Deleted account vs. hidden profile

[Ron Cambric]

How can I tell if someone has truly deleted their account, or just hidden their profile?  I was told that it had been deleted, but when I run a search on the avatar, I receive the following:  1 Results for (and the avatar name), but when I click on the profile button, it says that "This name is unavailable".  Has this person just hidden their profile to make it appear it's been deleted?

[Ariel Vuissent]

I'm not aware of any way to "hide" a profile. You can restrict a profile - or at least you could with one of the 2-point-something viewers - but you can't hide them the way you describe.

[Innula Zenovka]

"This name is unavailable" usually means the account has been deleted -- either by the account holder or by LL -- or suspended.

It certainly means that person isn't going to be around in SL, at least not at the moment.

[Rolig Loon]

Profiles may become "unavailable" if a SL resident was banned from SL. .... or it could just be a system failure.

[Fenimore Hapmouche]

The "This name is unavailable" thing also occurs to the web-based profile if an account was cancelled but has been reactivated afterwards.

Apparently this reactivation does not restore the web-based profile to a visible state.

F.

[Rolig Loon]

That's a good observation. Web-based profiles are a very recent addition to SL, so if you re-activate an older account, it wouldn't have a web-based profile to activate at the same time.

[Tourmaline Falken]

I'm bumping this thread with a new but related question.  

A friend of mine's account today says "This name is unavailable" on the web based profile, which I know means the account has been deleted or permanently suspended by LL.  However, his profile inworld in Firestorm looks just as it did yesterday, no sign that he was going to delete his account.  So, I have another question:

How soon after someone clicks "Delete account" will the webpage profile change to unavailable.  It takes a couple of months for an account to be deleted and unretrievable, so does it change immediately (ie within a few hours of deleting) or does it change only after a few months and it is irrevocable?

 

[Rolig Loon]

The only people who are likely to have an answer to this question are Lindens, and Lindens never come here. Bumping this question is also likely to have almost no effect, because the only people who will know that it has been bumped are the OP and the four people who responded to it last Spring. Answers is not a forum, so you can't move a question to the top of a public stack by adding to it.

[eagleeye01]

i have an accout how do i regester

[Rolig Loon]

If you have an account, you are already registered, by definition.

[Haruka Catteneo]

To Tourmaline

 

Did you try searching for just his name? Cuz, when my ex suddenly disappeared from game, i knew he had deleted his account simple cuz his name disappeared from all the groups we were in together BUT on his profile it still says he in the groups, also since he is on my friendlist i can still see his full profile unchanged for the last 5 yrs, while his account has been deleted 5 yrs ago... try searching his name it wont pop up, mine didnt every year i tried to see if he was activating or not (ps is not like i was stalking i was worried until i stopped being a stupid fool )