How to delete your Hubzilla account

About deleting your Hubzilla account

Hubzilla is a unique, open-source communications platform that utilizes the Zot protocol to enable decentralized identity, social networking, and file sharing. Unlike centralized social media platforms, Hubzilla operates as a 'nomadic' identity system, allowing your account to travel between different servers (hubs) while maintaining your connections and content across the fediverse.

Users often choose to delete their Hubzilla account if they are migrating to a different hub, leaving the Zot ecosystem entirely, or wishing to minimize their footprint on a specific server. Because Hubzilla integrates diverse features like cloud storage, collaborative web calendars, and encrypted messaging, an account represents a significant repository of personal interactions and files. You might decide to delete your account to purge stale data or strictly enforce your digital departure from a specific node.

• Nomadic identity management allows for complex data distribution.
• Integrated apps increase the surface area of stored personal content.
• Decentralization means your data exists on the specific server (hub) you chose.

What happens to your data

When you initiate the deletion process for your Hubzilla channel, the hub administrator or the system's automated scripts will target the deletion of your primary identity files. However, because Hubzilla uses a federated model, the reality of data erasure is nuanced:

• Your channel posts and messages stored on the local hub are typically scrubbed.
• Remote hubs that have cached your posts or profile information may retain this data indefinitely.
• Your identity (ZID) remains a public record in the distributed hash table of the network.
• Files stored in the 'Cloud' section of your account are usually deleted, but backups on other network nodes may persist.

It is important to understand that Hubzilla does not maintain a central master database, so a 'delete' command is limited to the scope of the node you are currently using. You should consider manually backing up any critical files before triggering the final deletion process.

Privacy considerations

Hubzilla is designed for privacy, providing features like granular channel permissions and OStatus/ActivityPub interoperability. Despite this, users should be aware of the following:

• Your public posts are indexed by search engines if your hub is not set to private.
• Metadata regarding your connections can be visible to other hub members depending on your channel access control lists (ACLs).
• Admins of the specific hub where you host your channel have access to your raw database files.

Tips for better privacy:

• Always review your channel permissions before posting sensitive content.
• Use the 'Private' channel setting to restrict access to friends only.
• Regularly clear your cache or perform a manual 'prune' of old messages.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will deleting my Hubzilla account remove my posts from other servers?

No, because Hubzilla is federated, posts delivered to other servers are stored locally on those remote servers and remain there unless their administrators manually delete them.

Can I recover my Hubzilla account after deletion?

Generally, no. Once the account and its associated channel database entries are purged, the action is permanent and cannot be reversed by your hub administrator.

Does Hubzilla keep logs of my IP address?

Hub administrators can choose to enable or disable access logging; you should check your specific hub's privacy policy to see how they handle server logs.

Is my ZID (Zot Identity) deleted when I remove my channel?

Your channel identity is deleted, but the nomadic ZID may persist in the distributed registry system as a dead identity, though it will no longer point to an active server.

Can I move my account to another hub instead of deleting it?

Yes, Hubzilla supports 'cloning' your identity to another hub, which is often preferable to deletion if you simply want to switch providers while keeping your data.

How long does the deletion process take?

Deletion is usually instantaneous upon confirmation, although large file repositories or complex channel histories may take a few moments for the server to fully scrub from the database.