Implementing Soft Deletes in Java (opens in new tab)

Usually, when deleting documents from a database, the entry is permanently gone and can not be recovered or accessed again. Sometimes data needs to be made unavailable for regular access without actually being removed from a database. A common example is a user deleting their account on a platform, but retention policies require you to keep all data related to that user for a certain period of time. At the same time, no data regarding that user is accessible on the platform. A soft delete is ...