How Listal Deals With Deleted Users

Personally I don't like when I see "Deleted User" in a forum thread (or in a picture page).
I would like that the old username is still showed, even if the user is no longer on Listal.

Who said what? Who uploaded the pic? "Deleted user"!

What do you think?
Maybe I should post this in the Suggestion box, but I'd like to hear other opinions first.

Those who have deleted their own accounts should perhaps remain named on the system, but then... if they deleted their account, perhaps they'd prefer not to still 'exist' on Listal. Those who have had their accounts removed deserve nothing more than to be labelled 'Deleted User'. I would certainly prefer to see 'Deleted User' than the obvious alternative, which is to see all their content disappear, that would play havoc with lists.

The major problem with this is that if the person decided to come back to Listal their user name would still be in use or would discover that their account was still partially existing on Listal. Sort of like on Facebook... you can never delete your account if you log in again with the same email address all your junk is recovered.

This especially sucks if the person just wants to start over from scratch.
"Oh, ya Facebook I'm still friends with a bunch of people I hate"

When a person deletes their account on Listal all their lists are gone. The only reminder that we have of the passing user is "Deleted User". I think out of respect for the person who leaves Listal their name shouldn't appear. It was their choice and one that should be respected.

Many of my first friends on Listal are gone people I miss talking to and seeing what they have been creating. Recovering a name is not the same as recovering the user... so yes I would rather have the ghost "Deleted User" to remember that something is missing.

Not that I would ever delete my account but if I had deleted my account in the first few years of joining the site... I would be sort of pissed that my user name was still being associated with content on Listal. So, the last little snag in keeping user names is that Tom would then have to deal with messages from past users demanding that their name be removed.

I have to agree w/ Jaytoast here. Besides, as far as pics go, if you just look at Deleted as a user-name you can be pleasantly astounded at just how many pics they've uploaded here. ;)

Thank you all for the replies! I see your point.
I must say I have to agree with you guys. Out of respect for the users who chose to leave Listal, it's best that their name doesn't appear any longer.

It could be argued that it is not their real name. Typically it's just a screen name not associated with personal information. But then, even screen names are part of someone's "identity". Sometimes people use the same handle on other forums, blogs, personal sites, and so on.

I found out that some online boards do not even allow users to delete their account. Their policy is: if you are not interested any longer, don't use it, but you can't take back anything you contributed, because it becomes intellectual property of the site. WordReference for instance has a rule like that.
But then, I guess such a rule fits best to technical sites, not to Listal.

So, let it be as it is! :)

While I think Jaytoast answered this, what about "inactive" accounts, i.e. people who appear to have simply abandoned their accounts? Rufus and Arianne come to mind right away, as they were friends of mine and frequent voters?