OP is expecting the deletion of posts and comments to federate in the same ways posting them would. I don’t think they’re necessarily going scorched earth and care about someone quoting their comment in a reply or resharing a photo.

I think that’s a bit grandiose of a stance. If I misread what someone said or realized someone already said what I did I don’t think deleting it leads to any kind of growth.

That’s setting aside how draining it can be to reply to several people who are making the same argument about how you are wrong. If I couldn’t delete what I posted at that point I would just be creating a slew of edits to justify myself like people regularly do on Reddit whenever they get downvoted.

But that’s not what is being talked about. I don’t think OP is expecting an all or nothing situation. You’re talking like you’ve never deleted anything online

But deleting stuff is an easy way to limit the amount of potential viewers.

Most people aren’t going to put in the effort. If OP’s account deletion spreads across most of Lemmy, even just the larger instances, most people aren’t going to see their older posts.

That seems to be what OP is after. More in line with hiding poorly written Doctor Who fan fiction than hiding from the government in the woods.

I remember reading a while back that glass shells aren’t great for hermit crabs

https://crabwow.com/are-glass-shells-bad-for-hermit-crabs/

I thought your post said games for a second there and was excited to hear about synthwave games

Don’t you think that’s shifting the goalpost a bit? OP isn’t talking about something being archived they’re talking about a piece of content on social media still directly linking to that username.

Deleting things in as many places as possible making it harder to access is still a net positive.

It’s about as much of a part or mechanic of Lemmy as posting is.