Post #627778
2026-03-09 16:54 UTC
Replies (23)
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@jaz@toot.wales 2026-03-09 16:58
Some additional reading: How do I delete a post? https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-delete-a-post-on-mastodon/ Who can see my posts and replies? https://fedi.tips/who-can-see-my-posts-in-mastodon-how-do-i-send-dms-in-mastodon/ Fediverse never Forgets https://berk.es/2022/12/23/fediverse-never-forgets/ Provide a mechanism for acknowledgements of Delete activities https://github.com/w3c/activitypub/issues/406 Improve UI/UX copy for "Automated Post Deletion" to clarify data persistence https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/discussions/37955
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@daycoder@toot.wales 2026-03-09 17:26
@jaz@toot.wales I confess that I’ve never thought about it. Makes sense.
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@superflippy@mastodon.xyz 2026-03-09 18:06
@jaz@toot.wales Dammit, this means my most idiotic replies are probably still out there somewhere. I’m going to be a lot more careful about my reply guy tendencies from here on.
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@steeps@girlcock.club 2026-03-09 18:19
@jaz@toot.wales "I thought it worked like Facebook or X" who also send copies of your post around the world, and definitely don't delete them when you ask them to...
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@Gillinger@mas.to 2026-03-09 18:29
@jaz@toot.wales @Natasha_Jay@tech.lgbt Where's the option for "I didn't have a clue"? Put me down as a +1
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@M_Gatta@ecoevo.social 2026-03-09 19:29
@jaz@toot.wales I am aware of this case scenario, but only because it literally happened to me (someone had access to a long-deleted post)
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@OneInterestingFact@mastodon.ie 2026-03-09 19:46
@jaz@toot.wales Same applies to edits?
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@Dianora@ottawa.place 2026-03-09 19:48
@jaz@toot.wales Just like USEnet. Natch. No surprise.
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@dalias@hachyderm.io 2026-03-09 20:01
@jaz@toot.wales Yes and that's not quite accurate. It only sends your post to instances you have a follower on or that you @'d. If you have 4000 followers that's at most 4000 instances and more likely less than 100, not 40000. It may eventually federate to more via boosts, explicit loads, etc. but it doesn't automatically go to every instance.
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@glyph@mastodon.social 2026-03-09 20:33
@jaz@toot.wales @bitprophet@social.coop I guess I had a slightly inaccurate understanding. I would have thought that my follower count would be an upper bound on the number of copies? if I have 1 follower and they’re on the same instance as me, does it still get copied 40k times?
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@ovrim@wien.rocks 2026-03-09 21:31
@jaz@toot.wales it's the same since ages with email and usenet and ...
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@colo_lee@mstdn.social 2026-03-09 21:37
@jaz@toot.wales Voted understand completely because I do understand federated systems. But, I'm sure there are some corner cases, like the delete-aging-posts question above, that I haven't thought thru all the way. I'd be very surprised if there weren't some systems "following" accounts purely to create archives and that these systems absolutely ignore delete requests ...
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@cassolotl@toot.wales 2026-03-09 23:16
@jaz@toot.wales Up to over! :D
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@fastfinge@fed.interfree.ca 2026-03-10 00:30
@jaz@toot.wales @Kingslayer@mastodon.stickbear.me Also good to know that not all servers keep everything forever. Mine deletes anything older than 180 days. The fediverse isn’t guaranteed to be forever, either.
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@muddle@infosec.exchange 2026-03-10 01:12
@jaz@toot.wales I picked the "I know everything" option, not because I know everything but because I'm sure the fediverse must be intuitively obvious to everyone (even if nobody understands it).
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@cdp1337@social.bitsnbytes.dev 2026-03-10 13:39
@jaz@toot.wales The phrasing of this suggests that Twitter or Facebook actually delete your posts when you hit 'delete'.
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@Ulan_KA@social.tchncs.de 2026-03-10 15:07
@jaz@toot.wales Yes, I understand **that aspect of** federation completely.
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@TheZooLady@dragonscave.space 2026-03-10 19:22
@FreakyFwoof@universeodon.com @jaz@toot.wales Yep, but I've seen plenty of incriminating posts lol!
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@box464@mastodon.social 2026-03-10 19:59
@jaz@toot.wales Another area I think is confusing to most users is that just about everything you post is public. Meaning, your data is passed across the network with a handshake and a prayer that the receiving instance will know how to appropriately identify your followers only posts, your direct messages (unencrypted), etc. We are lucky that most AP software systems have basically good humans behind them, and we only really see an issue when bugs pop up now and then. But that won't always be the case.
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@jrossstocholm@friendica.dk 2026-03-10 20:21
@jaz@toot.wales I actually thought that my posts were sent to servers of users that follow me. But you are telling me that they are sent to ALL SERVERS?
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@zeroday@podcasts.social 2026-03-11 07:37
@jaz@toot.wales I would love to have an interview with the (right now) 2% of users that think it would work like twitter. Not in a bad way, but to understand where they are coming from, where the hurdles are and why/what/when/what else... The typical questions one has when he tries to write an article for the podcast ...
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@hypostase@bsd.network 2026-03-13 13:13
@jaz@toot.wales So, just the same as email, then?
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@Klinker@mastodon.uno 2026-03-15 06:20
@jaz@toot.wales "hazy understanding" of everything here. This is an important point for my beloved fedi (along with the others on "DM" and searches). So, better think that once written on the internet it can be in principle retrieved by anyone. On the other hand, a quick search for content from an old account of mine from a now-defunct instance, doesn't find much. Probably as indefinite storage it's costly for severs operated by individuals. So, the memory is labile, but it cannot be guaranteed to be.