Insanity trying to delete my account(s)

Hi! So to add some context, there are two things to know. 1. Google rolled out their policy where Gmail accounts that have been inactive for the pasts x number of days are automatically deleted. 2. My cybersecurity app, which scans whether any online accounts tied to my email, have been compromised.

With that in mind, here’s the story. I’m a 25 year old adult, but when I was in middle school over a decade ago, I used to use Wattpad all the time. I ended up making multiple accounts for one reason or another. Anyways, my 13 year old brain wrote short stories that I would really appreciate not being tied to my name when doing a background check. Normally, I would just login and delete the stories. However, I 1.) don’t remember my email or password for almost all of them, and 2.) because of the previously mentioned Gmail policy, can basically guarantee that the emails have been removed and can no longer be recovered.

This is coming alongside the previously mentioned security breach, to an email I do still use actively. So I reached out to customer service for assistance.

Part of the account recovery process requires me to provide 1.) the email tied to the accounts (which I don’t remember), 2.) my date of birth 3.) some drafts that I have saved. The issue is that I don’t remember and don’t have access to the emails that I used, and that there is absolutely 0 chance that I could remember what stories were in my drafts, if there were any at all. Not to mention, they still won’t let me change the password on the account I do remember the Gmail for because I don’t know the details of what was in the drafts of that account either, despite the password having been leaked in a security breach.

And I totally understand- this is an unusual circumstance, and that customer support isn’t responsible for creating these policies, and that they are honestly a creative security protocol. But why doesn’t the website use the standard security questions that ask us to provide answers to personal details, like the name of my first dog or where I went to school in 2nd grade? Why is it that there is no alternative way to verify that I am who I am outside of these protocols? I Can verify that I am the person depicted in my profile picture, but I’m at a loss as to how else to recover my accounts. And realistically there might be nothing that I can do, and maybe I posted this on the wrong forum, and I am seen to be in the wrong.

By no means am I suggesting customer support should just let me claim that these accounts are mine with no due diligence. I’m just regretful there isn’t an alternative that would let me verify to them I am the account owner with these circumstances. These accounts haven’t been used in a decade, from a business standpoint they generate 0 revenue for the company and the loss of 3-4 accounts won’t devastate whatever internal KPIs they have. I just wish the Wattpad team and I could arrive at a resolution that’s happy for everyone.