I Deactivated my account for a couple of months during the holidays (as opposed to Deleted). Yesterday I logged back on and saw that I had several "Viewed You" during those 2 months. So now I'm confused. Does anyone know the difference between Deactivated and Deleted? I was under the impression that Deactivated meant I was totally invisible. Incidentally all the Show/Hide filters on my settings were set to Hide.

I've noticed the same issue a couple of times and contacted their helpless desk. They "investigated" and explained that it had something to do with a delay between when someone views the profile while it was actually visible and  when it's noted in the activity. What? I shrugged my shoulders and walked away.

...your profile remains listed on SA and ladies can still view it, send a favorite notice or msg to you, but you can not receive or send messages...that's it in a nutshell !

The "helpless desk" is good name btw!
I think SA has a way to throw views or favorites onto a profile as a marketing ploy.  
Although last time I deactivated my profile and came back after several weeks, there was no other activity.

I deactivated two months ago and the latest Viewed You was 2 days ago. Interestingly I was viewed by an ex SB who had vanished last September and now reappeared under a different handle.

You're saying that when you "deactivate" when not a premium member your profile is still visible? That's not my understanding.I have known numerous women, at an rate, who deactivated and their profiles were definitely not visible. Then again the rules could be different for SBs. However I would not be surprised if Pole is correct. They likely try all kinds of tricks to keep us suckers engaged.

You can change your handle easily.  She would still have your viewed/favorited/message history.  Possibly it recorded her click.  When I click on people that have disappeared, they are still in my history but I get the not found message.  It may still record it as someone looking at them. ???

If you enjoy indulging in " conspiracy theories " I can refer you to an Encyclopedia Full of them 😋

Can anyone explain the difference between Deactivated and Deleted - which was my original question

I have it on very good authority (another forum post - lol) that SA is notorious for "generating" favorites,  especially from far east countries, as a way of making the guys who never get any feel good.

And I know someone who believes that " Big Foot " still stalks the North West 😋

...when you simply do NOT pay for an extension of VIP Status, your profile is NOT deleted...it remains on the site BUT you can not read or respond to SB's .....what's so difficult to understand about THAT ??

You have to go into settings and click on deactivate to actually deactivate, which means deleting your profile. If as pink suggested, all you did is let your VIP status run out, then yes you are still visible.

Always remember that most of the younguns use the SA mobile app on their phones, and often screenshot your photos, profiles, conversations, etc. to send to their friends on a lark
So your profile data is being transferred around online with impunity, just so you know.

If you go to the bottom of your Settings page it says "Deactivate or Delete Account".  If you click on that it takes you to a screen that offers to "Disable or Delete".   What's so hard to understand about  THAT?

I know. I also got one of those predator web site scams with my pic on it and a text asking for money to delete it.  I suspect an SB who wanted to meet and got my GV number to text.  I reported it to SA and they replied saying their "legal dept" was going to deal with it. Anyway, anyone noticed that the SA monthly went up from $80 to $90 ? They must be making a killing !  Should we thank Trump's tax cut?

I have noticed that in the last few days that SA is very very slow to respond during some parts of the day.  I don't recall it being that slow when I started a few months ago.  Perhaps it is a slow down due to the patches for Meltdown and Spectre.

Well, continuing with my conspiracy theories, I think SA tracks how long you've been online and reduces speed accordingly.