For anyone who’s looking to clean up their digital imprint, permanently deleting a Quora account may be the right option for you. In doing so, you’ll remove the profile, bio, endorsements, upvotes, comments, messages, answers, and more.
Jump ahead to these sections:
- How to Delete Your Own Quora Account
- How to Delete a Deceased Loved One’s Quora Account
- Frequently Asked Questions: Deleting a Quora Account
Whether you’re acting on your own behalf or as that of an executor of an estate, cleaning up one’s online presence can decrease a lot of excess traffic and even the time you spend on the Internet. Scroll on and we’ll help you make quick use of your time.
How to Delete Your Own Quora Account
Once you delete your Quora account, you can’t reverse your decision. So you might consider a few alternative possibilities beforehand, such as deactivation, editing your privacy settings, or deleting specific portions of the content.
If these options aren’t satisfactory enough and you’re sure of your choice to delete your Quora account entirely, then take the following steps.
Log in to Quora
Log in to your Quora account as you usually would. Once you’re there, click on your profile circle in the upper right-hand corner of the web page.
Select “Settings” from the drop-down menu.
Access your privacy settings
The next page that’ll pop up is the main page of your account settings. Look to the left-hand side of the screen, then scan through the column seen there.
Click on the “Privacy” option to access the next page.
Delete your account
The Privacy Settings page's central column includes information about your "Inbox Preferences, Comment Preferences, Translation Preferences, and Content Preferences."
Presumably, these are listed here just if you want to back out of deleting (or deactivating) your account. If you still want to do that, see the final options located at the very bottom.
Click on “Delete Account.”
Enter your password
If you forgot your password, click on "Forgot Password?" Quora will then send a link to the inbox associated with the account. When you access that email, click on the link and follow the instructions to reset your password.
If you created your Quora account through Google or Facebook, click on "create an account password." Similarly, Quora will send a link to that account's email to create a new password.
Click delete
The lightbox that pops up after you select “Delete Account” will look similar to this:
Click “Delete.”
Quora states that once you click the delete button, they will deactivate your account immediately. Afterward, the deletion process will start and can take 14 days to complete.
With that, should you access your account at any point during that 14-day window, Quora will reactivate your account, thereby discontinuing the deletion process.
What’s next?
- After the 14-day grace period, your account, content, and profile will be deleted.
- Quora will remove any personal data associated with the account.
- Quora may preserve information to fulfill any legal obligations.
- Note that your content may already have been republished or shared with others, and Quora can't remove any links from other platforms.
- According to the Terms of Service, all users are obligated to delete any republished content.
- Locate the "content form” at the bottom of that page should you need to contact Quora with any questions or to facilitate faster deletion of your account and content.
How to Delete a Deceased Loved One’s Quora Account
Per your executor duties, you may discover that you’re in charge of managing your loved one’s digital afterlife.
Deleting their accounts will be easy if your loved one left a password manager as you’ll be able to follow the steps listed above. Otherwise, scroll through the steps listed here.
Log on to Quora.com
Before you access Quora's home page, you'll see a very colorful center lightbox that allows you to sign up or access the main page via Google or Facebook. These are not the links you want. Instead, look to the very bottom. There you'll see a "Contact" link located right next to "© Quora, Inc."
Click on “Contact.”
Submit a request
The next page that pops up will have a drop-down list with several options.
From the drop-down list, select “I need help with my account.”
Enter the information requested
The next page that pops up will ask you to submit the following information so that Quora can assist you in deleting your loved one’s account.
Provide them with:
- Your email address
- A subject, such as, “Delete a loved one’s account.”
- In the description box, type in the desired action, such as “Hello, my name is [enter your name]. I am the executor of my loved one’s estate. Please assist me in deleting (or deactivating) their account.”
- In that same description box, include your loved one’s full name and email address.
- The next box will ask for a full name. Provide them with your full name to have a legal record of who is asking to have the account deleted.
- If you have a Quora profile, provide them with that on the next line.
- Finally, you can add any attachments that you feel are necessary to include.
It’s reasonable to wait for Quora to respond directly to your email before you include any personal information so that you can connect with a human, not a computer.
Respond to your email
When Quora customer service contacts you in a follow-up email, they’ll ask for the following information:
- Documentation of your loved one's death, such as a copy of their death certificate, a link to their obituary, or a death notice.
- Some proof of your relationship. This can include a marriage certificate, any legal copy listing you as the executor, or a mention of your name in the obituary (a death notice will not include surviving family members).
Once Quora has the information they need to delete your loved one’s account, give them time to complete the request. Then they will send you an email confirmation stating that the account has been deleted.
Frequently Asked Questions: Deleting a Quora Account
Take a look at a few quick answers to some FAQs about deleting a Quora account.
What happens when you delete a Quora account?
When you delete your Quora account, the following data will be removed from their platform:
- Profile information to include photos and bio
- Any answers you listed
- Comments you have made
- Additional blog posts
- Any votes or endorsements
- Any messages
However, any questions you’ve asked will still be available to online users, but your name will no longer be associated with those questions.
Can you delete a Quora account without a password?
Yes and no.
If you are legally able to delete an account for a deceased loved one, you won’t need to provide Quora with a password.
Otherwise, if you’ve lost your password, you can reset it so that you can quickly delete your account.
Quora Account Deletion
Quora makes it relatively straightforward to delete an account whether that’s for you or your loved one.
That said, the biggest hurdle you may encounter is getting a copy of the death certificate. Follow this link on “how to get a death certificate” and we can help you through the process, step-by-step.
Sources:
- Official Quora Account. (2021). How do I delete my Quora account? Quora. https://help.quora.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004250866-How-do-I-delete-my-Quora-account-