Chris 👾 (@chris@mstdn.games)
mstdn.games
Attached: 2 images 👿 PSA: #Reddit is restoring deleted and overwritten posts to save what they consider "their data". This is a new low and probably illegal at least in Europe. You can send a GDPR or CPRA request here: https://www.reddit.com/settings/data-request These are screenshots of my profile on June 14th before and after overwriting and then deleting all my posts with Powerdelete. Today, June 16th all my posts have been restored by Reddit without my knowledge or consent. #redditblackout #redditmigration #kbin #lemmy

Another 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.

#redditblackout #redditmigration #kbin #lemmy

  • megane-kun
    14•1 year ago

    That’s awful. I wonder if there’s a way to automate deleting all of our posts and replies—and repeatedly run it on a schedule via a cron job or something, maybe once an hour or something. And let it run until their API becomes locked down.

    • Trebach
      8•1 year ago

      And then replace it with a Selenium script afterwards.

      • megane-kun
        0•1 year ago

        If only I know enough about programming to do it.

        Right now, I’m looking at an option that I can run via command line here which I can add to my cron job queue.

    • chri5OP
      3•1 year ago

      That’s not a bad idea actually. The Powerdelete script I used is based on Javascript and needs to be started manually in the browser window, I’ll just run the script once a day. But maybe someone with more knowledge can come up with a more automated solution. They can’t restore user accounts forever.

    • Kwik
      3•1 year ago

      @megane_kun I was thinking something very similar. I’m sure there are keywords they’re looking for too, like “third party apps” and “fuck /u/spez” which trigger the restore.

      • megane-kun
        1•1 year ago

        Probably, though from what I’ve seen in the linked thread, there’s no such keywords present.

        What I suspect is that Reddit admins saw a rise in deletions, and put two and two together and thought it’s part of the protest. They’re not wrong, but still a dick move.