Not a rant, an essay. Not intended in any way to oppose or challenge Hidden's decisions. She steers the ship and has choices she has to make.
But since I am a notorious deleter, for me this whole issue hits close to home. It made me sit back and think, dare I risk posting with the same freedom and abandon and eye for 'slice of life' amusement that I usually do? Maybe it's time to edit myself, and edit out how I express myself here. After all, this is not a Blab Your Face Off Therapy site. It's a poultry site. Says so at the top of the page, right up there in the black heading box.
Out of respect for Hidden's vision and work, I may have to change my ways.
There have been a couple of times when I was desperate to delete something and begged Hidden to please do so on my behalf. She always has, for which I am very grateful.
Aside from that, when I delete I make every effort to do so BEFORE anyone posts. But sometimes I can't get back to the site in time and someone has already made a reply. In that case, when I go back in to edit heavily, I DO make an effort to put something up saying that I have deleted, or to make a post further along explaining what is going on. I hope that I have never blipped off into space without a word. (although I might have and just don't remember it)
Also, there is a difference, I think, in posts that get into the meat of a poultry related subject, and posts that are just personal slices. I think we all come here with poultry and farming and rural life as our main goal and those things are the big attractions. I do find it interesting to know what's going on in people's lives too, because as much as I can know people through this medium, I have come to care about all these familiar names. But I think edit/delete of personal life is NOT the same as edit/delete of poultry related materials.
No one has ever gotten smarter over anything I've written about my HD or my personal hatred of large, ugly firewood, or my personal relationship with the big man upstairs, Gordon. These posts are NOT the meat of this site, not the point of this site and their loss is of little consequence aside from perhaps lost amusement.
Therefore, I feel that personal tidbits should be viewed with more leeway towards deletion than true issues. A debate about, say, animal rights is broad in its scope and exists beyond the borders of this site and what we say about that should stay up because that is an applicable, large topic in which all our voices add up to something bigger. But writings, such as my own , are small and not part of a bigger picture, just slices of my own little bit of life. In the overall scheme, their deletion is no big loss.
Please do not post and say how much you enjoy my writing. While I will be flattered, it also is missing the point. The point is that not all posts are created equal. Some we can lose and some create a jarring mess when we lose them.
Also there is motive (this also applies in murder mysteries) Do you delete out of anger? Or do you delete out of shame and a sense of regret over hasty words? That one is usually me. I have also deleted if I think my words are overly hurtful to someone (except current boyfriend of HD). While I want to express my opinion, even if it disagrees with someone, I do not want to do so in a way that is hurtful. If I think my words read wrong when printed, I want them gone. There is nothing to be gained by leaving up words that missed the mark and made someone feel bad. I have, at times, made a PM to someone if I think I have overstepped my bounds and created bad feelings. That is never my goal. And in those cases I would hope I could delete.
While I completely understand why Hidden has to request that we not run about madly deleting, shooting her site full of holes so it reads like Swiss cheese, I am also very sobered and yes, inhibited by this request. I understand it, I understand the need for it, and understand that large parts of what I post here maybe shouldn't be posted here anymore. And that is not to be blamed on anyone but me. I have used this place as my personal vent/blog/therapy. A use for which it was never intended. This is my own fault and if I feel smacked on the knuckles, I truly have it coming.
I would hope, as Hidden suggests, that we all think before we post. I would hope that none of us remove our posts because we are mad over something. But I do think we should still be able to remove a post that was made in haste, or maybe hurts someone's feelings unduly. (sometimes you can't help hurting someone's feelings, but it must be done with grace and as gently as possible). I don't know. I won't leave my yard without a seatbelt on, to be safe. I post knowing I had a delete/edit button, to make me safe. And while we should never need it, if we post responsibly, it's nice to know it's there if once in a while, our posts find us in the ditch.
I write this because this is, for me, sobering and I think it's time I got sober.
But since I am a notorious deleter, for me this whole issue hits close to home. It made me sit back and think, dare I risk posting with the same freedom and abandon and eye for 'slice of life' amusement that I usually do? Maybe it's time to edit myself, and edit out how I express myself here. After all, this is not a Blab Your Face Off Therapy site. It's a poultry site. Says so at the top of the page, right up there in the black heading box.
Out of respect for Hidden's vision and work, I may have to change my ways.
There have been a couple of times when I was desperate to delete something and begged Hidden to please do so on my behalf. She always has, for which I am very grateful.
Aside from that, when I delete I make every effort to do so BEFORE anyone posts. But sometimes I can't get back to the site in time and someone has already made a reply. In that case, when I go back in to edit heavily, I DO make an effort to put something up saying that I have deleted, or to make a post further along explaining what is going on. I hope that I have never blipped off into space without a word. (although I might have and just don't remember it)
Also, there is a difference, I think, in posts that get into the meat of a poultry related subject, and posts that are just personal slices. I think we all come here with poultry and farming and rural life as our main goal and those things are the big attractions. I do find it interesting to know what's going on in people's lives too, because as much as I can know people through this medium, I have come to care about all these familiar names. But I think edit/delete of personal life is NOT the same as edit/delete of poultry related materials.
No one has ever gotten smarter over anything I've written about my HD or my personal hatred of large, ugly firewood, or my personal relationship with the big man upstairs, Gordon. These posts are NOT the meat of this site, not the point of this site and their loss is of little consequence aside from perhaps lost amusement.
Therefore, I feel that personal tidbits should be viewed with more leeway towards deletion than true issues. A debate about, say, animal rights is broad in its scope and exists beyond the borders of this site and what we say about that should stay up because that is an applicable, large topic in which all our voices add up to something bigger. But writings, such as my own , are small and not part of a bigger picture, just slices of my own little bit of life. In the overall scheme, their deletion is no big loss.
Please do not post and say how much you enjoy my writing. While I will be flattered, it also is missing the point. The point is that not all posts are created equal. Some we can lose and some create a jarring mess when we lose them.
Also there is motive (this also applies in murder mysteries) Do you delete out of anger? Or do you delete out of shame and a sense of regret over hasty words? That one is usually me. I have also deleted if I think my words are overly hurtful to someone (except current boyfriend of HD). While I want to express my opinion, even if it disagrees with someone, I do not want to do so in a way that is hurtful. If I think my words read wrong when printed, I want them gone. There is nothing to be gained by leaving up words that missed the mark and made someone feel bad. I have, at times, made a PM to someone if I think I have overstepped my bounds and created bad feelings. That is never my goal. And in those cases I would hope I could delete.
While I completely understand why Hidden has to request that we not run about madly deleting, shooting her site full of holes so it reads like Swiss cheese, I am also very sobered and yes, inhibited by this request. I understand it, I understand the need for it, and understand that large parts of what I post here maybe shouldn't be posted here anymore. And that is not to be blamed on anyone but me. I have used this place as my personal vent/blog/therapy. A use for which it was never intended. This is my own fault and if I feel smacked on the knuckles, I truly have it coming.
I would hope, as Hidden suggests, that we all think before we post. I would hope that none of us remove our posts because we are mad over something. But I do think we should still be able to remove a post that was made in haste, or maybe hurts someone's feelings unduly. (sometimes you can't help hurting someone's feelings, but it must be done with grace and as gently as possible). I don't know. I won't leave my yard without a seatbelt on, to be safe. I post knowing I had a delete/edit button, to make me safe. And while we should never need it, if we post responsibly, it's nice to know it's there if once in a while, our posts find us in the ditch.
I write this because this is, for me, sobering and I think it's time I got sober.
.
