Reddit to Purge Years of User Conversations and Messages

If you have nostalgic memories of conversing with friends on Reddit, it may be worth checking your archives. Reddit has officially acknowledged user claims that it is deleting all chats and messages predating 2023. In June, the social platform clarified that this action is part of its transition to a new chat system, aiming to facilitate a seamless and efficient shift to the updated architecture. Although the change was implemented on June 30th, several users only became aware of it after a few days.

There may be a way to recover some of these messages, Mashable says. You can request account information on Reddit through an online form, and the archive may contain conversations before 2023. While it’s not as easy to return to an irreplaceable conversation, it’s not necessarily gone forever.

However, users are still not thrilled. Although Reddit disclosed the limit in the changelog, it did not notify community members directly. As a result, some only discovered the company’s plans after their message logs disappeared, preventing them from backing up their history on their own terms.

The change also comes to Reddit in the face of a wider backlash. Numerous subreddits staged a days-long blackout to protest the new policies, which made it impractical for third-party apps like Apollo to remain active. Since then, users and Moderators have taken various actions (such as focusing on captioning John Oliver’s photos) to fight back.

More recently, Reddit said it was phasing out the current coin system used to identify exceptional contributors. You can no longer buy new coins and all rewards and coins will disappear after September 12th. The current approach leads to “mess” and provides content that some people don’t think is as valuable, Reddit says. Although there will be a replacement system, it is expected to be simpler and more direct. That might not excite long-time fans accustomed to Reddit’s sometimes very special awards and medals.