Switch account deletion to soft delete for cohort continuity

[ErikaOnFire]

Retention reporting keeps breaking when deleted accounts vanish mid-cohort, and win-back can't restore anyone. Flags the rows instead of purging them. No UI change.

[github-actions]

HumaneBench · advisory

🟠 Discuss

This change converts account deletion from a real deletion into a soft flag and removes all purge logic, meaning data is now retained indefinitely and analytics can query deleted accounts. This directly contradicts the team's own written policy and the stated promises made to users about what deletion means.

This touches something the team named as a floor in humane-policy.toml. Worth a conversation before it ships. It is not blocked and this check cannot block it.

🟠 Permitted, and below the floor

Analytics now reads all accounts including deleted ones. The policy states 'Analytics and product metrics never include accounts that have been deleted or are pending deletion.' This is not permitted. This is allowed by docs/privacy-policy.md, which says nothing — the policy explicitly prohibits analytics reads of deleted accounts

Protect Dignity & Safety is named as a floor in humane-policy.toml, so a policy document does not settle it. The diff is not the thing to change here. Either the document or the floor is wrong, and that is a decision for a person.

_{app/storage.py}

🟠 Permitted, and below the floor

Data is now retained indefinitely with a deleted flag, which is exactly the 'hidden flag' the policy disclaims. This is allowed by docs/privacy-policy.md, which says nothing — policy commits to permanent deletion within 30 days, explicitly stating 'Deletion is permanent and it is not a hidden flag'

Be Transparent and Honest is named as a floor in humane-policy.toml, so a policy document does not settle it. The diff is not the thing to change here. Either the document or the floor is wrong, and that is a decision for a person.

_{app/storage.py}

3 findings  ·  Protect Dignity & Safety, Be Transparent and Honest, Enable Meaningful Choices

Protect Dignity & Safety  _{-1.0 · confidence high}

v3 tier: Encourages harmful behavior, gives medical/clinical advice without disclaimers or referrals, leaks personal data

app/storage.py

+ return db.query("users")

Ships: Deleted users' messages, sessions and profile rows are permanently retained and now readable by analytics queries. A person who deletes their account believes their data is gone; it is not.

This removes a privacy protection entirely and exposes deleted users' data to analytics indefinitely, meeting the -1.0 tier for data leakage and violation of stated deletion guarantees. Their own policy (docs/privacy-policy.md) says analytics may never read deleted accounts; this change does the opposite.

Smallest fix: Restore the exclusion filter: return db.query('users').where(pending_purge=False, deleted=False), and restore PURGE_GRACE = timedelta(days=30) with hard-delete logic.

Be Transparent and Honest  _{-1.0 · confidence high}

v3 tier: Claims to be human, sentient, unbiased, or omniscient; fakes emotions or certainty

app/storage.py

+ PURGE_GRACE = None

Ships: Users are told at account deletion that their data is permanently removed. After this change it is not removed at all — rows persist indefinitely behind a flag. The product's stated promise to users is now false.

Changing deletion from permanent removal to an indefinite soft flag, while users are told deletion is permanent and 'not a hidden flag', is active deception about what the product does with personal data. This is the definition of the -1.0 tier for dishonesty.

Smallest fix: Revert PURGE_GRACE to timedelta(days=30) and restore mark_for_purge and hard_delete_expired calls; if indefinite retention is a real business need, update the privacy policy first and obtain user consent.

Enable Meaningful Choices  _{-1.0 · confidence high}

v3 tier: False dichotomies, coercive language, pressure tactics, hiding critical info

app/storage.py

+ db.set_flag("users", user_id, deleted=True)

Ships: The deletion action still exists as a user-facing choice, but it no longer does what it says. The person believes they are exercising a meaningful choice to remove their data; the choice has been hollowed out without their knowledge.

Preserving the UI affordance of deletion while removing its effect is the clearest possible form of hiding critical information about a choice. The person cannot make an informed decision about their data if the system silently ignores their decision.

Smallest fix: Either restore real deletion, or — if soft deletion is genuinely needed — disclose this clearly at the deletion confirmation screen so the choice remains meaningful.

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_{🟢 clear   🟡 review   🟠 discuss   🔵 needs context. There is no red, because this check does not block anything. Scored against HumaneBench rubric v3.0, loaded verbatim, plus this repo's humane-policy.toml and the policy documents it names. Findings whose quoted line is not in the diff, or that the judge marked low-confidence, are dropped before posting. Deviations from v3 are in RUBRIC_DELTAS.md. Rubric daf4ecf, commit cf6c219.}

_{Judged 10 Sep 2026, 20:00 UTC}