this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2023
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Yep, I already noticed a few people downvoting a full page of my comments, even when I post some neutral stuff like bash code for mounting stuff on ubuntu. It didn't work on reddit but here it does. I did the test with someone pointing at my reputation, I was able to grind like 40 reputation from him by simply downvoting everything he said in comments.
The problem is not just the number, it's the impression that other people will get from your post. It will induce confusion and misinterpretation.
Also, the content you write is duplicated around instances, so there is no deletion possible of your content "a la reddit". Once you write something it's duplicated elsewhere and you won't have jurisdiction there. So if you ever get doxxed it's over, so careful with what you write.
Reddit's comments were archived by third parties too, it's possible to download a backup of everything ever posted to it. Ironically enough the API changes will make that a lot harder to accomplish now, though it can still be done.
Even more ironically I'm using this offline backup to dig out my comments id's so I can delete them surgically in the live database.
Turned out that I had more than 30k comments on reddit. Just to give an idea of how much of reddit content can remain if you delete using the API in a "normal" way. I managed to only delete like 900 of them in the "normal" way.
If I had more time I would have made a double entry database where a user could return a list of his comments id's based on his username. That would have purged the database way more efficiently.
Since I will likely never come this close to an opportunity to brag about it again, as of last night I had 53,532 Reddit comments in my own offline archive of "things I've commented on." I've been using a script to copy them for future reference, after this long on Reddit I find myself semi-frequently thinking "haven't I had this argument before?" And then on checking finding that yes I did, four years ago. Simplifies things greatly to be able to copy and paste chunks of my old arguments into the new thread.
Are edits transferred to other instances? I would imagine so.
No guarantee they get the edits. Plus every instance can store older versions if they want and provide a 'edit history', whether that's a part of the current protocol or not it is technically possible.
Just like how someone can archive anything on the internet really.
People should consider everything they do online to be public and trackable. If anonymity is important, it requires direct planning and effort to achieve. Data processing is so powerful and only getting stronger. Companies can learn more about you than you'd think without ever having access to your "PII".
The last bit is not strictly true - if you delete a post/comment it will federate the deletion so it will (should) delete everywhere. Any hosts which are off-line or later defederated might still keep a copy of it though, or a user client may have it cached. "Be careful with what you write" is always good advice regardless!