I think when you are engaging in a conversation on a public forum it’s more important to keep the conversation readable in the future. I’m not sure I consider comments I post to be “my” data once I’ve shared it with everyone else. I remain the author, but I kiss control of them goodbye once they’re published for others to see.
Yes, but the same time if someone intentionally removes an account (as opposed to just abandoning it) then there is a clear intent to want to delete the data and I think out of respect it is the right thing to remove them. Obviously there are many ways those posts live on in backups and archives, so this is really only a thing done out of respect for the decision of the user.
However I guess when deleting the account there could be a question to the user if they want their old posts to be preserved or not.
However I guess when deleting the account there could be a question to the user if they want their old posts to be preserved or not.
Good point, could you make an issue for that? You can try the account deletion yourself, there is a confirmation dialog so you cant do it by accident. We should also clarify the warning message, to specify which data gets deleted.
Edit: Maybe we should also wait a month or so before deleting the email address, so that the account can still be restored if you change your mind.
I approve of poVoq’s suggestion. Data purging is already s default practice, so why not give users a choice?
For someone like me, I practice OPSEC to avoid deanonymisation, and in case I ever left this place (not anytime soon lol) or came back under a different alias, my content is definitely helpful to many people.
Cool down of deleted accounts might also be better for federation, at least I somehow remember that being the reason why accounts in Hubzilla only get fully removed after 4 weeks.
I dont think there is any problem with federation in that regard. But its worth noting that user federation is not federated yet on Lemmy, so you can still view that user profile and their posts/comments on other instances.
would you also consider giving users the third option of disassociating comments and posts from their identity? I imagine some people might want their contributions to the community to remain available (for example on support and question subs) in an anonymous manner.
And what is your opinion on users being able to delete the comments of other users by deleting the post? Don’t you think it’s unfair to those who have taken the time to answer a question or participate in a discussion?
would you also consider giving users the third option of disassociating comments and posts from their identity? I imagine some people might want their contributions to the community to remain available (for example on support and question subs) in an anonymous manner.
Except what if you want to delete the data later? You wouldn’t be able to if it’s truly anonymized because you wouldn’t be able to prove it was you. I can support an option to hide the name of your content from your account, kind of a “soft delete”, but IMO in general, if an account is permanently deleted, all the data should go to for privacy sake.
good point, I think giving users some time to change their mind and then making the decision permanent would be a good solution.
I can support an option to hide the name of your content from your account, kind of a “soft delete”
Agree. a soft delete would be cool, with an option of deleting it later.
but IMO in general, if an account is permanently deleted, all the data should go to for privacy sake.
I think giving users three options to choose from is better, so that everyone can make their own informed decisions, according to their threat model. Some information (like the answer to a technical problem) doesn’t harm privacy that much, and keeping it anonymously is a net positive in my opinion.
But as I said, my main problem is the ability to delete the comments of others by deleting the post. I don’t think a user should have the right to remove comments written by others.
I think when you are engaging in a conversation on a public forum it’s more important to keep the conversation readable in the future. I’m not sure I consider comments I post to be “my” data once I’ve shared it with everyone else. I remain the author, but I kiss control of them goodbye once they’re published for others to see.
Yes, but the same time if someone intentionally removes an account (as opposed to just abandoning it) then there is a clear intent to want to delete the data and I think out of respect it is the right thing to remove them. Obviously there are many ways those posts live on in backups and archives, so this is really only a thing done out of respect for the decision of the user.
However I guess when deleting the account there could be a question to the user if they want their old posts to be preserved or not.
Good point, could you make an issue for that? You can try the account deletion yourself, there is a confirmation dialog so you cant do it by accident. We should also clarify the warning message, to specify which data gets deleted.
Edit: Maybe we should also wait a month or so before deleting the email address, so that the account can still be restored if you change your mind.
I approve of poVoq’s suggestion. Data purging is already s default practice, so why not give users a choice?
For someone like me, I practice OPSEC to avoid deanonymisation, and in case I ever left this place (not anytime soon lol) or came back under a different alias, my content is definitely helpful to many people.
Ok done: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy-ui/issues/299
Cool down of deleted accounts might also be better for federation, at least I somehow remember that being the reason why accounts in Hubzilla only get fully removed after 4 weeks.
I dont think there is any problem with federation in that regard. But its worth noting that user federation is not federated yet on Lemmy, so you can still view that user profile and their posts/comments on other instances.
https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/1284
would you also consider giving users the third option of disassociating comments and posts from their identity? I imagine some people might want their contributions to the community to remain available (for example on support and question subs) in an anonymous manner.
And what is your opinion on users being able to delete the comments of other users by deleting the post? Don’t you think it’s unfair to those who have taken the time to answer a question or participate in a discussion?
Except what if you want to delete the data later? You wouldn’t be able to if it’s truly anonymized because you wouldn’t be able to prove it was you. I can support an option to hide the name of your content from your account, kind of a “soft delete”, but IMO in general, if an account is permanently deleted, all the data should go to for privacy sake.
good point, I think giving users some time to change their mind and then making the decision permanent would be a good solution.
Agree. a soft delete would be cool, with an option of deleting it later.
I think giving users three options to choose from is better, so that everyone can make their own informed decisions, according to their threat model. Some information (like the answer to a technical problem) doesn’t harm privacy that much, and keeping it anonymously is a net positive in my opinion.
But as I said, my main problem is the ability to delete the comments of others by deleting the post. I don’t think a user should have the right to remove comments written by others.
Good point, I added that to the issue which povoq opened.
Thanks!