A screenshot, taken way before rexxit, of two comments on reddit, dated “1 year ago”.

The first comment is by a deleted user and the comment has been removed. The second comment is a reply to the deleted comment and it says: “That solved it. Thanks!”

Edit: added temporal context.

  • @[email protected]
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    62 years ago

    If it says removed doesn’t that mean its a mod (or admin) action? My understanding is that it would say deleted if the user removed it.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      2 years ago

      Still infuriating when you’re looking for information that was removed, for whatever reason.

    • @[email protected]
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      12 years ago

      It’s what it looks like if you delete your comment.

      If it was an admin it would say something like “this comment has been removed by admins” or something similar. I’ve seen it happen a few times before I left the site.

      • JohnEdwa
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        2 years ago

        [deleted] by [deleted] is when you remove the message yourself. [removed] by [deleted] if it was removed by mods. [Removed by Reddit] by [deleted] if it was done by the admins (?), if the message is still there but the username is [deleted], they deactivated their account themselves.
        And if you get suspended, unless the admins wipe your account clean as well the message as well as the poster name stay as is.

    • DarkThoughts
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      12 years ago

      Moderator action. Reddit’s AEO edits it to [ Removed by Reddit ], even to the point where the author cannot see the comment’s content anymore. Always great when you try to appeal a ban and don’t even know what the comment said in the first place.

  • Rick
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    102 years ago

    Lol. Like looking for obscure troubleshooting and finding what looks to be the answer on an ancient abandoned forum… Oh wait… Is that reddit now too?

  • @[email protected]
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    412 years ago

    I saw a few people editing all their Reddit comments/posts with an explanation as to why the info is gone and they also gave a link to where they could find their content reposted on Lemmy. Thought that was pretty clever.

    • @[email protected]
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      122 years ago

      they also gave a link to where they could find their content reposted on Lemmy.

      I wanted to do the same but I have heard that reddit is censoring any mention of fediverse or migration to kbin/lemmy and hence I just edited it out (with PowerDeleteSuite fork) to some copy pasta and deleted my comments.

      • @[email protected]
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        52 years ago

        Seems like if you edit the post the comments don’t go away even if you put Lemmy links. Maybe there’s a time delay but I edited my comments through PDS too with Lemmy links and then looked in incognito/other devices after it was done and they were still there.

      • @[email protected]
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        142 years ago

        My brother you are kinda living under a rock. There have been widespread of websites/scripts to do this while the deadend(because we don’t know of what changes reddit would make of their api which may hamper the work of these services)of July 1st was approaching.

        1. Redact
        2. Shreddit
        3. Power Delete Suite
        4. (The best one, which I’ve used) Power Delete Suite Fork
        • @[email protected]
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          12 years ago

          I know about deleting comments, but do any of these let you back up your comments before removing them?

        • @[email protected]
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          12 years ago

          You probably missed reading the comment I was replying. What I meant is a script that automate what previous comment was about.

          It’s not simply deleting comments on Reddit, but relocating it to lemmy and replacing all comments on Reddit with link to comments on lemmy

  • TheWoozy
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    1012 years ago

    This is why I’m not deleting my reddit posts and comments. It’s not worth making the whole world a tiny bit worse just to punish one company.

    • Matharl
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      42 years ago

      Export your Reddit posts and comments, repost them on another platform like Lemmy then delete everything.

      Keeping your data on Reddit makes it still worth using and help them.

    • @[email protected]
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      72 years ago

      Same. I used to frequent help subs, both asking and answering questions, and I know the pain of finding a deleted answer to a niche but important question.

    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      I came to the same conclusion too. Nuking my shitposting account before leaving was enough to made me feel guilty so I decided to keep the other account that I used for actual problem solving and proper discussions intact for the same reason you mentioned.

    • @[email protected]
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      22 years ago

      Same. I was definitely free tech support on niche topics I still get random DMs about months apart by a lost redditor that’s found the light. I don’t care about Reddit “benefiting from my data”… bitch I gave that up as soon as I registered an account and interacted with other users via the reddit medium.

    • @[email protected]
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      22 years ago

      It’s funny to me that people seem to think your posts actually get deleted. I’m 99% sure they are still stored in the DB and deleting them just generates a new line in the DB with [deleted] as the content.

    • Bradamir
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      172 years ago

      Na, they need to be punished and by extension the world can hate Reddit over it.

      Also there is that website that lets you see deleted content.

    • @[email protected]
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      472 years ago

      Is ensuring an information monopoly for an unethical, profit-above-else driven corporation making the world better?

      • @[email protected]
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        402 years ago

        Saving the important posts, posting the question and answer to lemmy and then deleting those posts imo would be the most optimal solution. At least the information is available somewhere and not punishing people looking for answers to their queries.

        • @[email protected]
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          142 years ago

          Are Lemmy posts discoverable from normal search engines? If not, then it’s about as useful as the information posted in some obscure Discord chat

          • @[email protected]
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            132 years ago

            If Lemmy becomes the go-to place where the knowledge resides, “regular” search engines will adapt to index communities across the instances.

    • Patariki
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      -72 years ago

      Exactly, it’s like people burning the library of Alexandria again. And in some cases it doesnt stop traffic. The post with question will often stay. Just removing something because you don’t like someone’s actions… Sounds just like u/spez. And so they’ve become the thing they vowed to destroy.

      • moon_matter
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        2 years ago

        Devil’s advocate. There’s no such thing as an effective protest that doesn’t inconvenience the public. I’ve heard people say the exact same thing about the blackouts. This protest would not have worked if people could use Reddit normally and totally ignore what was going on. Unlike most protests, none of this does any harm to people IRL so I think people should be OK with being heavy-handed. It’s “oh no, I can’t access reddit to help figure out how to fix my wifi” vs “protests are blocking me on my way to work, causing me to be late and possibly be fired”. The situations just don’t compare.

        Beyond that, Reddit has replaced all forums and discussion boards and it’s actually a huge problem in terms of being a single point of failure. It’s a net positive that this issue was highlighted for the non-tech crowd.

      • Norah (pup/it/she)
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        2 years ago

        Except, it’s not like burning the Library of Alexandria again, because you can find most of those old posts on The Internet Archive. Hell, if you’re too lazy to go search the URL, there are browser extensions that will do it for you.

    • Admiral Patrick
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      1482 years ago

      I respect that, and if Reddit had handled the situation differently, I’d be inclined to agree. But I just do not want them profiting off of my contributions when they’ve shown such utter contempt for their user base and moderators.

    • jerry
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      82 years ago

      Same I do a lot of tech support and noob assistance.

    • @[email protected]
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      32 years ago

      It looks like it was removed by a mod. If a user deleted it it would have <deleted> in place of comment text rather than <removed>. This user also deleted his account but that wouldn’t delete his posts/comments.

    • Kill_joy
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      2 years ago

      Why does one single corporation get sole ownership of your knowledge?

      It’s not difficult to download what you have contributed to Reddit and to post elsewhere.

      Your knowledge belongs to you, you have the right to take it with you when you leave.

      Of course you have the right to be lazy and not do that. Or to say, “I am fine with leaving it for Reddit to sell”.

      But please don’t attempt to belittle or minimize the efforts of those who are trying to make a stand.

      You are acting like they are doing something wrong (“making the world smaller”) when they are simply deciding that their knowledge will not be monetized by a corporation.

      • @[email protected]
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        132 years ago

        It’s not difficult to download what you have contributed to Reddit and to post somewhere.

        It’s not easy either. Reddit sometimes has a particular set of posts that solve queries that are not even answered in stack overflow.

        Reddit may have did a massive asshole move, but deleting those things might make things difficult only for people who seek the knowledge, not reddit.

      • @[email protected]
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        162 years ago

        It’s not difficult to download what you have contributed to Reddit and to post elsewhere.

        If you believe that what you’ve learned is of value you have to both consider what you’re saying and who can see it. If it’s valuable Reddit is far more discoverable than a corner of the internet. It’s not a matter necessarily of being “lazy”, it’s weighing the medium with the message.

  • Admiral Patrick
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    292 years ago

    There’s every chance that’s Reddit’s fault and the comment with the answer was deleted within the last month as part of a “burn it down on the way out” protest. If you’re coming from a Google search, it may be annoying, but if you’re posting here about it, you can probably imagine why it was deleted.

    I mass edited all of my Reddit comments to say “Deleted” along with a message that I do not want Reddit profiting from my content when they treat their community so poorly. I felt that was more constructive than simply deleting the comments (and risk the admins restoring it if I were to delete my account entirely).

    Prior to the shitstorm, I was active in many communities and provided lots of answers to technical topics; those answers are now lost outside of any post archives out there.

  • @[email protected]
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    132 years ago

    I’m really torn by this. Should all this data be preserved for the betterment of society, or is that what Reddit should get for killing their goose that laid golden eggs…

  • Mostly_Harmless
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    52 years ago

    I think you’re going to begin to see a lot of that on Reddit. I overwrote and delete my ~10 years of comments and posts before deleting my account. I imagine a significant number of others have/will too.

    • JoJoGAH
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      12 years ago

      12 years here. It’s not to deprive others of information either. I did it because if people with the ethics of Spez own it, they’ll use for whatever means they see fit, meaning money, or paywall etc .
      The information people seek is still out there in the same places we all got it from in order to post it on reddit.
      Reddit made this mess by destroying trust. I have no idea how they’ll use that information if I leave it there .
      This is know: it won’t be for my benefit, likely it will be used to manipulate,or in bad faith. Similar to Facebook and insta.

  • Rhaedas
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    162 years ago

    DenverCoder9

    Actually worse, since you now know there is a solution. Even better when you find other links marking it as solved, that point back to the same place.

    I didn’t delete my comments. Mainly because Reddit had been renewing comments after deletion, so why waste my time over a thing out of my control now. But also just in case, for this. I doubt I posted anything very enlightening, but it’s not for me to judge their value. Maybe someone did, and others would.

    I just moved on, let things happen however they will.

  • snarfback
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    112 years ago

    Unlike the Great Library at Alexandria, the information contained in many reddit threads is actually available in other places and can be recreated - often by the same person if necessary and relevant.

    I understand people not wanting to have that information deleted, but I think the analogy is a bit heavy. For many, it’s a balancing act where the fundamental disagreement with reddit’s cultural evolution outweighs the desire to participate in the knowledge repository.

    I think many people were comfortable with their ideas belonging to the communities that spawned on reddit, and they viewed reddit’s ownership as a necessary technicality for the platform to exist. Once reddit clarified that they intended to act on that ownership, many people no longer wanted to participate.

    I think they have that right.

    More importantly, who owns our thoughts in this space?

  • StrikerM
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    42 years ago

    I see lots of them. Unpopular opinion but I think going back and deleting every single comment you made is an over the top method of protesting the API charges. Lots of interesting conversations are now gone forever.

  • goryramsy
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    32 years ago

    Give me a direct link, please? I can get it for you from my personal archives.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      52 years ago

      Appreciate the thought but this screenshot, as detailed in the description, was taken a year ago, when the comments were already a year old.

        • @[email protected]OP
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          2 years ago

          Then I still don’t have a link to give them because all I have is this teeny tiny screenshot with no further context.

              • goryramsy
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                22 years ago

                Okay, I have some results. Is it any of the following? It’s still searching, but these are what it found:

                “You can’t have a * in a filename.”

                “Its in the folder you downloaded for ScriptHookVDotNet probably, because that’s where it was for me.”

                https://www.wireless.att.com/premiercare/

                "do you mean the brush preview? that’s controlled by the drawing apps not the wacom driver

                https://www.tvpaint.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=9913"

                It’s searching for any comment 1-4 karma below a deleted comment. It’s a good thing it’s “That solved it. Thanks!” instead of “That solved it, Thanks!” (because commas are more common)

              • goryramsy
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                22 years ago

                Currently indexing my archives for the exact words “That solved it. Thanks!” Will check back when it finishes

  • BuddhaBeettle
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    52 years ago

    Yeah, I gave advice on some smaller / niche, topics. I didn’t delete the whole thing, only my most upvoted and/or most recent comments (I went all the way to december 2022, and every comment with more than 20 upvotes). Replaced it all with a link to my kbin.

    It was kind of sad reading all the replies that were like “we should put this comment in the FAQ / this is the best comment / this covers everything”. I was very throughout and loved speading what I learned, and it pains me a little the few times I lurked in those communities since moving to kbin and see lots of unanswered pleads for advice or straight up terrible advice being given…

  • @[email protected]
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    622 years ago

    This is why maintaining your account there and keep deleting your comments/posts will destroy Reddit. Do it, you have the power.

    • @[email protected]
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      202 years ago

      yes but at the same time – isn’t this worse for us, the users, as a whole losing bits of information like this? the fucks up top do not give a shit about any of this

      • @[email protected]
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        122 years ago

        It absolutely is worse for users because we can only find the content via channels that spez approves of - removing the content just means you can find the content to be unavailable faster than if you had to scroll through the ads

    • @[email protected]
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      312 years ago

      I destroyed thirteen years of comment and post history. Is there any reason I should further maintain my account? I’m asking because if there’s something more I can do to screw with their site via my account, I’m all ears.

      • @[email protected]
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        102 years ago

        Yes, submit a GDPR/CCPA (Reddit is in California, so they are legally required to serve these request to anyone ‘protected’ by US laws) request. It’s expensive and time consuming for them. It should also help you confirm if all of your data has actually been deleted. They have 30 days to comply with the request.

        My plan is, one I get my data and confirm everything is deleted, to submit another request if any data was found and will repeat this until all of the data is gone. Only then will I finally submit one more out of spite followed by immediately deleting the account. Honestly not sure how that will affect them processing it but I’d imagine it should then indeed confirm the account itself is ‘deleted’.

      • @[email protected]
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        192 years ago

        Make sure your posts are deleted, and sell it to an advertiser. Just look up where to sell. A 13 Year old account will make you a good bit of money, and it will in all likelihood be used to spam the site with an ad campaign.

        • @[email protected]
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          212 years ago

          Man on one hand that would feel cathartic as fuck, and who would mind a bit of extra money, but I don’t think I can bring myself to do that.

          I still feel a bit ambivalent about deleting comments in general, like yes it hurts the company, but it also hurts innocent users just looking for answers.

          • @[email protected]
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            2 years ago

            I looked up account buyers once. They really do hand out cash money for established Reddit accounts. They have these huge never ending lists of accounts for sale with details like how old it is, if it comes with activity in certain subs. All with prices right on them.

            Makes me wish I still had my og account from 11 years ago.

          • @[email protected]
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            112 years ago

            weird to say but once i found a answer for a problem in reddit that wasn’t solved/asked even in stack overflow.

      • @[email protected]
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        42 years ago

        Excellent. I don’t have any other idea yet but I always think it’s better to maintain an account there in case we want to use it. I plan to use my account to refer people to Lemmy for example.