# Clarify wording of “delete removed posts after” setting
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/clarify-wording-of-delete-removed-posts-after-setting/403690
**Category:** UX
**Tags:** permanently-delete
**Created:** [May 23, 2026, 8:53am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/clarify-wording-of-delete-removed-posts-after-setting/403690 "2026-05-23T08:53:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2026, 8:53am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/clarify-wording-of-delete-removed-posts-after-setting/403690/1 "2026-05-23T08:53:09Z")
Continuing the discussion from [Split “delete all posts and topics allowed groups” into own-content and global-content permissions](https://meta.discourse.org/t/split-delete-all-posts-and-topics-allowed-groups-into-own-content-and-global-content-permissions/403671):
The wording of `delete_removed_posts_after` is also slightly ambiguous.
It currently says:
> [@](#):
>
> Posts removed by the author will be automatically deleted after (n) hours. If set to 0, posts will be deleted immediately.
I think this could be clearer if it distinguished the initial author-facing removal from the later cleanup/deletion stage.
For example, something like:
> [@](#):
>
> When a user removes their own post, keep it in the deleted/hidden state for this many hours before automatically deleting it more completely. Set to 0 to delete immediately after author removal.
It would also be helpful if the description clarified whether staff/admins can still see the deleted/hidden post during that window, whether ordinary users see any placeholder, and how revision history is treated. - though i appreciate that may increase the word count excessively.
---
### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2026, 9:56am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/clarify-wording-of-delete-removed-posts-after-setting/403690/2 "2026-06-05T09:56:26Z")
I don’t think there is anything wrong with the current copy, the proposed alternative sounds more confusing