this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2024
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Do the advantages of deleting one's entire Reddit history outweigh the disadvantages?

I have previously nuked my first Reddit account because it felt satisfactory to be completely detached from a platform one considers unethical/bad. Though, I have garnered quite some history on a second account—because Duty Calls*, of course—and I'm considering doing the same.

However, I don't want to do it impulsively. I think I might be blind to some disadvantages. What do you think?

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

What disadvantages? Losing fake internet points? I deleted every post and comment I had ever made, as well as my account, several years ago. It has negatively impacted my life in exactly zero ways. Look man, no offense, but you're not erasing the works of Shakespeare over here. The world will keep on turning just fine if you delete your collection of memes and shit posts.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

You may be deleting your comments in the hopes that it will pull some value away from Reddit. That's not true, in fact, the opposite is more likely. They will still keep the deleted posts in their archives, and they will still be able to train their AI models on the content. The difference is that now they get an extra datapoint: these are the kind of comments of someone who left Reddit and deleted their account/comments. If you deleted them right after leaving, that means they can place your account deletion in time around the API changes, which will also contribute to their AI profile.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

AI, algorithms, and the statistics that power them are not that smart. They have no way of knowing for sure what is in your head when you hit the delete button.

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