Well said. I also share this concern. People make mistakes; they grow and change. Having a proper delete function, or the option to make a post ephemeral as you suggested, makes sense to me.

I can only imagine what kind of hell most people would experience as adults if everything they said from birth on was on a permanent record.

IMO being anonymous should not be a requirement to use Nostr and avoid this risk.

Centralized or not, people often use privacy tech to get away from a permanent record.

Irreversable damage to one's personal or business reputation is not the only concern. People also sometimes accidentally doxx themselves and that can be a very real threat to their personal saftey.

The only "saving grace" so far has been the fact that Nostr relays tend to disappear over time, and many notes disappear with them. Many old notes have been lost as a result. 

That said, malicious relays are a thing and we can't depend on external factors like what someone decides to do or not do with their relay.

It is an interesting debate.