4 ms·

I've worked at companies where soft delete was implemented everywhere, even in irrelevant internal systems... I think it's a cultural thing! I still remember a

I've worked at companies where soft delete was implemented everywhere, even in irrelevant internal systems... I think it's a cultural thing! I still remember a college professor scolding me on an extension project because I hadn't implemented soft delete... in his words, "In the business world, data is never deleted!!"

mrkeen 9mo ago
No comment from the professor on modifications though?
salomonk_mur 9mo ago
But... It's true. Deleting data completely is an easy way to gimp and lobotomize your future analysis. Storage is cheap. Never delete data.
- ziml77 9mo ago
  I prefer audit tables. Soft deletes don't capture updates, audit tables do (you could make every update a delete and insert in a soft delete table, but that adds a lot of bloat to the table)
- yxhuvud 9mo ago
  Deleting data is also a very easy way to not get GDPR compliance issues. Data is a cost and a risk, and should be minimised to what is actually relevant. Storage is the least part of the cost.
  - phito 9mo ago
    Not an issue if you're not building SaaS
    - yxhuvud 9mo ago
      Depends on your jurisdiction I suppose. If you are in EU it's a question if you have PII or not - if you are a SaaS or not is totally irrelevant.
- sfn42 9mo ago
  Depends on the data in question. Some data is worth keeping, other data isn't.