Chris 👾 (@chris@mstdn.games)
mstdn.gamesAnother update and possibly a solution for some case where posts were not properly deleted. Seems I jumped the gun on this and the restores haven’t been intentional - at least not in this particular case.
There is a limitation in the popular Powerdelete that apparently prevents mass editing. Here is a link to a new version with a build-in delay and some other alternatives:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/145fico/comment/jnl4xmr/
There are other reported cases where manually deleted post reappeared or other scripts have been used, so this doesn’t solve all issues but explains how posts that were both edited and deleted withPowerdelete weren’t properly deleted and reappeared after subs went back live.
Update: As some have pointed out: the restores can be rollbacks from the server issues or post haven’t been properly deleted due to subs being private during blackouts. Many have experienced the same issue, I can’t explain how this happens. I’ll just run the script again, try the GDPR request and delete my account.
Also worth noting: according to the ToS Reddit can actually do whatever they want with existing content, apparently we agreed to this when signing up.
Tracking the lastest news and numbers about the #RedditMigration to open, Fediverse-based alternatives, including #Kbin and #Lemmy To see latest reeddit blackout info, see here: https://reddark.untone.uk/
- 0 users online
- 1 user / day
- 17 users / week
- 102 users / month
- 3.27K users / 6 months
- 1 subscriber
- 552 Posts
- 8.76K Comments
- Modlog
- mods:
Worth noting is that a number of US states also have strong protection laws. So, delete you comments manually and then, if you’re really trying to ensure that they delete your data, submit a data removal request that cites your locale’s law on data removal.
Theeeeeen in 6 months or so, send a data retrieval request to make sure they followed through… and report them if they did not comply. Might as well make them pay for that data if they can’t follow the rules.
In the US, indicate that you’re in California for the strongest legal option.
Assuming that this is, in fact, not legal and if they have money that can be gone after, I assume that someone may start a class action suit. In theory, they’re worth multiple billions, so…
An individual probably doesn’t care much about whatever harm is done, as the damage is too small. But this is the kind of thing where a lawyer can walk away with a big payday by aggregating cases of many users and then getting a percentage of any payout.
I am not at all certain that it is not legal, though.
This could be worse than anything else they’ve done. If they claim they own the data, are they then not responsible for it like newspapers? Is it in their terms and conditions they are free to do whatever with posted information, do they have the rights to edit users comments but in doing so become a content provider and therefore responsible. Kicking mods out doesn’t land you in court this seems high risk to be manipulating content. Doesn’t matter why it was deleted or edited it was deleted or edited who gets to decide what version to restore. Either you are hands off or you own the data and are responsible for it and upheld to media standards.
Edit: found a snippit of the terms and conditions in a German GDPR thread, It appears it is their terms and conditions that after you post it they can do with it what they like, even adapt it. Either way that’s not a reason to be gone.
There was that kerfuffle ages ago about u/spez editing comments in r/thedonald, iirc. It’s not like it would be that much of a stretch for him at least.
But it looks like from OP’s edits it may be unintentional. I’ll withhold my rage for now.
I recently made a browser extension that deletes your reddit posts or comments. It’s not quite as advanced as PowerDelete yet but it’s easier to install and I’m actively developing it: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bulk-delete-reddit-posts/nbfdoajmaaohkohdnbpjakamhcaaleco?hl=en&authuser=0
Let me know if you try it!
GDPR laws take the wheel
Been thinking about that. I don’t think that overrules laws like the GDPR though - law triumphs over ToS. And under GDPR, consent can be withdrawn, you can’t give an irrevokable consent.
What the actual fuck?
This really is getting worse by the minute…
Wow, that’s really shitty on Reddit’s part.
I’ve seen comments suggesting it’s something to do with PowerDelete. I used Shreddit to overwrite and delete mine and they’re still gone.
I deleted mine manually using the edit > delete on each comment individually and mine came back.
How do you know they came back? Do you see them agin in your profile? I used Power Delete Suite and except for 2 subreddits I can see no posts I made over the 14 last years in my profile? How do I make sure they have actually been deleted?
stop spamming the same question
Sorry my comment got posted twice, it was not my intention, I think it’s due to a bug.
It’s pretty easy to double post on kbin.
I used Redacted and posts and comments are reappearing after I confirmed they were gone on the website. I then manually deleted and some have come back.
I used shreddit and mine are all back.
Likely not the popular opinion here; but I’m not going to go through the trouble of re-deleting any posts they might have restored. That’s just additional frustration for me. I’m not going to go over to Reddit and provide them additional traffic to go look at something I did write on their platform at one point. I’m just moving on.
I think they’re creating enough trouble for themselves anyway just by constantly shooting themselves in the head. Also moving on is probably the least good thing for them. Losing users gradually will bleed them to death.
You should bear in mind, PowerDeleteSuite doesn’t get everything. It can only see what’s in your reddit profile under New, Top, Hot & Controversial - there will be numerous posts that are too old with only 1 or a few karma that aren’t displayed in these lists. In particular, if you go through your top posts of all time, you might find some replies to these posts that you made that the script did not see.
The GDPR archive gives a full list of all the comments. What we need is a FOSS script that can use these csv files to get everything. Apparently Shreddit can take the csv files, however you have to pay $15 to use this feature.
So… They’ve basically just admitted that deleting your posts is bad for Reddit.
Keep going, guys.
And spezi (as we lovingly refer to you in our household), expect lawyers.
wait if the account is deleted can they still restore the comments?
In practice, it’s hard to know exactly how Reddit structures the data they have and what exactly a delete actually does and what backups they have.
That being said, it’s not out of the question that you could delete your post history, then your account, and reddit only restores your post history and not your account, leaving you unable to delete it again.
My money is on this being a big due to the huge influx of comment updates and deletions. I can’t imagine they would do something this blatant on purpose.
looks like my comments deleted before blackout started are still deleted, so did they restore only more recent deletions?
Possibly, but several people reported some old post have been restored as well, some deleted a long time ago.
Holy damn. I deleted all my comments and my account ~a week ago. I don’t even know how to check if they restored something. 😠
I overwrote and then deleted all of my 14 year comment/post history and it came back complete. I hate to say it, but my guess is that it’ll all get restored.
That’s ok. I am petty enough to constantly delete my stuff.
You’ll have to do it manually for July.
“Manually” just means without the API.
I hope Reddit likes scraper bots consuming full webpages instead; surely that’s cheaper for them. /s