Does Delete mean "Delete"?

Sometimes I am given something embarrassing, like a pic or an object or something - ummm, I wont give too many details - but anyway, when you delete it (or them) does it actually disappear forever - or could it be retrieved by anyone?
Is "delete" complete annihilation of objects or pics you would prefer you had never seen? And please dont say "Don't accept anything from anyone" - sometimes you do it just to be polite - I never say "No".

No, well not yet, anyway. Stuff you trash from inventory stays in the asset server until garbage collection catches up with it, and garbage collection is years behind.

Conceivably they could, if someone else stumbled upon the UUID and guessed what kind of asset it was. Or was a terribly bored Linden.

When you hit "Delete" the item goes into your Trash folder but is still in your inventory. When you Empty the Trash folder it is no longer in your inventory... but true... once it's created in SL.. it's on an Asset server somewhere.

Things that are stored on computers are almost always retrievable even when "deleted". Many people and companies have learned this the hard way during expensive litigation. There is, in fact, an entire cottage industry that has sprung up around providing technical forensics, and finding things on computers that appear to be deleted.

So does that mean it is better NOT to delete the "material" that was frankly pretty disgusting? In my folder, only I know it's there?

Yes and no. To delete an item from your inventory really means that the UUID of the item that existed is no longer accessible to you. I personally had an item that was given to me get blacklisted. While I couldn't get any Linden help, I was able to get a copy back from a friend I had given it to before the issue. I'm sure my copy still exists, since the UUID will never be used again. The object still exists with tons of different pointers to it. It's just that my access to that particular UUID has been removed. (^_^)y

I have first hand experience in this. Has anyone ever used WinHex? It's an amazing tool and a dangerous weapon. Bloody expensive though. (^_^)

You'd be surprised how much LL respects the privacy of our inventory. I just learned recently how difficult it is for a Linden to even SEE what I have, let alone affect it. I was somewhat shocked. (o.o)

Thanks Imnot. I learn another sl lesson - the person was so happy to give the gift that contained the material and I honestly didnt want to hurt feelings. Ah well, it all adds to the rich tapestry of life.

There also exist now ways that will really make it close to impossible to retrieve deleted data.

BCWipe is a good one.

Let me see if I can explain this ...

There is a huge warehouse somewhere behind the scenes. Rows upon rows of all these bins full of stuff. Pictures and prims and objects. What you have in your inventory is really just a card that has a bin number for where in the warehouse that things is. When you res a chair from your inventory, the warehouse fetches a copy of the item using the card you have and places it for you.

So if you delete an item from your inventory, you are actually deleting your card with that items bin number, not the item itself. When some one sends you an item, you are not really getting that item but just a card with a bin number to get a copy from the warehouse.

Does that make sense?

Yes, I know. In order to not get into trouble with them, however, you have to use them regularly -- that is periodically purge the system in a permanent way using a tool like that. What is more common is for people to wait until they get into a problem and *then* try to wipe, which is illegal (at least in the US) because it involves the destruction of something which is, or could become, evidence.

Just adding to what's already been said:

* textures always have a single, unique asset that's picked at the moment of upload
* notecards will create a unique asset each time it's saved (if you're writing a notecard and save it 5 times as you go along, at the end there will be 5 notecard assets, only one of which is still referenced, namely the last version)
* not entirely clear about the exact circumstances in which prims create new assets (due to rezzing and subsequent taking) but no copy objects and whether or not it was changed after it was rezzed will influence that (prims will also be part of the sim's save state, although that concerns just the prim params, textures are always on the asset server)

Garbage collection is a background process that will iterate across all the inventory servers and all active sim states and all inventories of all prims. If an asset isn't referenced anywhere (it's not in anyone's inventory, it's not in any prim's inventory, it's not rezzed if it's a prim, it's not applied to any prim if it's a texture, it's not part of a notecard, its UUID isn't inside of a script, etc) it's considered to be orphaned and moved outside of the active set.

Even though at that point the asset technically doesn't exist anymore (and should never be accessed again since GC determined it was orphaned) it's still kept by LL in case of an GC bug. The first "Missing from database" should kick off of another process that looks if an asset is still archived and restores it back again.

Since GC likely put a significant amount of stress on the different subsystems, it probably doesn't run continually and even when it picks up an asset as oprhaned, it'll merely be moved somewhere else so the only thing you know is that if an asset is truly not referenced anymore it'll be permanently deleted "at some point" but without any sense of how much time will pass.

For textures and notecards you could check if an asset still exists by either reading from the notecard with a script, or applying the texture to a prim and seeing if you get back nothing or missing image (keeping in mind that you can't create the script in advance since having the UUID in a script does count as a reference). And if the asset was GC'ed but not permanently deleted you'll have just pulled it back from getting deleted "soon" into the active database.

Short answer: assets are permanently deleted if they're ophaned, but not for a long time after the last reference is deleted and while you can check if it's gone, doing so could postpone actual deletion if you check too quickly.

/me smiles

Hiya Jig, my name is Tex.


(sorry, I just couldn't pass that one up. )

Isn't there a law that protect you from having to provide proofs of your guilt by yourself?

You can not be forced to testify against yourself. This does not mean the courts can not use every scrap of paper you own against you. (sorry for the double negative there)

It's limited to verbal testimony, for the most part. You have no right to withhold physical evidence (such as a computer or a car, but also fingerprints or blood tests ... all considered admissible in criminal cases if taken under proper procedures (warrants, etc.) ).