this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2023
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Reddit Migration
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I believe that “0 comments” you can see is limited to about 1000. There’s a list of your comments that are viewable by your profile page, and that only caches the first 1000 in any category (top, new, controversial, etc).
Close.
Each of Reddit's listings (top submissions, recent comments, etc.) is generated from a database index. Those indexes are limited to 1000 entries, by dropping older ones as new ones arrive, and they don't re-index for deletions.
That means that once a listing goes over 1000 items, the oldest items can no longer be found through it. The messages are still in the database somewhere, but can only be reached from some other index (different sorting order) or a search or a direct link.
So, the messages are not being deleted and then restored; they're not being deleted in the first place, because the tools have no way to find them.
This is why a formal data deletion request is often more effective than a deletion tool on Reddit.
But they have refused in the past to comply with a formal deletion request. They say, you may delete your account, but if you want your comments/submissions deleted, then you will have to do all of them yourself. My source is Louise Rossman on YouTube talking about how Reddit is willing to do illegal things to stop people leaving their platform.
For the path of least resistance, getting the copy of the archive and then using a tool like github shreddit to delete works 100% without needing to do anything beyond setting up an API key manually.
To refuse to comply with a formal deletion request (where reddit does the deleting instead of you (even via a tool like shreddit)) is illegal, and reddit should lose in the end, but it will take some years go to through the courts and such.
I appreciate the input of a link/name of the GitHub that can delete comments. I agree they should lose in the end for refusing to delete all content and it’s just a matter of getting them there.
Also, anyone still planning to delete their comments and then delete their account: make sure your comments are gone and then wait a few weeks to make sure the comments stay gone.