Another update and possibly a solution for some case where posts were not properly deleted. Seems I jumped the gun on this and the restores haven’t been intentional - at least not in this particular case.
There is a limitation in the popular Powerdelete that apparently prevents mass editing. Here is a link to a new version with a build-in delay and some other alternatives:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/145fico/comment/jnl4xmr/
There are other reported cases where manually deleted post reappeared or other scripts have been used, so this doesn’t solve all issues but explains how posts that were both edited and deleted withPowerdelete weren’t properly deleted and reappeared after subs went back live.
Update: As some have pointed out: the restores can be rollbacks from the server issues or post haven’t been properly deleted due to subs being private during blackouts. Many have experienced the same issue, I can’t explain how this happens. I’ll just run the script again, try the GDPR request and delete my account.
Also worth noting: according to the ToS Reddit can actually do whatever they want with existing content, apparently we agreed to this when signing up.
When an account is deleted, all the comments still exist, the author’s name just changes to “[deleted]”. You’d need to use a third-party tool that deletes all the comments individually, or potentially send them a GDPR or CCPA “right to be forgotten” request (although I’m unsure as to if this actually deletes the comments).
https://www.unddit.com/
Not sure if still possible, but this was a way to show deleted reddit comments
Sites like this will likely die off once they make the API cost money, since they all work by calling the API and getting a list of all the newest comments.
I had done that, but now I’m concerned they’ll somehow pull the comments up even though the account is removed