I'm looking for a tool to delete old reddit comments from an account. Yes, I know that this won't really stop them from having all my data, and that it's all archived out there on the internet, but I still have other reasons I'd like to do this.
I would use Ereddicator, but it currently seems like that won't work — it requires you to create your own reddit app, and reddit no longer lets you do this without specifically requesting API access for your account. I made a request, but it was denied, and as I'm not really a developer I don't know what you have to do/say to get permission. If anyone knows what I can do to get API access approved, that would work for me.
Otherwise, are there any other options that would work? I have a few criteria for what I'm looking for:
It needs to be able to edit/delete all comments on an account, not just recent ones, likely with the Reddit Data Export you can get.
It needs to be able to set date ranges for deletion, rather than just delete everything. Subreddit filtering would also be convenient but not strictly necessary.
Should go without saying, but I'm mainly targeting comments here, so it needs to be able to exclude posts.
I tried using redact.dev, but this didn't do anything — probably because I tried to set it to delete from a date range it didn't have any data for since it wasn't using my Reddit Data Export. Or it was just broken, I don't know.
Is there a good, free option for this? I'm willing to consider a paid one considering it'd be a one-time thing for me, but I'd like to know for sure that the paid option will actually work and do what I need.
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Have you heard of this?
https://github.com/j0be/PowerDeleteSuite
I tried it, but it didn't seem to do anything. Not sure if I configured it wrong, or if it, like others, doesn't work with older comments (since it doesn't seem to have a feature for using your reddit data archive). I could just be using it wrong.
Should it be able to delete old comments that reddit doesn't load anymore as part of your comment history? If it can, it would hit everything I want.
Update: I messed around with PowerDelete some more. I don't know what I was doing wrong when I tried it yesterday, but it seems to be working now. This is what I needed. Thanks.
Edit: Actually, still not sure this was it. I set PowerDelete to delete everything from a date range that should cover about 3000 comments (judging from my reddit data export), but it only deleted around 40. So yeah, it seems like its way of searching does manage to find some old comments, but it's not as good as going off of the data export.
I use Shreddit to occasionally clean up my old comments.
It costs $5 for the basic service, or $20 to delete archived data or a more granular level of filters and scheduled tasks. Both prices are 1 off payments for "lifetime" usage.
Note that there are archives in the wild that do not necessarily respect deletion requests no matter which tool you use, so it might not help against a dedicated stalker but it does prevent casual trolls from digging into your history
What features do the two tiers offer? Is the $20 tier necessary for filtering by date ranges and for going off of a reddit data archive?
And yeah, in the end I accept that if anyone really wants to find stuff, they can. I mostly just want to make that more difficult and significantly less likely.
Read more here: https://shreddit.com/
I'm not seeing an option for setting specific date ranges, and when I connect my reddit account (without paying yet), I'm only seeing options to automatically delete everything 1 week/1 month/6 months/1 year/etc in the past. Are these the only options?
If so, this unfortunately does not match my use case. I'm not interested in deleting everything as time goes on. It's more like, to use rough numbers, I might want to delete everything from 2015-2020, while keeping everything from 2020-2025. Is this at all possible with Shreddit, and if not, are you aware of any other options?
I don't think custom date ranges are an option, but I submitted a support request to them to see if it's possible. Will report back when they respond.
You can choose to delete content only from certain subs though
I don't have any knowledge or experience with any other tools
you should probably try redact again without using a date filter
I do not want to delete everything. I want to delete comments within certain date ranges. Furthermore, redact being unable to delete old comments from an older date range does not give me faith it will delete those older comments at all when set without a date range.
maybe the "older date range" is beyond what reddit lets you load looking at your comment history. yes i guess try using your reddit data next time if possible
I might not have explained my situation clearly enough. I already have my reddit data downloaded, specifically so whatever deletion program I use can delete everything, but I didn't see an option in redact to use it. Is there one that I missed? Or is it a paid-only feature?
I also saw some talk of redact only deleting (in addition to editing) comments if you use a paid tier, which just didn't give me much trust in it as a tool — though I guess if I do decide to pay for one, it's an option.
could be that it's a paid feature
if you decide to pay for one of these tools, definitely don't dump 70 bucks for a year into redact. shits not worth that much money
Have you used the feature yourself? I've been looking through redact's website, but I can't find any specific information about whether it actually uses your reddit data. Shreddit's website at least specifies that it will, for its highest paid tier.
I usually use the "Nuke Reddit History" extension, but it rewrites and deletes all comments without any customization options. It’s also not perfect, after deleting a number of comments, you often need to refresh the page for it to work again.
From the looks of this, this extension might not be available anymore? I followed a link from a post and it's not there on the Chrome web store. Still, thanks for the suggestion.
I'm not sure about Google Chrome users, but for Microsoft Edge users like myself, it's still available: https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/nuke-reddit-history/bklbcgohenjegdibgmppligaapohkgip
Does this allow date filtering, or does it just delete everything? And can it access older comments past what reddit naturally lets you load?
It’s a pretty basic tool, and it’s been around forever. I’ve used it plenty of times over the years. It only has two options: delete all comments (oldest and newest included) or delete all posts. When you choose comments, it starts deleting from the newest ones and works its way back until everything’s gone.
"Description To overwrite & delete all your comments on Reddit, click this extension's icon next to your address bar. Scrub your comment & post history on Reddit with this open-source handy tool."
Just make a new account?
Please don't delete or vandalize your old posts and comments. You'll be damaging conversations with other people, or conversations two other people had in response to your post. You'll be destroying information useful to other people. And it doesn't help your privacy much. The "deleted" info still will reside in reddit's servers, in archives, and in any govt agency that scrapes reddit regularly. And agencies will just assume the "deleted" things are the ones to focus on.
Please don't moralize to me over what I have a right to do. I have a right to delete what I have posted myself. I'm well-aware that reddit's servers will still have it in the end, but I have my own (personal and private) reasons to still want to delete them from public view, and make it significantly more difficult for anyone to stumble across them.
Frankly, there is nothing of value that will be deleted anyway. I am not deleting everything on my account ever. I'm mostly deleting meaningless and stupid comments made by myself when I was a teenager, while making specific calls on what to preserve. Anything actually useful to anyone else, I would not be deleting anyway. That is why I am looking for a tool that can set date ranges rather than just delete everything.
I didn't say anything about your "rights".