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Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

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Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#51

Post by kazinator »

krapp wrote: post #43
ausjke wrote: post #42

this really should be as easy as a database DELETE operation, why is it so difficult? guess the design for HN site is not "user-first". recalling facebook etc was impossible to remove your account but now it seems feasible and quick, though not sure if facebook/etc indeed flushes the deleted-account cleanly.

Hacker News doesn't use a database - data is stored in Arc Lisp closures in flat files. I'm not certain how it handles usernames, though (I've played around a bit with Anarki, but can't remember) but I suspect it would probably involve a lot of file parsing and editing, assuming each username is literally just copied into a field in each thread file.

> data is stored in Arc Lisp closures in flat files.

Are you sure? What the word "closure" usually refers to isn't an externalizable object used for persistent storage.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#52

Post by combatentropy »

candiodari wrote: post #49
combatentropy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is deleting your digital tracks possible? What about crawlers and archives? Getting them all to delete stuff at anyone's whim seems an undue burden to me. Who signed up for the account, typed out the post, and clicked Publish? What do you think about people in real life who will never forget something that you said or did, even after you no longer like it. I think it's just being an adult.

I believe the gpdr demands it be possible, at the cost of severe penalties if it’s not done. As to how far they’ll go, they’ve threatened companies with billion dollar fines if they don’t delete references to crimes. Being an adult, I believe, includes following the law.

So deleting references to crimes is following the law?

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#53

Post by Volundr »

kazinator wrote: post #51
krapp wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hacker News doesn't use a database - data is stored in Arc Lisp closures in flat files. I'm not certain how it handles usernames, though (I've played around a bit with Anarki, but can't remember) but I suspect it would probably involve a lot of file parsing and editing, assuming each username is literally just copied into a field in each thread file.

> data is stored in Arc Lisp closures in flat files. Are you sure? What the word "closure" usually refers to isn't an externalizable object used for persistent storage.

I can't speak to this particular detail, but it's written in ARC LISP, which itself is written in Racket, which has serializable closures (https://docs.racket-lang.org/web-server-internal/closure.htm...) so it's at least possible.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#54

Post by lowry »

If I post a comment, and a dozen people comment on my comment do I have the moral right to delete my comment? In most cases, the answer should be a big NO.

A deletion of a parent comment breaks the flow of discussion. Unless a service makes a point of deleting historical comments, letting users delete their comments will worsen its historical record.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#55

Post by anilgulecha »

lowry wrote: post #54

If I post a comment, and a dozen people comment on my comment do I have the moral right to delete my comment? In most cases, the answer should be a big NO. A deletion of a parent comment breaks the flow of discussion. Unless a service makes a point of deleting historical comments, letting users delete their comments will worsen its historical record.

1) Usually users own the copyright of their comments. They do have the moral right at-least to disallow continued propagation of comments.

2) It should still be possible to delete accounts, without removing comments -- but reassigning those comments to a temporary/anonymous account id. This solves for account deletion, but not content deletion.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#56

Post by xg15 »

Mononokay wrote: post #33
nl wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both it and YC have made it rather clear they don't want to touch the EU. Not sure where you are getting that. YC have funded a lot of EU companies, and some partners are from the EU. YC certainly has revenue (from investors). HN isn't some separate legal entity - it's right there in the domain name.

They require every founder to come to the US and register as a US company. That's not particularly touching it.

Unless they IP ban the whole of the EU, they will still be subject to the GDPR once any EU citizen accesses their site. (Which, agreeing with AmericanChopper, is a purely theoretical thing - until the moment where YC wants to conduct any kind of business in the EU)

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#57

Post by wingerlang »

ebbv wrote: post #28
ikeboy wrote: post #23

On a related note, I'm annoyed at sites that typically let you delete your own content, but it's possible for you to get blocked from seeing it and then you can't remove it any more. For example, if you post or comment in a Facebook group and then leave it, you can't remove those comments. Same if you comment on someone's post and they then block you. On Reddit if you post in a private sub or a gold-only sub and late…

Similarly if you delete your reddit account but don’t spend the time to delete all your posts and comments before you do, they won’t go away.

Deleting a comment on reddit also doesn't delete the content. For that to happen you first need to edit it to be blank, then remove it.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#58

Post by xg15 »

FooHentai wrote: post #19
xg15 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The can have all my posts they like - but that's no reason to also store my email address and force me to secure/manage the password of an account that I never intend to use again.

I agree with you. However as a workaround in the meantime what you may be able to do is: 1. Change the email address to a disposable one. There's so many services, no way HN can prevent you doing this. 2. Update the password to a unique, complex password. Store it or don't, your choice. 3. Walk away from the account.

Even then the password and/or throwaway address could be leaked in the next data breach - which in the worst case could allow all kinds of trolls to access my account and impersonate me without me having a way to recover it or lock them out. So of course I'd have to store my password.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#59

Post by xg15 »

a3n wrote: post #22
xg15 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The can have all my posts they like - but that's no reason to also store my email address and force me to secure/manage the password of an account that I never intend to use again.

As for your password, just change it to the result of fingerpainting on your keyboard.

If I want to keep other people from accessing the account then it's irrelevant whether or not I know the password.

Re: Ask HN: Why can't I delete my HN account?

#60

Post by nl »

Mononokay wrote: post #33
nl wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both it and YC have made it rather clear they don't want to touch the EU. Not sure where you are getting that. YC have funded a lot of EU companies, and some partners are from the EU. YC certainly has revenue (from investors). HN isn't some separate legal entity - it's right there in the domain name.

They require every founder to come to the US and register as a US company. That's not particularly touching it.

“Not touching the EU” is a meaningless phrase.

If they raise money from any limited partners in the EU it’s pretty easy to make a case they have an EU business. The physical location is irrelevant - that’s the whole point of the GDPR.

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