Couldn't a malfunctioning sync process undo a soft delete as well?
Null is more ambiguous than an explicit conflict. If there is literally no record, even of the delete action then there's no timestamp for last write wins.
Re:Soft deletion probably isn't worth it
by trinovantes on Tuesday July 19, 2022 @03:25PM
(#32156679)
Assuming you're using a modern database, replication is done with paxos/raft and they are formally proven to not allow this to happen as both edits/deletions are both just entries in distributed event log.
Hard deletes retain no memory of what you wanted to be gone, so any malfunctioning sync process will continuously recreate the deleted record soon after it's deleted. Soft deletes are often the only way to make sure deleted records don't reappear.