Deleted image is actually not deleted - direct link still works

[Selene310187]

Yesterday, I deleted one of my images in the image share section of Skyrim Special Edition Nexus. Today, I accidentally found out that the direct link (staticdelivery...) still works.

 

Here's the link to the deleted image: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/images/176062

 

and the direct link to the "deleted" image: https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/images/1704/287627-1672883037.jpg

 

I found the direct link via Google search and the open image in new tab option (right-click on the image in the Google search result > open image in new tab).

 

 

Does this happen will all deleted images? Is this a bug or is this intended?

[Pickysaurus]

This is not a bug. The association between your content and the image is removed but the file will still exist. That said, we can't promise the image will always be accessible so it's best not to use the links of anything you've deleted.

[Selene310187]

I see. Can you tell me the reason why we can't delete an image from the servers entirely, please?

 

 

Due to the new state of information, I have to decide whether I stop uploading to the image share section altogether or choose wisely which images I upload. I need to sleep over this before I come to my final decision.

[Selene310187]

Since I didn't receive an answer on my question why we can delete only the "association between" our "content and the image" and not the image file itself, I decided to stop uploading to the image share section of Nexus Mods for the time being. This is not the only reason why I did this. If I should get an explanation after this post, well, this wouldn't probably change my mind - but I'm waiting to be surprised ;)

[Dark0ne]

The reason is purely technical. We use a number of different CDNs and edge nodes to serve image content so it's extremely difficult to "flush" deleted content instantly. However, much like other social networks (Facebook for example), there will be times where we might do a "clear out" of orphaned content on one or more CDNs at which point the content will be removed as part of this process.

[Selene310187]

Thank you for the explanation. There are still the other reasons that let to my decision. All I can say is that it has something to do with my other decision regarding the endorsements of images:

 

 

[...] I disabled the image endorsements this time because I have a bad habit of checking the endorsements very often and feel uncomfortable when I don't get any. If this happens, I tend to delete the image entirely from the Nexus which I did with the previous image. I know that it's not good for me to rely mostly on the recognition I get from other people. I want to change that but it's very hard to change very old habits. So disabling endorsements is the first step towards the goal. I may the disable the endorsements of the upcoming Samuel follower mod as well.

source: last paragraph of the image description of this image