On Deleting Facebook (2)

Mashable reports that Facebook has responded to an article in the New York Times.

The instructions on how to deactivate / delete your Facebook account have been changed. Facebook has responded to disquiet about their deactivated yet not deleted accounts policy.

There's a new paragraph which quite clearly explains that Facebook has now made it possible to have your account deleted for you. No more deleting all of your posts, messages, interests one by one.

"If you deactivate your account, your profile and all information associated with it are immediately made inaccessible to other Facebook users. What this means is that you effectively disappear from the Facebook service. However, we do save your profile information (friends, photos, interests, etc.), so if you want to reactivate at some point, your account will look just the way it did when you deactivated. Many users deactivate their accounts for temporary reasons and expect their information to be there when they return to the service.

If you do not think you will use Facebook again and would like your account deleted, we can take care of this for you. Keep in mind that you will not be able to reactivate your account or retrieve any of the content or information you have added. If you would like your account deleted, please contact us using the form at the bottom of the page and confirm your request in the text box."

So now we have a choice, deactivate or delete.

Why did it take them so long to offer this facility?
Will users rush to delete their accounts?

Somehow I doubt it.

(Another question.
Why do online newspapers insist on having articles that are spread over several pages?)