why are some users 'guests'?

I was trying to find that post where Com Truise almost had a hissy fit here and I noticed that his name is no longer Com Truise but is now Guest_Com Truise_* and he has some sort of weird privileges that make him unsearchable on the forum search engine.

Why is this?

I don't see anything near a hissy fit in that thread.

  On 6/29/2013 at 5:37 PM, oscillik said:

I was trying to find that post where Com Truise almost had a hissy fit here

What a great way to spend the weekend.

I think that's old banned users pre an ipb/database upgrade

com truise got banned? lol

  On 6/29/2013 at 5:47 PM, mcbpete said:

I think that's old banned users pre an ipb/database upgrade

even older users still show that...

ghosts...

They are users that have asked to have their account deleted - as far as I remember :)

yes, weird as it may seem, it also goes the opposite way @ watmm...

  On 6/29/2013 at 6:09 PM, Squee said:

They are users that have asked to have their account deleted - as far as I remember :)

That makes sense - every "guest" post I see is usually a non-user chiming in for a specific topic.

  On 6/29/2013 at 6:09 PM, Squee said:

They are users that have asked to have their account deleted - as far as I remember :)

ahhh, thanks!

as joshuatx said, it makes sense