undefined | Better HN

0 pointsrandomdata3y ago0 comments

A comment’s value rarely outlasts more than 24 hours, if that. Why hoard data?

0 comments

11 comments · 4 top-level

Cerium3y ago· 6 in thread

That's crazy, most of the comments I read are months if not years old.

Exactly. And it's so sad when I find a thread that clearly had exactly the answer I was looking for to a question, with somebody replying "thanks so much that answers it perfectly!" only the answer itself was deleted. :(

ajdude3y ago

A couple years ago I came across a deleted Reddit comment[1] and I wished that I could read it so badly I messaged the op and asked him what he said. He didn't remember, and I was hoping so badly it would've been restored after I read this news. Alas, it wasn't.

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/avoidchineseproducts/comments/eh80f...

1 more reply

didntcheck3y ago

This is why I quite like that Reddit by default just orphans comments on account deletion. One comment is usually not much of a PII danger, it's correlating them that builds up a picture. So this lets people leave their comments for others while reducing dox risk (well, unless the attacker uses Pushshift, in which case this is all futile)

randomdataOP3y ago

If I wrote something especially noteworthy, I'll likely remember in my mind forevermore. If memory loss does occur someday, oh well. Am I going to remember to care?

The rest served its purpose at the time, but isn't something I will ever want to look back on again. What do you find so interesting in your old work?

Cerium3y ago

It's not my old work I want to read, it's that of others. Comments are a frequently valuable shared annotation system for discussion on a post. Frequently I will search reddit for answers to questions I have and find a useful result in a comment.

Other times I want to get a summary of a new topic so I will find an applicable subreddit and sort by top from the last year to get an idea of what is interesting for this community.

1 more reply

Kye3y ago

I've had some interesting discussions replying to 10+ year old comments I find in Google ever since Reddit allowed subs to opt in to replies to older threads.

rafark3y ago· 1 in thread

I have to disagree. Landing on a reddit thread after googling something is very common.

red-iron-pine3y ago

random reddit posts have saved my butt several times in "oh god oh god I broke the data lake" or similar situations.

Some rando post from 2 years ago, too. Deleting them after 24 hours just kinda takes away the value prop for reddit. If I want a real-ish-time convo with someone then i'll get on Discord; the value of reddit is the posts live on.

ajdude3y ago

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/avoidchineseproducts/comments/eh80f...

asylteltine3y ago

That’s not true at all. Most of the random helpful searches I have done dig up comments that are months or years old.

It’s basically like making a post asking a really obscure question and then just writing nvm figured it out.

At the same time, I want Reddit to fail

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

11 comments · 4 top-level

Cerium3y ago· 6 in thread

That's crazy, most of the comments I read are months if not years old.

crazygringo3y ago

ajdude3y ago

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/avoidchineseproducts/comments/eh80f...

1 more reply

didntcheck3y ago

randomdataOP3y ago

If I wrote something especially noteworthy, I'll likely remember in my mind forevermore. If memory loss does occur someday, oh well. Am I going to remember to care?

The rest served its purpose at the time, but isn't something I will ever want to look back on again. What do you find so interesting in your old work?

Cerium3y ago

Other times I want to get a summary of a new topic so I will find an applicable subreddit and sort by top from the last year to get an idea of what is interesting for this community.

1 more reply

Kye3y ago

I've had some interesting discussions replying to 10+ year old comments I find in Google ever since Reddit allowed subs to opt in to replies to older threads.

rafark3y ago· 1 in thread

I have to disagree. Landing on a reddit thread after googling something is very common.

red-iron-pine3y ago

random reddit posts have saved my butt several times in "oh god oh god I broke the data lake" or similar situations.

ajdude3y ago

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/avoidchineseproducts/comments/eh80f...

asylteltine3y ago

That’s not true at all. Most of the random helpful searches I have done dig up comments that are months or years old.

It’s basically like making a post asking a really obscure question and then just writing nvm figured it out.

At the same time, I want Reddit to fail

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse