Why can members not delete their own accounts?

[rafiki]

If you have the option to join, you should also have the option to remove yourself from being a member, including having ALL ones posts removed. I have private messaged the moderators. It has not been taken care of and I have not gotten a response. How does one remove themselves from showing as a member of this community?

[TippyCanoe]

I have also asked for posts to be deleted from a locked thread, and after nearly three weeks it has not been done. I know everyone is busy with the new set-up and I understand it takes time to get everything straightened out and my request is hardly a priority. Still, some of us are trying to follow SWB's suggestion to keep certain information about our families off the web, and with SN kids in particular, in the past some of us have posted specifics in order to ask productive questions or to offer suggestions. Even if the deletion itself will take a while, I would really appreciate a reply: did I give the right information about the posts, all that was needed, or should I have listed them differently? How long will it take for my posts to be deleted?

[Colleen in NS]

I have also asked for posts to be deleted from a locked thread, and after nearly three weeks it has not been done. I know everyone is busy with the new set-up and I understand it takes time to get everything straightened out and my request is hardly a priority. Still, some of us are trying to follow SWB's suggestion to keep certain information about our families off the web, and with SN kids in particular, in the past some of us have posted specifics in order to ask productive questions or to offer suggestions. Even if the deletion itself will take a while, I would really appreciate a reply: did I give the right information about the posts, all that was needed, or should I have listed them differently? How long will it take for my posts to be deleted?

 

Based on how the old boards worked, I'm going to venture a guess that, even if the mods decide to grant your request to delete your posts from a locked thread, any posts of yours that others have quoted anywhere will remain. I think this is one example of why SWB and crew periodically remind us that anytime we post on the internet, information remains.

[[email protected]]

Also, please keep in mind that removing posts makes nonsense of all posts responding to/giving carefully thought out advice to the posts that might be deleted. Simply "vanishing" posts has the potential to render multiple posts by OTHER people meaningless. Please remember: "community" means that it isn't just about your information, but also about the interactions with and reactions to it by others. That content is just as important to them as yours is to you.

 

Moderator

[goldberry]

Like closing the door after the horse has left the barn! It would be nice if we SAID something out loud in real life, and we could go back and delete it....now THAT would be useful!

[JudoMom]

If you have the option to join, you should also have the option to remove yourself from being a member, including having ALL ones posts removed. I have private messaged the moderators. It has not been taken care of and I have not gotten a response. How does one remove themselves from showing as a member of this community?

 

I've never thought having all of my posts deleted would ever even be an option. I'm not posting in a vacuum...it's a dialogue with others. I can understand asking to have a post removed now and then; we've all posted things, I'm sure, that we want to take back. But I don't think they should/could/would be able to simply delete my existence here. My account? Yes. Everything I've ever written? No. Once I post something online I have to take responsibility for it.

[TippyCanoe]

Also, please keep in mind that removing posts makes nonsense of all posts responding to/giving carefully thought out advice to the posts that might be deleted. Simply "vanishing" posts has the potential to render multiple posts by OTHER people meaningless. Please remember: "community" means that it isn't just about your information, but also about the interactions with and reactions to it by others. That content is just as important to them as yours is to you.

 

Moderator

 

Much of the content of which we speak is months, if not years, old. It served a purpose and was part of a conversation (or debate) at the time, yes; but I doubt there are many people who read through threads that are not current or are more than a month or two old. I know some do, but I'd guess it's a tiny minority. People continually post about topics that have been covered in massive detail in the past, multiple times; but even before the board changes, most people didn't bother to search past threads but just asked their questions, which others patiently answered yet again. When conversations are currently ongoing I get tons of PMs, but once they've sat around a couple of months, getting a PM referring to one of them is a rare, rare event -- the older threads are not being constantly dredged up for their usefulness.

 

Please remember, the one or two people I know who would like posts deleted are responding to the way that posts can be batted around the internet much more easily and readily than before, in ways we cannot predict and did not previously understand. Those of us with SN kids shared specific information that was important for laying out problems or for proposing solutions or discussing how education works in our homes, information that the vast majority of people on the forum don't have to worry about having disclosed in an effort to get help or to help others.

[goldberry]

 

responding to the way that posts can be batted around the internet much more easily and readily than before, in ways we cannot predict and did not previously understand.

 

Asking honestly for my own information, what has changed from before? It seems to me the posts have always been easily available online.

[Colleen in NS]

Much of the content of which we speak is months, if not years, old. It served a purpose and was part of a conversation (or debate) at the time, yes; but I doubt there are many people who read through threads that are not current or are more than a month or two old. I know some do, but I'd guess it's a tiny minority. People continually post about topics that have been covered in massive detail in the past, multiple times; but even before the board changes, most people didn't bother to search past threads but just asked their questions, which others patiently answered yet again. When conversations are currently ongoing I get tons of PMs, but once they've sat around a couple of months, getting a PM referring to one of them is a rare, rare event -- the older threads are not being constantly dredged up for their usefulness.

 

Please remember, the one or two people I know who would like posts deleted are responding to the way that posts can be batted around the internet much more easily and readily than before, in ways we cannot predict and did not previously understand. Those of us with SN kids shared specific information that was important for laying out problems or for proposing solutions or discussing how education works in our homes, information that the vast majority of people on the forum don't have to worry about having disclosed in an effort to get help or to help others.

 

There are 50,000+ registered users, plus who knows how many lurkers here. I'll bet anything that far more than a "tiny minority" of homeschoolers worldwide research old posts. This place is like a huge, valuable library in the home education world! Trendy content doesn't last long; but solid, classic teaching/curric. info. is timeless here. Witness the panic that took place when many worried that our "subscribed" threads (some subscribed to for years) would not carry over to the new boards. Witness the response when OtherJohn asked for the "best of the best" threads in forum history before the change.

 

Doodler, you erased all of your posts here. In almost 600 posts, did you really share just *sensitive information only,* that you now regret posting? I think not. In fact, I remember not.

[aggieamy]

Like closing the door after the horse has left the barn! It would be nice if we SAID something out loud in real life, and we could go back and delete it....now THAT would be useful!

 

Yes. That's a feature I'd like to add to life.

[Tress]

 

 

There are 50,000+ registered users, plus who knows how many lurkers here. I'll bet anything that far more than a "tiny minority" of homeschoolers worldwide research old posts. This place is like a huge, valuable library in the home education world! Trendy content doesn't last long; but solid, classic teaching/curric. info. is timeless here. Witness the panic that took place when many worried that our "subscribed" threads (some subscribed to for years) would not carry over to the new boards. Witness the response when OtherJohn asked for the "best of the best" threads in forum history before the change.

 

Absolutely! Everytime I want to know something about materials, a subject, a method I read lots of old posts.

[Unicorn.]

 

Much of the content of which we speak is months, if not years, old. It served a purpose and was part of a conversation (or debate) at the time, yes; but I doubt there are many people who read through threads that are not current or are more than a month or two old. I know some do, but I'd guess it's a tiny minority. People continually post about topics that have been covered in massive detail in the past, multiple times; but even before the board changes, most people didn't bother to search past threads but just asked their questions, which others patiently answered yet again. When conversations are currently ongoing I get tons of PMs, but once they've sat around a couple of months, getting a PM referring to one of them is a rare, rare event -- the older threads are not being constantly dredged up for their usefulness.

 

Please remember, the one or two people I know who would like posts deleted are responding to the way that posts can be batted around the internet much more easily and readily than before, in ways we cannot predict and did not previously understand. Those of us with SN kids shared specific information that was important for laying out problems or for proposing solutions or discussing how education works in our homes, information that the vast majority of people on the forum don't have to worry about having disclosed in an effort to get help or to help others.

 

 

There are people who go back and read old threads, seeking the same info. But if you really want posts of yours gone, then one of the great features of the new board, is that you can go back and edit those old posts now, and delete your content. Even stuff from years ago. Admin has a lot to do, and I think it unfair to ask them to do that for you. If you want to delete old posts, then by all means do so. I bellieve you can even delete/edit titles now, too.

[Colleen in NS]

...you can go back and edit those old posts now, and delete your content. Even stuff from years ago. ... If you want to delete old posts, then by all means do so.

 

She had already done that - every single one, except for the ones she had no control over in locked threads. As had the OP. Which, I believe, is why the mod basically said it is unfair to all who interacted with all those posts. And because that drastic action was unfair, why should they have the privilege of the mods deleting their content from locked threads.

[boscopup]

Please remember, the one or two people I know who would like posts deleted are responding to the way that posts can be batted around the internet much more easily and readily than before

 

 

They have always been able to be batted around easily on the internet. WTM has always been wide open, Google searchable, posts read without logging in. The first time you came, you were able to read posts before you joined. That should have made it obvious that the forum was wide open, did it not?

 

Nothing has changed to make the forum any more open than it already was. It's always been open. This is why many here don't use real names of their children (or their selves).

 

I personally would not expect the mods to allow deleting of very old posts, and I'm surprised they're even allowing editing of them. Now when I go to to search old threads (and I do it just about every day - I rarely have to post a new thread to have my questions asked), there will probably be some that are really confusing because of deleted posts.

[WishboneDawn]

Much of the content of which we speak is months, if not years, old. It served a purpose and was part of a conversation (or debate) at the time, yes; but I doubt there are many people who read through threads that are not current or are more than a month or two old. I know some do, but I'd guess it's a tiny minority. People continually post about topics that have been covered in massive detail in the past, multiple times; but even before the board changes, most people didn't bother to search past threads but just asked their questions, which others patiently answered yet again. When conversations are currently ongoing I get tons of PMs, but once they've sat around a couple of months, getting a PM referring to one of them is a rare, rare event -- the older threads are not being constantly dredged up for their usefulness.

 

I'm not sure why you think PMs are a valid measure of whether old threads are being read. I generally search old threads for specific infomation, not to re-engage posters in a conversation they ended months or years ago.

 

 

Please remember, the one or two people I know who would like posts deleted are responding to the way that posts can be batted around the internet much more easily and readily than before, in ways we cannot predict and did not previously understand. Those of us with SN kids shared specific information that was important for laying out problems or for proposing solutions or discussing how education works in our homes, information that the vast majority of people on the forum don't have to worry about having disclosed in an effort to get help or to help others.

 

Naw. Everyone has specific information they can choose to share or not share to work out some issue or another. And the bargain always is, if you share the info to get help, the info is then public. That has always been the case. If you've shared info you now regret sharing, that's on you, it's your responsibility to deal with and the moderators don't have any obligation to clean up your mistake.

[Colleen in NS]

When conversations are currently ongoing I get tons of PMs, but once they've sat around a couple of months, getting a PM referring to one of them is a rare, rare event -- the older threads are not being constantly dredged up for their usefulness.

I'm not sure why you think PMs are a valid measure of whether old threads are being read.

 

Exactly! It blows my mind to read that one member out of 53,000+ seems to think her personal PM activity is an indicator of what's going on in this HUGE community.