Deleting Contacts best practice

Deleting Contacts best practice

hi there,

I'm wondering what methods users have adopted to managed 'old contacts' It is probable that Contacts will degrade overtime (people change roles at clients/ opportunities lost).

So what does everyone do with these? We have a method for deleting/removing suspects. However the rich history often associated with a Contact requires a different approach. 

I was thinking to create a picklist on 'Status' that included 'Dormant Contact' / These can be filtered out of reports/views but not deleted.


Welcome any good ideas on this.