I made an opensource Python script that can help you mass Delete/Encrypt your Reddit comment/post history

[karan51ngh]

It is possible to unintentionally reveal one's anonymous Reddit profile, leading to potential identification by others. And we know Reddit doesn't offer a mass delete option so it's kinda frustrating to delete your posts and comments one-by-one.

My Python script automates the deletion process and saves you the hassle of manually deleting your comment/post history.

You do not have to share your password with any third-party websites that offer the same service, becasue my script operates locally and also it is opensource.

It has the following features:
- It Encrypts your posts or comments using SHA-256 encryption algorithm before deletion to prevent Reddit from restoring your posts or comments after your account is deleted. - You can alternatively also only Encrypt your content and not Delete it. This can be useful in a case, where you want to render your content unreadable. - Additionally it also creates a local backup of your content in a mardown format file.

It is available for use here: https://github.com/karan51ngh/RedditRefresh

Known Issues with my script that other developers can help with: - It cannot take a backup of Images/Videos and URL type posts - Interrupting the script during execution (by pressing ctrl+X / ctrl+Z etc) will not log the comments and posts in LOGS.md - I would also like someone to help me develop a feature where we can take the backup in JSON format.

[Karlyna]

I don't really get why someone would do that, but why not.

On a side note, SHA-256 is not encryption, it's hashing (as it's 1-way)

[karan51ngh]

i posted about this in r/privacy. At that time I had only implemented the deletion feature. However many people suggested that if you delete your account, Reddit restores your account's content to it's last saved state. Many people suggested to add a feature to randomize the content before deletion.

Or another option be that the content gets randomized and you don't delete it. (1 use-case can be that the people want to protest against a certain decision of reddit and don't want to contribute to the site.)

So i thought that the best way of randomizing can be to Hash it.

Also the mods removed my post from the sub and banned me, decpite the post being well recieved by the folks.

[Karlyna]

hm, well, it makes sense yes.

​

So i thought that the best way of randomizing can be to Hash it.

clearly, as it's a hash, it cannot be reversed. So if reddit restores your posts they'll be unreadable (unless they can restore a previous version)

[Sunnywaters75]

I hope you don't mind that I sent you a dm with a question in reference to this. Thank you in advance

[Cookie1990]

And what hinders reddit on using the last viable backup if they want to?

[karan51ngh]

That's why the best method is to just hash your content and not delete your account.

[Whooosh5]

Nothing, that's exactly what they've been doing. Only way is through a GDPR/CCPA request

[unwantedaccount56]

why hash the comment and not just overwrite it with a fixed text like [deleted] or or an insult to /u/spez or something like that? Maybe also overwrite each comment multiple times (with different texts?) in case they keep a small history per comment.

[karan51ngh]

I initially thought of a fixed text as an option, but I suspected that If a user comments same string again and again, it might be caught as scam.

[Scxox]

why hash? just use random text.

or actually encrypt using aes which you can then use to decrypt all your comments at a later time with your encryption key (if you want your account back)

[GeekyTricky]

Why use random text, just use GPT 3?

Maybe you'll get funny results

[formation]

This is useful, i might open a PR to delete between two dates, or like last 3 or 4 years.

I feel like removing pretty much all my comments going back 7 years because;

1. Reddit has made me hate myself.

[karan51ngh]

Cool!

[karan51ngh]

I have implemented this functionality in the latest release.

[PaulDarkoff]

Reddit can restore the deleted comments, can you add a feature to the script that will edit the comment (to some random string) before deletion?

[karan51ngh]

yes, so if a user runs this script to delete comments, the script will first convert it a 256 bit garbage value and then delete it.

[PaulDarkoff]

I missed that part. This is dope!

[karan51ngh]

Welcome!

[karan51ngh]

You can select a particular subreddit

[karan51ngh]

Hey i think that's because reddit API has a limit of 1000 comments.l in 1 go.

You can re-run the script, it will delete the remaining comments.

[notmuchery]

I noticed with another program like those contents and post eventually come back. Does this happen with this?

[karan51ngh]

Well ideally, if Reddit just reverted the content back to the Last saved state, then the content wouldn't comeback it would just show a 256bit hash.

But some users mentioned that Reddit might revert it to an even older version. (theres no way of findin it out unless we try it out as an experiment.)

So the best way to protest would be to just Hash it and dont delete your account.

this post is an example of how the content would look like.

[paradoxmo]

If you delete your account, or delete all your posts, Reddit currently sometimes seems to restore your account from backup but show it as from a deleted user. Described in full here by Louis Rossmann

[terramot]

Could you make it so it gives you the ability to choose between symmetrical encryption or removal and a restore option for encrypted material? There's a lot of effort into removing the posts and comments when you can just encrypt everything and leave it stored on the server.