https://github.com/j0be/PowerDeleteSuite
You can backup and delete or modify all your old reddit content. 1,500,000+ karma and 11 years of my content is being deleted right now. Reddit’s gold is user content: If you’ve left reddit, don’t leave them your content.
While it’s true that yes, deleting content isn’t going to delete it from their servers and they’ll still be able to utilize it, be aware that when they get caught doing so the EU and GDPR will fine them billions. Let’s set them up for a good one.
It weakens reddit’s ability to use that data for their own AI models. That is the reason for the whole api kerfluffle in the first place, there’s no other way to block other AIs from crawling the data for content. OpenAI and others likely made tens if not hundreds of millions off the content in reddit in the last few years, and they paid reddit nothing for it. It’s got reddit admins and executives really pissed off.
Thing is, Reddit paid me nothing for the content too though. At the end of the day I don’t want my content propping up another fascist billionaire social media mogul with an ego problem, not even a little bit. They burned their bridge so I took my toys and left.
For me personally, the value of the comments remaining for people like you and me to have access to is greater than the value of potentially harming Reddit as a company.
I’m not supporting Reddit or their actions at all but these days I feel like the oligarchs always win so why hurt the little guy.
I can respect the stance, kind of. Can I offer an alternative perspective on that though?
For starters, Oligarchs don’t always win. That’s defeatism, don’t do that - for your own good.
But the main thing I’m pointing out is that there’s a particularly stinky arrogance in the creation of a hypothetical “little guy helped by my words”, and I know it because when I honestly ask myself why I contributed to reddit, it’s for me, not others. I wrote because I enjoyed it. Both quality and quantity. And while many people may have been helped by my words in one way or another and I’m happy for them, I didn’t honestly write any of it for them. I did it for me. And it was me who didn’t want to see the content go off into the nether, I was the hold-up. In my view, that’s again - a particularly stinky kind of arrogance. One I recognized in myself and took action to overcome. Your comment reminded me of it is all.
I see where you’re coming from but I think who you wrote the comments for doesn’t change their value to society. Deleting Reddit comments to make a point feels a bit like burning books to me.