5 ms·

A comment’s value rarely outlasts more than 24 hours, if that. Why hoard data?

asylteltine 3y ago
That’s not true at all. Most of the random helpful searches I have done dig up comments that are months or years old. It’s basically like making a post asking a really obscure question and then just writing nvm figured it out. At the same time, I want Reddit to fail
Cerium 3y ago
That's crazy, most of the comments I read are months if not years old.
- randomdata 3y ago
  If I wrote something especially noteworthy, I'll likely remember in my mind forevermore. If memory loss does occur someday, oh well. Am I going to remember to care? The rest served its purpose at the time, but isn't something I will ever want to look back on again. What do you find so interesting in your old work?
  - Cerium 3y ago
    It's not my old work I want to read, it's that of others. Comments are a frequently valuable shared annotation system for discussion on a post. Frequently I will search reddit for answers to questions I have and find a useful result in a comment. Other times I want to get a summary of a new topic so I will find an applicable subreddit and sort by top from the last year to get an idea of what is interesting for this community.
    - randomdata 3y ago
      Wherein lies the value of seeing that others read your work? As the saying goes, work is done for those who pay for it. When I, like you, write comments on sites like these I am the one paying for it. I derive entertainment value for the cost I am sinking, so I find it to be an acceptable trade, but beyond that small window the entertainment is over and the value of what was produced is gone. To keep it around beyond that is just hoarding data. I can appreciate that one might find value in feeling like they are helping out a greater community by allowing others to read their work. I commend those who see that value. But even that seems fleeting. If your work disappeared without you noticing, the value derived from that would not be lost. It is not the perpetual existence of the data that provides that value. Although, I think the greater question here is: What value is there in allowing a for-profit company like Reddit to get rich selling the work you paid for?
      - mfcl 3y ago
        So, you'd delete your old comments because you would rather no one in the world get any kind of value from them since you are not getting any anymore?
        randomdata 3y ago
        I would delete comments that are past their prime like I would discard expired food in my fridge, yes. What are you going to gain from keeping something that is now rotten?
        crazygringo 3y ago
        It's not about you, it's about everyone else who might benefit from reading your comment. What are you taking that benefit away from them? Why do you dislike other internet users like that? Also comments don't rot on the internet, nothing is ever "past its prime". Why do you think comments lose value to other people? In fact, there's quite likely a long tail of future users who would benefit, who are even larger than the short tail of people in the current 24h.
        randomdata 3y ago
        So long as I am paying for it, it is absolutely about me. I would consider offers to write for others if they see the value, but it is quite apparent that what I write does not actually provide value to others. Which is fine. I'm happy to leave that work to the professionals. Why do you feel entitled to the work I have paid for? It is one thing if I generously offer it to you, but to expect it?
        crazygringo 3y ago
        Reddit is free, you don't need to pay to write comments. You're not paying for anything. And whether future users find value is up to them to decide, not you. You can't read their minds. And you're going out of your way to delete something you already wrote. That's extra work for you. Why do you hate the future users who might find value?
- Kye 3y ago
  I've had some interesting discussions replying to 10+ year old comments I find in Google ever since Reddit allowed subs to opt in to replies to older threads.
- crazygringo 3y ago
  Exactly. And it's so sad when I find a thread that clearly had exactly the answer I was looking for to a question, with somebody replying "thanks so much that answers it perfectly!" only the answer itself was deleted. :(
  - ajdude 3y ago
    A couple years ago I came across a deleted Reddit comment[1] and I wished that I could read it so badly I messaged the op and asked him what he said. He didn't remember, and I was hoping so badly it would've been restored after I read this news. Alas, it wasn't. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/avoidchineseproducts/comments/eh80ff/comment/fchbf26/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 https://old.reddit.com/r/avoidchineseproducts/comments/eh80f...
    - nanidin 3y ago
      comment source: I believe KitchenAid stand mixers [assembled in America](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0qKp-0h9P18), and the parts (edit: excepting the motor) do not appear to be sourced from China.\n\nHave a look around your local Ikea; a lot of their stuff, especially kitchen tools, are from Europe, Taiwan, etc, and not China. They label the source of all their stuff, so you can avoid stuff from China.\n\nZojirushi is a Japanese brand that makes all manner of appliances. Good quality. Work well. Hold up over time. Top-quality engineering.\n\nBlendtec blenders are also assembled in America. Their website casually avoid mentioning where parts are sourced, but they're at least an American firm.\n\nJapan also makes some pretty good knives, if you're in the market for those.\n\nFinally, there is always eBay. And for some appliances, such as toasters, you may in fact be able to get a better product than is available on shelves now.
      - rekoil 3y ago
        Where did you find that?
        nanidin 3y ago
ajdude 3y ago
A couple years ago I came across a deleted Reddit comment[1] and I wished that I could read it so badly I messaged the op and asked him what he said. He didn't remember, and I was hoping so badly it would've been restored after I read this news. Alas, it wasn't. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/avoidchineseproducts/comments/eh80ff/comment/fchbf26/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 https://old.reddit.com/r/avoidchineseproducts/comments/eh80f...
rafark 3y ago
I have to disagree. Landing on a reddit thread after googling something is very common.
- red-iron-pine 3y ago
  random reddit posts have saved my butt several times in "oh god oh god I broke the data lake" or similar situations. Some rando post from 2 years ago, too. Deleting them after 24 hours just kinda takes away the value prop for reddit. If I want a real-ish-time convo with someone then i'll get on Discord; the value of reddit is the posts live on.

That’s not true at all. Most of the random helpful searches I have done dig up comments that are months or years old. It’s basically like making a post asking a really obscure question and then just writing nvm figured it out. At the same time, I want Reddit to fail

Cerium 3y ago

That's crazy, most of the comments I read are months if not years old.

randomdata 3y ago
If I wrote something especially noteworthy, I'll likely remember in my mind forevermore. If memory loss does occur someday, oh well. Am I going to remember to care? The rest served its purpose at the time, but isn't something I will ever want to look back on again. What do you find so interesting in your old work?
- Cerium 3y ago
  It's not my old work I want to read, it's that of others. Comments are a frequently valuable shared annotation system for discussion on a post. Frequently I will search reddit for answers to questions I have and find a useful result in a comment. Other times I want to get a summary of a new topic so I will find an applicable subreddit and sort by top from the last year to get an idea of what is interesting for this community.
  - randomdata 3y ago
    Wherein lies the value of seeing that others read your work? As the saying goes, work is done for those who pay for it. When I, like you, write comments on sites like these I am the one paying for it. I derive entertainment value for the cost I am sinking, so I find it to be an acceptable trade, but beyond that small window the entertainment is over and the value of what was produced is gone. To keep it around beyond that is just hoarding data. I can appreciate that one might find value in feeling like they are helping out a greater community by allowing others to read their work. I commend those who see that value. But even that seems fleeting. If your work disappeared without you noticing, the value derived from that would not be lost. It is not the perpetual existence of the data that provides that value. Although, I think the greater question here is: What value is there in allowing a for-profit company like Reddit to get rich selling the work you paid for?
    - mfcl 3y ago
      So, you'd delete your old comments because you would rather no one in the world get any kind of value from them since you are not getting any anymore?
      - randomdata 3y ago
        I would delete comments that are past their prime like I would discard expired food in my fridge, yes. What are you going to gain from keeping something that is now rotten?
        crazygringo 3y ago
        It's not about you, it's about everyone else who might benefit from reading your comment. What are you taking that benefit away from them? Why do you dislike other internet users like that? Also comments don't rot on the internet, nothing is ever "past its prime". Why do you think comments lose value to other people? In fact, there's quite likely a long tail of future users who would benefit, who are even larger than the short tail of people in the current 24h.
        randomdata 3y ago
        So long as I am paying for it, it is absolutely about me. I would consider offers to write for others if they see the value, but it is quite apparent that what I write does not actually provide value to others. Which is fine. I'm happy to leave that work to the professionals. Why do you feel entitled to the work I have paid for? It is one thing if I generously offer it to you, but to expect it?
        crazygringo 3y ago
        Reddit is free, you don't need to pay to write comments. You're not paying for anything. And whether future users find value is up to them to decide, not you. You can't read their minds. And you're going out of your way to delete something you already wrote. That's extra work for you. Why do you hate the future users who might find value?
Kye 3y ago
I've had some interesting discussions replying to 10+ year old comments I find in Google ever since Reddit allowed subs to opt in to replies to older threads.
crazygringo 3y ago
Exactly. And it's so sad when I find a thread that clearly had exactly the answer I was looking for to a question, with somebody replying "thanks so much that answers it perfectly!" only the answer itself was deleted. :(
- ajdude 3y ago
  A couple years ago I came across a deleted Reddit comment[1] and I wished that I could read it so badly I messaged the op and asked him what he said. He didn't remember, and I was hoping so badly it would've been restored after I read this news. Alas, it wasn't. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/avoidchineseproducts/comments/eh80ff/comment/fchbf26/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 https://old.reddit.com/r/avoidchineseproducts/comments/eh80f...
  - nanidin 3y ago
    comment source: I believe KitchenAid stand mixers [assembled in America](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0qKp-0h9P18), and the parts (edit: excepting the motor) do not appear to be sourced from China.\n\nHave a look around your local Ikea; a lot of their stuff, especially kitchen tools, are from Europe, Taiwan, etc, and not China. They label the source of all their stuff, so you can avoid stuff from China.\n\nZojirushi is a Japanese brand that makes all manner of appliances. Good quality. Work well. Hold up over time. Top-quality engineering.\n\nBlendtec blenders are also assembled in America. Their website casually avoid mentioning where parts are sourced, but they're at least an American firm.\n\nJapan also makes some pretty good knives, if you're in the market for those.\n\nFinally, there is always eBay. And for some appliances, such as toasters, you may in fact be able to get a better product than is available on shelves now.
    - rekoil 3y ago
      Where did you find that?
      - nanidin 3y ago

ajdude 3y ago

A couple years ago I came across a deleted Reddit comment[1] and I wished that I could read it so badly I messaged the op and asked him what he said. He didn't remember, and I was hoping so badly it would've been restored after I read this news. Alas, it wasn't. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/avoidchineseproducts/comments/eh80ff/comment/fchbf26/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 https://old.reddit.com/r/avoidchineseproducts/comments/eh80f...

rafark 3y ago

I have to disagree. Landing on a reddit thread after googling something is very common.

red-iron-pine 3y ago
random reddit posts have saved my butt several times in "oh god oh god I broke the data lake" or similar situations. Some rando post from 2 years ago, too. Deleting them after 24 hours just kinda takes away the value prop for reddit. If I want a real-ish-time convo with someone then i'll get on Discord; the value of reddit is the posts live on.