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This question has an answer by "user11357", whose name is grayed out and cannot be clicked on.

What does that mean? Was the user banned?

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That is the leftovers of a user that no longer exists. When user accounts are removed, their content remains and the system reverts the display name to a generic userXXXXXXXXX username.

The reason for account removal can vary and could be a voluntary request or a result of their actions on the site but the specifics are not publicly available. It is enough to know that whoever they were they are no longer contributing to the site, but past contributions remain.

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  • $\begingroup$ Okay. Does the system automatically delete inactive users after a time? Or does it have to be manual removal in some way (deleting, banning)? $\endgroup$
    – DrZ214
    Oct 19, 2015 at 21:10
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    $\begingroup$ If you want an account deleted you need to manually request it. (yes, willful malice can result in account deletion, but I consider that a manual request by the user, albeit in a horrible manner). $\endgroup$
    – casey
    Oct 19, 2015 at 21:11
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It's not the case with the question you refer to, but greyed-out usernames can also be the result of a question being migrated from one site to another. When that happens, any users involved that don't have accounts on the destination site get greyed-out "placeholder accounts".

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