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Reddit is especially bad about this. I’m tired of seeing deleted posts leaving tattered conversations where you can hardly tell what someone is talking about. C

by xwdv 3y ago

Reddit is especially bad about this. I’m tired of seeing deleted posts leaving tattered conversations where you can hardly tell what someone is talking about. Content you post online should be as immutable as possible.

AlbertCory 3y ago
Wrong. If the post is accumulating negative points, author should be able to delete it.
- whelp_24 3y ago
  why?
- bee_rider 3y ago
  It destroys the conversation. It would be nice to be able to disown a comment, instead. Comments that accidentally reveal personal information, that would be a nice use-case for deletion. But on the other hand, nothing can be deleted from the internet, so having the button there could add a false sense of security.
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
    > nothing can be deleted from the internet In theory that's true; anything Donald Trump says, for instance, can never be deleted. In practice, if someone on Reddit deletes their post, it's extremely unlikely you'll be able to recover it. It's not a probability of zero, but pretty close to it. You could file a lawsuit and then Reddit will have to find it, but otherwise, it's gone.
    - Lacerda69 3y ago
      >You could file a lawsuit and then Reddit will have to find it I doubt that unless it's criminal evidence or something
      - AlbertCory 3y ago
        Civil suits have Discovery, too.
  - slikrick 3y ago
    you should really look into lost media, stuff gets lost on the internet all the time. and that's just the stuff people are actually caring to look for
    - bee_rider 3y ago
      This is a totally unrelated issue. A file on the internet obviously could be backed up by anyone, so deleting things from the internet does not verifiably restore your privacy. A file on the internet might not be publicly accessible in the future. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been backed up privately. It is the worst of both worlds.
      - AlbertCory 3y ago
        You are both talking about what could happen. Indeed it could. Probably it won't, though, for most people.
        bee_rider 3y ago
        Many Reddit posts were automatically backed up by various services before the recent API changes. https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-see-deleted-reddit-posts/ https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-see-deleted-reddit-posts/
        AlbertCory 3y ago
        But not anymore?
        bee_rider 3y ago
        I mean I’m not an expert on how these sites work, but it looks like pushshift.io was collecting Reddit posts before the API access removed. Posts made after the API access was removed would not be in Pushshift. Posts made before, are still in Pushshift. Deleting a post from the site doesn’t remove it from Pushshift. So… kinda not anymore? At least not publicly, using the officially supported API.
notesinthefield 3y ago
Are there not multiple ways to view deleted reddit posts or did they all get killed in the api deprecation?
- lazyasciiart 3y ago
  Mostly killed without you actively saving it before deletion, to my knowledge
chankstein38 3y ago
Especially the people whose history gets wholesale deleted on a regular schedule. I understand privacy but there are so many conversations on reddit that could be useful if not for the giant gaps caused by these kinds of things.
- june07 3y ago
  I hate getting a push notification for a Reddit post and then clicking on it only to find... "This posting has been deleted by its author." (the Reddit version of that)
june07 3y ago
We are headed to Black Mirror episode https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entire_History_of_You https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entire_History_of_You, just saying. Particularly with smart glasses seemingly (for real this time) on the horizon. So, tools like this will pale in comparison to what's to come.
jpc0 3y ago
This here is at the forefront of the entire reason for the massive backlash at tge Reddit API changes. I created that content, I can decide what is done with it. If I dislike the direction reddit is going I should be able to remove said content and prevent reddit from generating income for it. Reddit didn't pay me to provide the information I did, neither did you. Neither of you are entitled to it remaining there indefinitely. I actually like OPs tool though, I don't have an issue with what it does, however I would if it stored that data on OPs servers and then trained an LLM on it or sold the information to an ad company. Suffice to say I think LLMs are going to degrade the general internet due to people not wanting what they said in an LLM. I personally post for other humans to benefit, not for a corporation to train an LLM on and make a ton of income. I'm fine however with a platform using tasteful ads to fund it's own operations. Insert random ideas about posts made online being equated to a public speech and where that falls in the copyright laws that currently exist for the future LLM that parses this stuff.
- xwdv 3y ago
  Sorry to tell you, but once you post it on Reddit, the content is no longer yours. Not your content, not your choice.
  - jpc0 3y ago
    I am still an individual in this world with rights no matter how much "the internet" feels that isn't true. Reference the current legislation being put in place around the world regarding privacy as proof that I am not in the minority here. Also it did work exactly like that since reddit allowed me to delete said content and and chose to stop posting or interacting with reddit. Could there be a copy my reddit history out there somewhere? Sure. Do I have an issue with that? Nope. Would I have an issue with that if that copy was held by reddit and they still trained LLMs or sold it to ad companies? Yes and I'm sure I also have legal standing on that backed by my government.
    - redeeman 3y ago
      you also had the right to read the reddit terms of service, granting them ability to do this with "your" information
Isthatablackgsd 3y ago
Especially solutions for various software and stuff. I ran into an rare issue with one software last year that I couldn't remember what it is. I saw the error in the log and posted it in Google. There are only one Reddit post in search of this error. The deleted user deleted the comment of the solution, preventing anyone from fixing the issue. That deleted comment have more than 200 child comments for thanking for the simple solution and other are asking other what are the solution after the deletion. Some got around by quoting the comment to for those deletion situations. I get they want to protect their privacy and whatnots. It is rather infuriating when it is the only solution in the entire internet that are deleted.
- xwdv 3y ago
  Yea, I think I will build a plug-in that will automatically quote the comment you reply to and the author just to exactly prevent these kinds of situations.
oldbbsnickname 3y ago
Reddit is anti-patterns all the way down. They only thing they have/had is/was popularity, but that's fungible.

by xwdv 3y ago

AlbertCory 3y ago

Wrong. If the post is accumulating negative points, author should be able to delete it.

whelp_24 3y ago
why?
bee_rider 3y ago
It destroys the conversation. It would be nice to be able to disown a comment, instead. Comments that accidentally reveal personal information, that would be a nice use-case for deletion. But on the other hand, nothing can be deleted from the internet, so having the button there could add a false sense of security.
- AlbertCory 3y ago
  > nothing can be deleted from the internet In theory that's true; anything Donald Trump says, for instance, can never be deleted. In practice, if someone on Reddit deletes their post, it's extremely unlikely you'll be able to recover it. It's not a probability of zero, but pretty close to it. You could file a lawsuit and then Reddit will have to find it, but otherwise, it's gone.
  - Lacerda69 3y ago
    >You could file a lawsuit and then Reddit will have to find it I doubt that unless it's criminal evidence or something
    - AlbertCory 3y ago
      Civil suits have Discovery, too.
- slikrick 3y ago
  you should really look into lost media, stuff gets lost on the internet all the time. and that's just the stuff people are actually caring to look for
  - bee_rider 3y ago
    This is a totally unrelated issue. A file on the internet obviously could be backed up by anyone, so deleting things from the internet does not verifiably restore your privacy. A file on the internet might not be publicly accessible in the future. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been backed up privately. It is the worst of both worlds.
    - AlbertCory 3y ago
      You are both talking about what could happen. Indeed it could. Probably it won't, though, for most people.
      - bee_rider 3y ago
        Many Reddit posts were automatically backed up by various services before the recent API changes. https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-see-deleted-reddit-posts/ https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-see-deleted-reddit-posts/
        AlbertCory 3y ago
        But not anymore?
        bee_rider 3y ago
        I mean I’m not an expert on how these sites work, but it looks like pushshift.io was collecting Reddit posts before the API access removed. Posts made after the API access was removed would not be in Pushshift. Posts made before, are still in Pushshift. Deleting a post from the site doesn’t remove it from Pushshift. So… kinda not anymore? At least not publicly, using the officially supported API.

notesinthefield 3y ago

Are there not multiple ways to view deleted reddit posts or did they all get killed in the api deprecation?

lazyasciiart 3y ago
Mostly killed without you actively saving it before deletion, to my knowledge

chankstein38 3y ago

Especially the people whose history gets wholesale deleted on a regular schedule. I understand privacy but there are so many conversations on reddit that could be useful if not for the giant gaps caused by these kinds of things.

june07 3y ago
I hate getting a push notification for a Reddit post and then clicking on it only to find... "This posting has been deleted by its author." (the Reddit version of that)

june07 3y ago

We are headed to Black Mirror episode https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entire_History_of_You https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entire_History_of_You, just saying. Particularly with smart glasses seemingly (for real this time) on the horizon. So, tools like this will pale in comparison to what's to come.

jpc0 3y ago

This here is at the forefront of the entire reason for the massive backlash at tge Reddit API changes. I created that content, I can decide what is done with it. If I dislike the direction reddit is going I should be able to remove said content and prevent reddit from generating income for it. Reddit didn't pay me to provide the information I did, neither did you. Neither of you are entitled to it remaining there indefinitely. I actually like OPs tool though, I don't have an issue with what it does, however I would if it stored that data on OPs servers and then trained an LLM on it or sold the information to an ad company. Suffice to say I think LLMs are going to degrade the general internet due to people not wanting what they said in an LLM. I personally post for other humans to benefit, not for a corporation to train an LLM on and make a ton of income. I'm fine however with a platform using tasteful ads to fund it's own operations. Insert random ideas about posts made online being equated to a public speech and where that falls in the copyright laws that currently exist for the future LLM that parses this stuff.

xwdv 3y ago
Sorry to tell you, but once you post it on Reddit, the content is no longer yours. Not your content, not your choice.
- jpc0 3y ago
  I am still an individual in this world with rights no matter how much "the internet" feels that isn't true. Reference the current legislation being put in place around the world regarding privacy as proof that I am not in the minority here. Also it did work exactly like that since reddit allowed me to delete said content and and chose to stop posting or interacting with reddit. Could there be a copy my reddit history out there somewhere? Sure. Do I have an issue with that? Nope. Would I have an issue with that if that copy was held by reddit and they still trained LLMs or sold it to ad companies? Yes and I'm sure I also have legal standing on that backed by my government.
  - redeeman 3y ago
    you also had the right to read the reddit terms of service, granting them ability to do this with "your" information

Isthatablackgsd 3y ago

Especially solutions for various software and stuff. I ran into an rare issue with one software last year that I couldn't remember what it is. I saw the error in the log and posted it in Google. There are only one Reddit post in search of this error. The deleted user deleted the comment of the solution, preventing anyone from fixing the issue. That deleted comment have more than 200 child comments for thanking for the simple solution and other are asking other what are the solution after the deletion. Some got around by quoting the comment to for those deletion situations. I get they want to protect their privacy and whatnots. It is rather infuriating when it is the only solution in the entire internet that are deleted.

xwdv 3y ago
Yea, I think I will build a plug-in that will automatically quote the comment you reply to and the author just to exactly prevent these kinds of situations.

oldbbsnickname 3y ago

Reddit is anti-patterns all the way down. They only thing they have/had is/was popularity, but that's fungible.