Title: Deleted user’s posts
Last modified: August 18, 2016

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# Deleted user’s posts

 *  [graemep](https://wordpress.org/support/users/graemep/)
 * (@graemep)
 * [20 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/deleted-users-posts/)
 * What happens to a user’s posts when they are deleted?
 * I am clear about what happens if I reduce a user’s level (and reducing to zero
   is almost as good as deleting) but I could not find anything on what happens 
   if a user a deleted altogether (which is possible?).

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  [Kafkaesqui](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kafkaesqui/)
 * (@kafkaesqui)
 * [20 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/deleted-users-posts/#post-225574)
 * Deleted posts are just that; deleted from the database. If you mistakenly delete
   a post, the only way to get it back is to A. pull it from a back up of the database,
   B. dig it out of the Google cache or a browser’s disk cache , or C. you had it
   memorized.
 * Yes, a user can be deleted, and for the purpose of retaining posts, shorting 
   them to level 0 is the best alternative to removing them. Of course, if in the
   end you really do need to delete an account, you can reassign their posts to 
   another user (I know of someone who uses a *dummy* login for that). There’s a
   quick SQL command way of doing that:
 * `UPDATE wp_posts SET post_author = '1' WHERE post_author = '10';`
 * The first post_author value should equal the user ID of the author you’re moving
   posts to, and the second is their current author. The posts table prefix would
   need to be changed if other than the default (wp_) is used.
 *  Thread Starter [graemep](https://wordpress.org/support/users/graemep/)
 * (@graemep)
 * [20 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/deleted-users-posts/#post-225664)
 * Thanks, I phrased the question badly (what I should have said “if I delete a 
   user, what happens to that user’s posts). In spite of that your answer tells 
   me what I need.
 * Either of your suggestions would do what I want, so I suppose I should go for
   reducing the user level and avoid unnecessary mucking about with the database.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Deleted user’s posts’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [delete](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/delete/)
 * [user](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/user/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [graemep](https://wordpress.org/support/users/graemep/)
 * Last activity: [20 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/deleted-users-posts/#post-225664)
 * Status: not resolved

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