £1000 in advance, but his/her profile will stay online for 150 years like a gravestone. Then his/her grandchildren can take it over and further pay for another 150 years if they want or just download and archive granpa’s profile on DVDs.
This way members have their privacy and control their content. No one is spying on them without their consent, but pod administrators collect tiny sum (£0.50 a month) and he can afford much better server on the cloud, so Diaspora is not too frugal on resources.
I am sure many people would pay a tiny sum to preserve their rights and still take park in social networking.
Otherwise you have to use FB or Google, but expose yourself to this marketing, spying moloch that stands behind it.

Guys do you know if this issue has been ever addressed?
I mean these days, because of social network phenomenon most of the people are showing off everything what they do apart from when they go to the toilet thus they afraid so much that if they don’t regularly show off someone can think that their life is probably boring and low-profile. They also fear of death - no more updates. Who is going to put the information about his/her death on their profile pages?

Submitted initial pull for review regarding old user removal feature: https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/5288

Comments welcome!

@maxwellsalzberg especially as you “requested” this :slight_smile: Does this (calling user.close_account!) actually even do what is needed (= help pods run on less for longer)?