Removing Unwanted GitHub Forks | Generated by AI
Got you. Short version: you can’t directly delete someone else’s fork. But you can (a) ask them, (b) purge sensitive stuff and lock future leaks, and (c) use GitHub’s official routes (DMCA or Support) when justified. Here’s a clean, no-tables plan that works well for personal blogs.
1) First, message the forker (fastest path)
Open an issue on their fork or email them. Here’s a tight template you can paste:
Hi @tornadobaflocer — this fork contains my personal notes and activity history. I published the repo only to use the
lzwjava.github.iodomain, not for redistribution. Please delete this fork. I’m making the source private and will keep only compiled site assets public. Thanks for understanding.
If they delete it, you’re done. If not, continue.
2) Understand what GitHub will and won’t do
- Deleting or privatizing your public repo does not remove existing public forks. Public forks remain public and detach into their own “network.” (Stack Overflow)
- You can only delete a fork if you’re an admin of that fork (which you’re not here). (Stack Overflow)
3) If the fork copies your copyrighted content without permission
You can file a DMCA takedown with GitHub. It’s the official path for removing infringing content across forks. Read the policy and the “how to submit” guide; they explain what info you must include. (GitHub Docs)
Tip: If your repo had no license, default copyright applies, which strengthens a takedown request (people had no reuse rights). DMCA is still valid even if you had a permissive license, but it’s more nuanced.
4) Prevent future forks from exposing your source
Keep the domain public, but keep the source private by splitting repos:
- Private source repo (e.g.,
blog-source): your Jekyll/Hugo content, drafts, notes, configs. - Public deploy repo named
lzwjava.github.io: contains only the built site (HTML/CSS/JS). No drafts, no history.
GitHub Pages sites are public even when the repo is private (except in Enterprise Cloud with private Pages). So for a personal blog, the two-repo “deploy only” setup is the safe pattern. (GitHub Docs)
Deploy options you can use today:
- Push the generator’s
public/ordocs/output tolzwjava.github.io. (Quarto) - Or use a GitHub Actions workflow in
blog-sourcethat builds and force-pushes the output to thelzwjava.github.iorepo’s default branch. (Docs: pick the “Publish from a branch” or “Publish with Actions” flow.) (GitHub Docs)
5) Purge anything sensitive from history (yours and any remaining copies)
- Rotate any tokens/keys exposed (assume they’re compromised).
- Rewrite history to remove sensitive files/paths with
git filter-repo(GitHub now recommends this) or BFG (faster for common cases). Then force-push. (GitHub Docs)
This won’t fix other people’s forks by itself, but it cleans your canonical repo and supports any takedown claims by showing the content is removed.
6) Optional hardening
- Add a clear LICENSE (if you want to explicitly restrict reuse).
- Add a disclaimer in README: “This repo exists only for compiled site output. Do not fork the source; it is private.”
- If you ever host in an organization, you can disable private-repo forking org-wide and per-repo (doesn’t stop cloning of public code, but helps for private repos). (GitHub Docs)
Concrete next steps (order that works)
- Ask @tornadobaflocer to delete the fork (use the message above).
- Immediately move your source into a new private repo (
blog-source). - Make
lzwjava.github.ioa public, deploy-only repo with just built files. Configure Pages to publish from its branch/folder. (GitHub Docs) - Rewrite your old public repo’s history to remove sensitive bits, then archive or delete it. (GitHub Docs)
- If they refuse and you want it down, submit a DMCA takedown to GitHub. (GitHub Docs)
If you want, I can draft the DMCA notice in the exact format GitHub asks for, and a minimal GitHub Actions workflow that builds your site from blog-source and pushes only the compiled files to lzwjava.github.io.