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I used Power Delete Suite to remove all comments from all public and private subs. They all came back today. So I re-deleted them again. I suspect it's more li

by popey 3y ago

I used Power Delete Suite to remove all comments from all public and private subs. They all came back today. So I re-deleted them again. I suspect it's more likely the site didn't process the deletions properly, rather than maliciously bringing them back, or as you suggest, that they were private. Edit: It's possible that the deletion only worked on public posts, after all, it seems?

danpalmer 3y ago
Absolutely this. I highly doubt Reddit would want to fuck this up at this point for seemingly minimal gain. Much more likely that a 10x increase in deletions caused some pipeline to collapse somewhere.
- goykasi 3y ago
  I can see this starting a positive feedback loop of issues. More people get upset; so more people start deleting -- cascading failures start occurring. Hopefully their team can keep it under control. But would the current upset userbase even believe reddit if they came out and said "our deletes arent working right now. please try again later."
- zoky 3y ago
  As much as I hate to give Reddit the benefit of the doubt, I think you’re right that Hanlon’s razor may well apply here, albeit substituting incompetence for stupidity.
  - hunter2_ 3y ago
    I think you meant to say "substituting stupidity" -- the new thing is the substitute for the old thing.
    - zoky 3y ago
      Hanlon’s Razor states: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." I’m saying Reddit is incompetent in this case, rather than stupid. Not quite sure what you’re getting at?
      - hunter2_ 3y ago
        Oh, my mistake. For some reason I thought it stated incompetence.
        zoky 3y ago
        No worries; I assumed you weren’t being malicious.
jlmorton 3y ago
I did the same a week ago, deleting fifteen years worth and several thousand comments using Shreddit, by editing and deleting, however mine have not been restored, so I doubt this was some kind of broad action. I very much doubt Reddit cares at all about the small number of us that have done this.
- DavideNL 3y ago
  Me too… note that Shreddit first edits the comment, and then, deletes it. Not sure if this would complicate a restore process by Reddit.
  - cge 3y ago
    Apparently not. I deleted my comments with shreddit, editing first, and at least a large portion of them appear to have been restored to their original text.
boomboomsubban 3y ago
Reading about Power Delete Suite https://github.com/j0be/PowerDeleteSuite https://github.com/j0be/PowerDeleteSuite They don't mention being able to delete from private subs, and their method of deletion sounds like it would fail when the subs are set to private. I'll admit Reddit barely deserves the benefit of the doubt at this point, but I have no idea how you would delete posts on private subs except through some GDPR way that must exist.
- unsupp0rted 3y ago
  If I comment in a sub that has since been set to private, can I not see my own comments on my own profile page? If so, do those comments not have an edit/delete button under them?
  - Glench 3y ago
    Yes, comments you made in private subs don't show in your comment history. I recently made a browser extension that deletes your entire reddit history and ran into this while testing. Edit: Adding the link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bulk-delete-reddit-posts/nbfdoajmaaohkohdnbpjakamhcaaleco?hl=en&authuser=0 https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bulk-delete-reddit...
rodw 3y ago
I've got a decade old account on which I've made a habit of manually deleting comments older than 6 - 9 months, since they get so little visibility and there's no value in leaving a breadcrumb trail. Checking just now I see that comments up to 3 - 4 years old have been restored. I'm not going to speculate as to why (beyond agreeing it's more likely to be incompetence than malice) but in my case at least there are definitely long deleted comments that have been restored.
- lumb63 3y ago
  I’m astounded and confused that you and a lot of other commenters are giving Reddit the benefit of the doubt. At a time when tensions between Reddit management and its users are at an all-time high, and both sides are maliciously striking back and forth, most commenters are assuming that an act like this is due to incompetence rather than malice? I don’t understand the thought process.
  - brookst 3y ago
    Do you think that choosing to believe it is malice somehow punishes Reddit?
  - ziftface 3y ago
    It's also worth noting that reddit admins have maliciously modified comments in the past.
    - mandmandam 3y ago
      This one in particular, in fact - Steve Huffman, aka spez. Google "fuck spez" to see just how popular this guy is. Same guy who un-personed Aaron Swartz, claiming he wasn't a cofounder after Swartz died, and removing him from Reddit's founder page.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
  - 3y ago
eek2121 3y ago
Use GDPR. Even if you aren't in the EU.
- derwiki 3y ago
  CCPA for some of us, and refer to the CA AG if the business does not adequately comply
neatze 3y ago
It could be because people are selling there's accounts in protest.
veave 3y ago
That's impossible. You can't see comments you made in private subs, therefore you couldn't have deleted them.
- didntcheck 3y ago
  Which is itself a problem IMO. Discord is the same, but at least they have a tiny excuse (being very charitable here) in that they'd have to add a new UI view for that, but Reddit already has the profile view where a user should be able to see all the comments they've made
  - swed420 3y ago
    Hopefully the top organizers of the reddit strike consider arranging a "delete day" where all subs temporarily go public again for this purpose
zikduruqe 3y ago
I've been using Shreddit for years, and thus far, all my deleted comments and posts have not shown back up.
popey 3y ago
Ok, r/funny just went public, and one of my comments re-appeared in my profile. So I am confident that what's happening is the deletion of comments isn't happening on subreddits that are private (as r/funny was when I ran my delete script). As soon as the subreddit goes public, they "re-appear"

by popey 3y ago

danpalmer 3y ago

Absolutely this. I highly doubt Reddit would want to fuck this up at this point for seemingly minimal gain. Much more likely that a 10x increase in deletions caused some pipeline to collapse somewhere.

goykasi 3y ago
I can see this starting a positive feedback loop of issues. More people get upset; so more people start deleting -- cascading failures start occurring. Hopefully their team can keep it under control. But would the current upset userbase even believe reddit if they came out and said "our deletes arent working right now. please try again later."
zoky 3y ago
As much as I hate to give Reddit the benefit of the doubt, I think you’re right that Hanlon’s razor may well apply here, albeit substituting incompetence for stupidity.
- hunter2_ 3y ago
  I think you meant to say "substituting stupidity" -- the new thing is the substitute for the old thing.
  - zoky 3y ago
    Hanlon’s Razor states: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." I’m saying Reddit is incompetent in this case, rather than stupid. Not quite sure what you’re getting at?
    - hunter2_ 3y ago
      Oh, my mistake. For some reason I thought it stated incompetence.
      - zoky 3y ago
        No worries; I assumed you weren’t being malicious.

jlmorton 3y ago

I did the same a week ago, deleting fifteen years worth and several thousand comments using Shreddit, by editing and deleting, however mine have not been restored, so I doubt this was some kind of broad action. I very much doubt Reddit cares at all about the small number of us that have done this.

DavideNL 3y ago
Me too… note that Shreddit first edits the comment, and then, deletes it. Not sure if this would complicate a restore process by Reddit.
- cge 3y ago
  Apparently not. I deleted my comments with shreddit, editing first, and at least a large portion of them appear to have been restored to their original text.

boomboomsubban 3y ago

Reading about Power Delete Suite https://github.com/j0be/PowerDeleteSuite https://github.com/j0be/PowerDeleteSuite They don't mention being able to delete from private subs, and their method of deletion sounds like it would fail when the subs are set to private. I'll admit Reddit barely deserves the benefit of the doubt at this point, but I have no idea how you would delete posts on private subs except through some GDPR way that must exist.

unsupp0rted 3y ago
If I comment in a sub that has since been set to private, can I not see my own comments on my own profile page? If so, do those comments not have an edit/delete button under them?
- Glench 3y ago
  Yes, comments you made in private subs don't show in your comment history. I recently made a browser extension that deletes your entire reddit history and ran into this while testing. Edit: Adding the link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bulk-delete-reddit-posts/nbfdoajmaaohkohdnbpjakamhcaaleco?hl=en&authuser=0 https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bulk-delete-reddit...

rodw 3y ago

I've got a decade old account on which I've made a habit of manually deleting comments older than 6 - 9 months, since they get so little visibility and there's no value in leaving a breadcrumb trail. Checking just now I see that comments up to 3 - 4 years old have been restored. I'm not going to speculate as to why (beyond agreeing it's more likely to be incompetence than malice) but in my case at least there are definitely long deleted comments that have been restored.

lumb63 3y ago
I’m astounded and confused that you and a lot of other commenters are giving Reddit the benefit of the doubt. At a time when tensions between Reddit management and its users are at an all-time high, and both sides are maliciously striking back and forth, most commenters are assuming that an act like this is due to incompetence rather than malice? I don’t understand the thought process.
- brookst 3y ago
  Do you think that choosing to believe it is malice somehow punishes Reddit?
- ziftface 3y ago
  It's also worth noting that reddit admins have maliciously modified comments in the past.
  - mandmandam 3y ago
    This one in particular, in fact - Steve Huffman, aka spez. Google "fuck spez" to see just how popular this guy is. Same guy who un-personed Aaron Swartz, claiming he wasn't a cofounder after Swartz died, and removing him from Reddit's founder page.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- 3y ago

eek2121 3y ago

Use GDPR. Even if you aren't in the EU.

derwiki 3y ago
CCPA for some of us, and refer to the CA AG if the business does not adequately comply

neatze 3y ago

It could be because people are selling there's accounts in protest.

veave 3y ago

That's impossible. You can't see comments you made in private subs, therefore you couldn't have deleted them.

didntcheck 3y ago
Which is itself a problem IMO. Discord is the same, but at least they have a tiny excuse (being very charitable here) in that they'd have to add a new UI view for that, but Reddit already has the profile view where a user should be able to see all the comments they've made
- swed420 3y ago
  Hopefully the top organizers of the reddit strike consider arranging a "delete day" where all subs temporarily go public again for this purpose

zikduruqe 3y ago

I've been using Shreddit for years, and thus far, all my deleted comments and posts have not shown back up.

popey 3y ago

Ok, r/funny just went public, and one of my comments re-appeared in my profile. So I am confident that what's happening is the deletion of comments isn't happening on subreddits that are private (as r/funny was when I ran my delete script). As soon as the subreddit goes public, they "re-appear"