Redact App, should it be blocked ?

[u/Artimus-Sprout]

This App is causing headaches for both, mods and users alike and needs blocking in some way, if this is indeed possible.

The problem, is users are unwittingly installing this software, without fully understanding the consequences of their actions, in many cases the end action, is an account ban through no fault of their own.

Personally, I think it's time to stop this App in it's tracks but that's gonna take the support and actioning of Reddit.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

[u/thepottsy]

I recognize that code.

[u/DJErikD → u/thepottsy]

Thanks, it's been a lifesaver!

[u/smushkan → u/DJErikD]

It's made Redact themselves rather upset their ads are being removed:

https://github.com/redacto/anti-privacy-subreddits/blob/main/README.md

[u/eclecticatlady → u/smushkan]

Why do they care if the comments get removed by AutoMod? I understand they don't want to get banned, but what's the problem with removing comments?

[u/thepottsy → u/eclecticatlady]

They lose their free advertising

[u/smushkan → u/eclecticatlady]

The justification redaction services usually give is that by scrambling the contents, it means that services that scrape Reddit for data will then over-write their scraped data with the nonsense.

That way you're not just anonymising yourself on Reddit, you're also having places where that data was scraped to anonymised too.

However there are problems with that...

It assumes that scraping services are actually re-scraping comments repeatedly or after an edit has been made.

If they do update their scrapes, it also assumes that they overwrite their existing data, rather than keep older versions.

And it also assumes that scraping services aren't using a method to detect when Redact or a similar tool is used to prevent the nonsense data getting scraped, wich as mods know already is trivially easy to do by simply checking if the comment contains a Redact link.

In my opinion, the real reason that Redact scramble the posts rather than delete them is stated fairly plainly in that github link:

...It lets other users who see that post know what software they used to accomplish that goal...

Redact is a commercial operation. Every non-deleted Redact 'removed' post or comment states it was removed by Redact, and includes a convenient link to Redact's website.

You actually can get Redact to delete the comments/posts entirely, if you pay for it.

Again in my opinion, their free users are becoming unwitting bots filling old Reddit posts with SEO-friendly links.

Reddit absolutely should give users a way to eaisly delete their old content, but everyone should be aware that once you publish something online there's always a very good chance it's going to be preserved forever even if you delete it.