How did you get them to delete your account? I asked for them to delete my information under the “right to be forgotten” rule from the GDPR legislation however they said they would refuse this request as they have a need to keep the information?!? I’m pretty sure only financial institutions are allowed to do that and DS has no legal requirement to keep my personal data.
I hassled them until they gave in i think

i just said i no longer want my username to be any part of your forum, and i do not want my details left for any moderator to abuse, i then said any fraudulent scam emails that i get will always make me wonder where they come from and if i get in touch with the police your forum will be the first place i will say has my details without permission
i was furious at them and hammed it up, but i have seen another couple of deleted user next to posts so i think they might do it as normal now , apparently some things are left behind , this was the email i got
We are emailing to confirm that we have deleted the personal data we held in connection with your Digital Spy forums account (name, email address and username) in accordance with your request. Please note, that the right of erasure is not absolute and we have a legitimate business interest in retaining certain data such as IP address in order to regulate our forums. Your username will no longer appear against your posts, and will be replaced with [Deleted User].
I'm sure i could press it further as their legitimate business interests isnt my problem , neither is retaining my IP address to regulate their forum , but i'm not sure on the law with those , tbh it still sounds like they have no rights , but i'm just happy for my username to not be on their forum
I am also a banned poster after many years. I'm not happy about it but I don't mind my profile now showing red. I have a good idea who the posters were behind it. At least I have found this forum instead and it is far more liberal than what DS has become.
I'm not sure 'Deleted User' showing under a profile is any better - Banned or Deleted - either way you can no longer post on DS. Does it really make a difference who does or doesn't know?
I think i was angry and thinking that i dont want any of the trolls thinking they had won and got rid of me with being banned , at least deleted user shows i deleted it by making up my own mind
That was a few days ago now , and looking back i dont care now, that was the trouble with DS , nearly everytime i used it i would stop posting getting worked up because some idiot was being pedantic , looking to score points over your post etc... its feels like 75% of the users now have no interest in chat about the subject on the thread , they just want to bait or get one over you on your posts, so i just wanted gone so i was not tempted back to posting in a few weeks