These are the guidelines The Stacks follows, based on best practices for balancing privacy with the scientific record. We share them so others can learn from them, and your organization can adapt them as it sees fit.
People control what they contribute: anyone can ask to have their account deleted.
Keep the scientific record intact: don’t delete contributions that others may rely on.
Delete when there’s nothing to keep: if someone hasn’t contributed anything, delete their account.
Anonymize commenters: if someone has commented, keep the comments but remove everything that identifies them.
Publication authors are a separate case: their names are part of a publication’s record, so they need their own process.
To carry out a deletion, see Delete a user account.