Federated services have always had privacy issues but I expected Lemmy would have the fewest, but it’s visibly worse for privacy than even Reddit.
- Deleted comments remain on the server but hidden to non-admins, the username remains visible
- Deleted account usernames remain visible too
- Anything remains visible on federated servers!
- When you delete your account, media does not get deleted on any server
This is all true personal best practices, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad to ask for better retention policies from the services you use. What you’re talking about is true privacy and security; the critiques OP outlines are about reducing exposure when you are public. Will that reduction be verifiably perfect? No. But it’s still better than nothing, especially in cases where you’re just trying to protect from a specific threat, like someone you know irl seeing something that you regret posting.