I’ve seen this happen a bunch of time now that people just ask a question and it’s deleted a day or so later. Do they delete the question themselves, or is that some automatic thing? If they do it themselves, why?
*edit*
Thanks for the great answers so far. Very insightful. Please keep them coming, I’m curious to more points of view.
Perhaps Lemmy should offer an option to delete the OP and retain comments?
I would also like to see some of the comments even after the original post is deleted if the post author is ok with leaving them up.
Me reading my posts from a week ago: “Fucking hell, I used to be so cringe back then!”
It’s that quick for you? I either immediately cringe, or it takes years to fester in my brain and then suddenly it’s my brain tripping me up with “remember that stupid comment you made to this person years ago? CRINGE! CRINGE FOR ME, MINION!”
I’ve deleted a few comments where I read further in the thread and realized somebody already said what I said, or I interpreted the topic incorrectly and my comment was meaningless, or some other reason I thought it just didn’t add anything. I think I deleted an Ask Lemmy question one time because I almost immediately found the answer myself or decided the question really didn’t make any sense.
Half the time, it’s because I don’t read the original comment closely enough and realize that my point no longer makes sense, but I usually only do this if it’s less than a minute or two after posting.
I tend to do the much more efficient system of writing an entire essay to then decide to delete it before posting.
I recognize that strategy. I’d be typing out an entire epistle, only to delete it all in the end, because I figure I wouldn’t add anything to the discussion, or I don’t feel good enough to comment on something :)
Lack of commitment
I’ve done it once asking a question. However once I got my answer and I edited my post with “solved with (insert reply from one of comments)” and people still replied with the same answers for a few days with slight variations. I got fed up with notifications and deleted the post.
Sometimes I’ll submit a comment that’s too jaded and cynical that I don’t want to expose others to after some hindsight.
Almost every person I’ve had an argument/discussion with who goes through my past comments to try and find things to use against me when they’re losing has been someone who goes back and deleted all of their comments. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
If you are talking about posts where people lay out their problems and ask for advice, it is probably to avoid getting doxed.
Ah yes, why didn’t I consider that? That’s indeed very much a possibility.
I assume because they didn’t stand by their comment or made a mistake. I misread a title on a post an hour ago. Rather than delete it, I edited and stated the mistake and put strikethrough on the text. I don’t delete the record; I amend it.
I’ll delete my replies when I’ve been eating too many crayons that evening and the reply ended up being dumb as dog shit…
Though, I’d consider deleting my posts now because AI is scouring this place and training on it I almost guarantee.
Which color has the best flavor?
Brilliant Bees brand.
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
Probably multiple reasons. If it’s a throwaway account they may want to cover the tracks. If it didn’t get a response they were looking for, they may delete and recreate to avoid the double posting rules. They may have posted on the wrong account, or maybe the answer was so obvious they were embarrassed.
Sometimes I’ll delete a comment if someone’s already made the shitty joke or I’m too stoned and misread the original post, it’s usually the second one tho.
