I have seen a number of complaints on Steemit about 'why cant we delete records'.
I am not on the technical team of Steamit, but I have had 35 years experience in using and designing databases and here is my explanation. Feel free to correct me.
In a nutshell the reason DBA's do not delete data is to make the database fast and reliable.
Most big database engines, for example Oracle, have a delete flag available on the data record to indicate that the record is logically 'deleted' but of course it is still there for authorised people to see. The record is not physically deleted until the DBA does a database rebuild which often takes hours if not days. If your database has to run 24/7 a database rebuild is not an option, unless you run out of storage space. Storage space is so cheap now that adding another blade full of ruler SSD's is easy.
When a post is stored it is given an initial amount of space, a record, on the database. The length of the data stored is held in the record header. If the record is edited and more space is required another record is created and its position in the database is stored in the original record header. This means that the post is stored in two or more places on the database requiring more data fetches to retrieve it. Thus editing slows the database down.
Once your post passes the period for monetising Steemit removes the possibility of editing or resteeming. This suggests that Steemit has a short term database and a long term database (archive) just like human memory. Archiving and defragmenting posts at this point will of course allow for a cleaner and faster long term database.
Steemit does not allow you to change your user name. I assume that your posts and other details are based on a unique index key that includes your user name. Again the task of trying to update a unique index is next to impossible. If the key consists of a data hash using a large prime number (this is extremely fast) you have the chance of a snowflake in hell of editing it.
But wait, theres more. Steemit runs on a blockchain which has its own problems with deletion and editing. The blockchain reminds me of the old CODASIL database which relied on chains to retrieve information. One of my favourite jobs was to mend broken chains (sarcasm). As blockchain matures some of those problems may be eliminated.
I notice that a lot of the technology from the old mainframes is being reinvented and renamed.
Thank you for commenting and/or resteeming
Wow.... What a nice research done... Thanks for the enlightenment @frogman
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