5 ms·

If there are any Redact devs here: Please add a feature to 'edit' messages with random data rather than redact. This has the advantage of not only updating the

If there are any Redact devs here: Please add a feature to 'edit' messages with random data rather than redact. This has the advantage of not only updating the 'live' database but also if it's backed up in the future they'll only have the garbage data and not what you actually said. Being able to overwrite history (where possible) is extremely valuable that reddit/discord let you do. Additionally, there should be a 'spoofer' mode, that randomly makes comments, uploads multi GB files full of random data and adds noise to further enhance privacy. I take great joy in "abusing" text areas and file upload boxes on the internet - it makes it significantly harder to track a subject in any way when you are making 1000 comments a day, uploading 10,000 photos you found randomly online and are joining 50 different channels ;) To be honest I should probably make a script to do that, especially on HN...

slow_donkey 5y ago
Hm any competent ops team would have backups if they really cared to find your original data
dr_kiszonka 5y ago
> Please add a feature to 'edit' messages with random data rather than redact. This has the advantage of not only updating the 'live' database but also if it's backed up in the future they'll only have the garbage data and not what you actually said. This is a good point. Reddit is frequently uploaded to BigQuery [0] 0. https://console.cloud.google.com/bigquery?project=fh-bigquery&ws=!1m9!1m3!3m2!1sfh-bigquery!2sreddit_comments!1m4!4m3!1sfh-bigquery!2sreddit_comments!3s2019_12&d=reddit_comments&p=fh-bigquery&t=2019_12&page=table https://console.cloud.google.com/bigquery?project=fh-bigquer...
slg 5y ago
Maybe I am alone on this, but it seems pretty unethical and selfish to "abuse" these systems and intentionally upload large amounts of garbage data in order to improve your own personal privacy. It is the equivalent of polluting. Feel free to overwrite and delete your comments to protect privacy, but users uploading "multi GB files full of random data" is putting a real burden on other people and is going to lead to a worse service for everyone.
- kodah 5y ago
  Unethical, maybe. Though, how ethical should one be in war when the enemy is a tyrant? The signals to rebellion start slow: you pester and annoy the enemy to let them know they have tread on the wrong turf. You try to inform them, then you try to concede points for shared ground. Once the enemy has decided that your advancements and ground meeting are to their advantage, and continue to gain ground is what we identify as skirmishes and battle starts. You ambush, you destroy logistical routes, you make it difficult for the enemy perceive that this ground is worthwhile. At what point do you fire the cannons? At what point does the normally docile rest of society join you to arm your rebellious battlements? I think you are witnessing the populous arming their cannons. You can object, but you can't object that the enemy is closer than ever.
  - slg 5y ago
    This just seems hyperbolic. They aren't a tyrant because you can just leave their platform. You want to use their platform without any of the consequences that come with that usage. You are walking into someone else's house, making demands, and breaking stuff when you don't get your way.
    - kodah 5y ago
      Every rebellion looks hyperbolic from the outside, I would say. Reddit is indexed by an outside party, not Reddit itself. Twitter is the same way. The most infamous of Facebook's data exfiltration was Cambridge Analytica, which again is an outside indexer. The accurate comparison, imo, is "we all came to this land to communicate together, but you use the platforms features to stalk people." Advertising is more of a concession of privacy, which I can tolerate if it's iterated on. The option you lay in front of people is "leave". So, someone of my convictions must leave once a platform becomes so popular that it attracts professional stalkers? Why is that the only acceptable option to you?
      - slg 5y ago
        Honestly this explanation makes it sound worse to me. Your objection doesn't appear to be with these social media companies. It seems to be with the very nature of public communication. You want the benefit of publicly communication without facing any repercussions for what you said in public. And in order to help ensure you don't face repercussions, you are polluting the shared public spaces for everyone else and forcing these social media companies to clean up after you. Every public platform can be externally monitored and archived. If you don't accept that, don't participate in public platforms.
city41 5y ago
Just a heads up, Reddit now rate limits edits. Many redact tools out there have not adapted yet unfortunately. https://www.reddit.com/r/redditdev/comments/mg077m/not_even_close_to_hitting_the_rate_limitbut_still/gstd506/ https://www.reddit.com/r/redditdev/comments/mg077m/not_even_...
throwkeep 5y ago
Are they actually overwriting history though? Or are they just adding another record, and hiding the previous version(s)?
vineyardmike 5y ago
> To be honest I should probably make a script to do that, especially on HN... Please do not do this to HN. It'd make the service way less usable for everyone else.
- ad404b8a372f2b9 5y ago
  Pretty sure that'd result in a ban pretty quickly, given HN's stance on comment deletion, throwaway accounts and community building.
paxys 5y ago
Honestly I don't think you are being as clever as you think. It would take ten minutes to write a filter to remove these spam comments and files and focus on your real ones (and every data mining company is doing this already). You can't beat a computer by trying to act like a computer. They are much better at it than you. Have you considered just..not using the service?

slow_donkey 5y ago

Hm any competent ops team would have backups if they really cared to find your original data

dr_kiszonka 5y ago

> Please add a feature to 'edit' messages with random data rather than redact. This has the advantage of not only updating the 'live' database but also if it's backed up in the future they'll only have the garbage data and not what you actually said. This is a good point. Reddit is frequently uploaded to BigQuery [0] 0. https://console.cloud.google.com/bigquery?project=fh-bigquery&ws=!1m9!1m3!3m2!1sfh-bigquery!2sreddit_comments!1m4!4m3!1sfh-bigquery!2sreddit_comments!3s2019_12&d=reddit_comments&p=fh-bigquery&t=2019_12&page=table https://console.cloud.google.com/bigquery?project=fh-bigquer...

slg 5y ago

Maybe I am alone on this, but it seems pretty unethical and selfish to "abuse" these systems and intentionally upload large amounts of garbage data in order to improve your own personal privacy. It is the equivalent of polluting. Feel free to overwrite and delete your comments to protect privacy, but users uploading "multi GB files full of random data" is putting a real burden on other people and is going to lead to a worse service for everyone.

kodah 5y ago
Unethical, maybe. Though, how ethical should one be in war when the enemy is a tyrant? The signals to rebellion start slow: you pester and annoy the enemy to let them know they have tread on the wrong turf. You try to inform them, then you try to concede points for shared ground. Once the enemy has decided that your advancements and ground meeting are to their advantage, and continue to gain ground is what we identify as skirmishes and battle starts. You ambush, you destroy logistical routes, you make it difficult for the enemy perceive that this ground is worthwhile. At what point do you fire the cannons? At what point does the normally docile rest of society join you to arm your rebellious battlements? I think you are witnessing the populous arming their cannons. You can object, but you can't object that the enemy is closer than ever.
- slg 5y ago
  This just seems hyperbolic. They aren't a tyrant because you can just leave their platform. You want to use their platform without any of the consequences that come with that usage. You are walking into someone else's house, making demands, and breaking stuff when you don't get your way.
  - kodah 5y ago
    Every rebellion looks hyperbolic from the outside, I would say. Reddit is indexed by an outside party, not Reddit itself. Twitter is the same way. The most infamous of Facebook's data exfiltration was Cambridge Analytica, which again is an outside indexer. The accurate comparison, imo, is "we all came to this land to communicate together, but you use the platforms features to stalk people." Advertising is more of a concession of privacy, which I can tolerate if it's iterated on. The option you lay in front of people is "leave". So, someone of my convictions must leave once a platform becomes so popular that it attracts professional stalkers? Why is that the only acceptable option to you?
    - slg 5y ago
      Honestly this explanation makes it sound worse to me. Your objection doesn't appear to be with these social media companies. It seems to be with the very nature of public communication. You want the benefit of publicly communication without facing any repercussions for what you said in public. And in order to help ensure you don't face repercussions, you are polluting the shared public spaces for everyone else and forcing these social media companies to clean up after you. Every public platform can be externally monitored and archived. If you don't accept that, don't participate in public platforms.

city41 5y ago

Just a heads up, Reddit now rate limits edits. Many redact tools out there have not adapted yet unfortunately. https://www.reddit.com/r/redditdev/comments/mg077m/not_even_close_to_hitting_the_rate_limitbut_still/gstd506/ https://www.reddit.com/r/redditdev/comments/mg077m/not_even_...

throwkeep 5y ago

Are they actually overwriting history though? Or are they just adding another record, and hiding the previous version(s)?

vineyardmike 5y ago

> To be honest I should probably make a script to do that, especially on HN... Please do not do this to HN. It'd make the service way less usable for everyone else.

ad404b8a372f2b9 5y ago
Pretty sure that'd result in a ban pretty quickly, given HN's stance on comment deletion, throwaway accounts and community building.

paxys 5y ago

Honestly I don't think you are being as clever as you think. It would take ten minutes to write a filter to remove these spam comments and files and focus on your real ones (and every data mining company is doing this already). You can't beat a computer by trying to act like a computer. They are much better at it than you. Have you considered just..not using the service?