Deleting Old Comments

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  tremevirginawalrus · Member · Apr 21, 2023 at 6:15 pm

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  As part of a high school class about 10 years ago, we had to post comments on a WordPress blog responding to an article. We had to use our real names, and now the comments show up in google results when you google my name.

  I can no longer access the account I used to post the comment, as it’s been ten years and any email addresses I have back then have been deleted.

  Is there any way to delete those comments? They’re not problematic or anything, but they’re poorly written and I don’t want potential employers to see them.

  The site admin has since left my high school and none of them have access either.

  Any help would be appreciated.

  WP.com: Yes
  Jetpack: No
  Correct account: Yes

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  tremevirginawalrus · Member · Apr 21, 2023 at 6:25 pm

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  Obviously “burnerdomainduetolackofsupport.wordpress.com” is not the blog I need help with. The irony of being forced to make a public forum post to request help with deleting a minor’s posts on a separate public forum is not lost on me, but WordPress offers very little support.

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  staartmees · Member · Apr 21, 2023 at 6:40 pm

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  WordPress.com can’t and won’t delete comments on demand.

  You could try to contact the owner of that site and ask him if he’s willing to remove the mentioned comments. But that’s a request; there is no way to force him to do so.

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  tremevirginawalrus · Member · Apr 21, 2023 at 6:48 pm

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  Hi, thanks for taking the time to respond.
  
  The site owner cannot access the site either, as she does not have access to her old account. She would be fine removing the comments if she could. I would also gladly take down my own comments “on-demand,” if there were any method of account recovery.
  
  Are you saying that there is no method of account recovery if one does not have access to the emails used to set up a site or make comments on a site? That data gets self-governing immortal status?

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  tremevirginawalrus · Member · Apr 21, 2023 at 8:14 pm

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  I don’t practice in California, but I struggle to see how that wouldn’t violate California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) which mandates that users be able to request that their data (including name and educational background).

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  staartmees · Member · Apr 24, 2023 at 6:59 am

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  It’s up to the owner of that site to restore access to her site. This is not an insurmountable problem whether that site is running on the wordpress.com platform – https://en.support.wordpress.com/account-recovery/ – or it’s a self-hosted site – https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/reset-your-password/