Shreddit - Remove your comment history on Reddit as deleting an account does not do so.

manitcor@lemmy.intai.tech to Lemmy.World Announcements@lemmy.world – 16 points – GitHub - x89/Shreddit: Remove your comment history on Reddit as deleting an account does not do so.
github.com

per @Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world You can also use shreddit.com if you don’t want to download the program itself.

there are also tools you can use to back this up before you do it. https://github.com/samirelanduk/reddit-save

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just to add that i have read that your comments won't be deleted/edited from blacked out subreddits, so maybe worthwhile to wait until the subreddits are back up (if they do come back!)

I found this out after I deleted my account which is a little whoops as I can't now log back in and finish the job haha.

i expect the period over the coming 2 weeks to be your opportunity to do this, some subs wont reopen but most will reopen for 2 weeks then close again on the 30th. if you want to keep anything, that will be your time to do it. the only other time may be shortly before reddit goes under entirely

While I understand the intent of not wanting them to profit from existing work, I feel like deleting content removes a resource for everyone. It would be interesting if there was a tool that would export comments and allow the authors to repopulate them elsewhere so they can still be searched and referenced.

I'd rather just... Stop using my account. Make Reddit pay for the data I gave it till the day they decide to remove my account.

They're complaining about Reddit costing money. Dead accounts don't make much money - they can only sell the data so many times before it becomes completely irrelevant. So let's cost as much money for them as they can as punishment and just park our accounts instead of removing them.

Shred-it bro

Love this video, Shred it! Broooo

In all seriousness though I probably won't be deleting my stuff either. Less than a month ago someone replied to a message of mine that was years old and they said they found it when googling. I don't want to ruin someone's day when they try to find something to answer their questions.

backup, re-post here.

I've seen a few people suggest this, but wouldn't it be pretty useless without the context of the rest of the original post?

Like I could back up all of my comments and repost them here, but no one will know what they were in reply to unless I also backup and import the rest of the thread.

(I'm not against that, but I also don't know if there'd be legal issues?)

you should check if the stuff you care about is on the webarchive, if its not see if you can get it there.

That's a good point. I guess a solution to my issue could be to post a dump of saved/exported comments/posts but also link to archive.org for them.

I've been using a self-hosted YacY instance lately too and have it set up to automatically index/cache rss feeds from my reddit upvotes/comments, so that kind of works too.

Wdym?

there are tools that let you backup your post history, then its a matter of finding/waiting for someone to make (either already exists or will soon) a tool to import what you want here.

IMO just reclaiming your content, not deleting.

I don't see importing really working all that well. Like the other commentor said, without context (the original post and other comments) your own messages are pretty much useless. And while not impossible, I don't really see how you would import an entire thread with other people's comments, because they're different users. Letting just anyone upload an entire thread including other users comments would open up an instance to A LOT of spam.

Afaik when you delete the account the comments turn into the deleted username, so there's no real record anymore of who the comments belonged to. I know some people like to be thorough and delete every trace of their online persona.

I think I'll leave my comments up. There's nothing worse than googling something and finding it on reddit but half the comments are deleted. Even though I'm rooting for Lemmy, I know I'm still gonna be adding "reddit" to my google searches.

I also suggest submitting a request to exercise your privacy rights (if applicable to your location): https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360001370251

According to Reddit's Privacy Policy (as of June 13, 2023), they need to verify that you have access to your Reddit account:

Before we process a request from you about your personal information, we need to verify the request via your access to your Reddit account or to a verified email address associated with your Reddit account.

Also note from the Privacy Policy (as of June 13, 2023):

After you submit a request to delete your account, it may take up to 90 days for our purge script to complete deletion. We may also retain certain information about you as required by law or for legitimate business purposes.

You can also use shreddit.com if you don't want to download the program itself.

Oh, neat! Although I think I'll wait for the very, very, very slim chance spez gets fired/backtracks.

thats not happening lol

Yeah, but I'm not ready to shred my decade of reddit history just yet. LOL

i feel you. i "shredded" my 13 year old account and several alts. it wasnt easy lol.