If you look at the very last comment on the ticket you'll see when the fix was committed--changeset 3700, which was about 3 months ago so it will be in 1.7.

This fix doesn't affect the database, but deleting a user should remove all entities owned or contained by that user.

James' report implies that orphan file references *are* left behind in the database (and not just on the file system).

As this should be impossible even under Elgg 1.6.1, it would useful to get some understanding of how this could be happening.

James, what version of Elgg are you running?

I think that if an admin deactivates the file plugin, deletes a user with files, and then reactivates the file plugin, you might see the behaviour James describes.

Hi James,

Thanks for this very clear bug report.  I can see the problem in the code and will include a fix in the next release (expected some time after Elgg 1.7 final is released).