1. A method comprises: receiving a delete data object request within a dispersed storage network (DSN); determining a set of dispersed storage (DS) units within the DSN that store a set of encoded data slices associated with the data object; determining a revision number of the set of encoded data slices; sending a delete marker and write command to the set of DS units for deletion of the data object; receiving at least one receive write acknowledgement from at least some DS units of the set of DS units to produce the deletion; when a write threshold is met, sending a commit command to the DS unit storage set and receiving commit acknowledgments from the DS units; and sending a finalize command to the set of DS units to delete the data object.