Deleting Posts

[Rudolph Quin]

On this forum we're able to delete(not just edit, but erase it completely) every post except the opening post of a thread. Like, in a role-play, you have two people going back and forth posting, and one of them can delete all of their posts so it looks like only one person posted a bunch in the thread.

Is this something you do? How do you feel about a partner gutting a role-play once you're finished with it?

 

[Nature Girl]

I've never played on threads, though I would with the right partner. It wouldn't be something I'd do re the deleting post roleplay, but I guess everyone's free to exercise their own sense of control over their creative output. It does seem kind of silly though, and if they're going to be that concerned about it, then maybe they should stick to PMs.

 

[Relix]

i'm actually very curious to read the responses that come through this discussion; i've not had the misfortune of experiencing a partner coming behind our ended story and deleting their half of the collaboration.

nor do i ever really want to when i think on it. i can only assume if i'd be fine with the reason eventually, assuming that i was given a reason after collaborations had ended; but i damn sure know how i'd feel. i like my thread stories because they are there to stay, to serve as mementos of all the past partners i've had a great time collaborating with. i can dip my toes back into them, give them a read over to experience what had been built before it stopped. even now, i'm currently in the process of reading through a handful of my older stories. one involving six who is among my top three in memorable/favorite partners. losing her half of a story?

just thinking about it puts me down a good bit.



but now i'm just rambling.

part of me does wish i could have the power to delete my own threads again, though. i hate feelin' like i'm pestering a mod with a thread deletion request hah.

 

[cyx.]

i concur with the above~ i like to make threads for a reason; it allows me to go back to re-read the story, whether it's stopped unfinished, ongoing, or completed. it's good to look back on what i've written, and how i'm currently writing. it's the easiest way for me to self-reflect for something like that - and since keeping personal messages is something i generally don't like doing (ocd goes crazy for some reason if i don't have 0 messages /eye twitch), it's the only role playing method that allows that for me.

personally, i'm not sure why anyone would delete their previous posts within a thread; unless maybe they had a really, really bad falling out with a partner? i dunno. i'd feel rather disappointed, myself, to come back to a story i was anticipating on re-reading, and discovered that my partner had erased their side of the story. i find i live better through their posts for the actual plot and story itself, and generally only read my own posts when i want to reflect~

 

[Manic]

Had a partner do this once. They cracked the sads because despite me being very clear several times about what I wanted to explore and why, when I did start writing about it she became very upset, even starting to argue with me via her character in the thread. Then she started to abuse me in the thread and via PM.

Next thing, she deletes all her posts and a Mod is telling me to cut it out even though I wasn't breaking any rules and I was still catching up with all her posts and PM's.

 

[Xanaphia]

Guilty confession. I actually keep all my rps on word documents, so I can go back and reread them at my pleasure, though I do often reread them on the forum too, at least the ones that are threads.

When I first started on here, almost all my rps were over pms, and it became a pain in the ass to organize the stories like that, especially if I needed to go back a handful of posts to reference something that happened earlier. Keeping it in a unified word doc makes consistency and significant call back much easier to do.

So, if a partner went and deleted their posts, it would be no big deal to me, since I already have it saved on my comp. As for myself, I have been tempted with a couple of my early board showings, but have thus far resisted the urge. Seeing as they can't even be easily accessed, there is less temptation to do so. And so what if I had terrible posts three years ago. Clearly I've grown a hell of a lot since starting on here, to the point I am occasionally proud of a post or a piece of writing.

 

[Rudolph Quin]

I do the same thing, xana! I was on a forum once and the admins were messing around with the coding or something and accidentally deleted all of the threads from 2008-2009. It was just kind of irritating because I like to go back and reread old threads or when talking to partners and showing where I "started" I like to link them my embarrassing old threads. So, that's why I started saving them in documents.

I've had the partner delete everything on me once and seen it happen a couple of times to others. Mostly, I just find it a sort of strange thing to do and would love to hear from someone who does do it. Is it an OCD thing? Does there have to be bad blood between partners for them to do it, or do they just consider it "cleaning up" after an ended story? Are they embarrassed? I just would like to empathize and understand a little bit more.

 

[Feral-Scarab]

I too confess to saving rps in documents stored safely on a flash drive. I love to re-read the stories written with past partners! Not only to relive the experience but also to look back and see how I grew through-out the thread aside from the growth my character's experienced. I'm not sure how many people do this but rather than make new characters for every rp I do, I have a select few characters I will use over and over. Even if the rps take place in completely different worlds/times/etc I still consider every rp a part of that character's history. I use these rps to build and develop the characters which mean the most to me, effectively the rp's become their backstory...eventually becoming an epitaph of their entire existence. I'll roll events from previous stories all into one, merely editing a few things here and there so it makes sense for events happening to that same character but in different worlds, to all add up in the end.

Much like real life my characters will never stop learning, growing, and developing, just as we are in real life. It's a never ending story...and although I might not use a character for years...sometimes reading everything I have on them sparks a new idea thus brings about my desire to continue their story.

On a more straight forward note....I have a not-so-great internet connection and a computer which likes to freeze up at the worst possible times. Too many times I've lost a post filled with the kind of stuff I can only generate when in a particular mind set. I don't even think about what to write it literally just happens. Doing these posts all over again...I HATE how they turn out. So, to save myself the migraine...I instead type my post up on a document which saves every time I stop typing so that way if my computer crashes I don't have to redo the entire post again!

 

[Mr Quixotic]

Never done it, but seen it a few times. I've always assumed, without any knowledge at all, that it must be due to bad blood, but could be totally wrong, so, like Rudolph, am curious! I don't think it's something I'd ever do, for any reason that I can imagine. I tend to keep all of my stories on threads here, and write my posts through BMR, but am starting to transfer some to Word, mainly for my numerical brain's word count interest sake, and as a backup. I actually find stories much easier to read, write and follow on threads, than I do in a Word document, and could never go back to PM's, mostly due to what Xana mentions in regards to organisation and referencing something that occurred earlier. So, if a partner did delete all their thread posts without my prior knowledge, and providing me the opportunity to save the story, I'd be bummed!

Edit: Oh, and Xana, you don't just go back and read old stories; sometimes you even post to them, too

 

[Fruit]

As for myself, I have been tempted with a couple of my early board showings, but have thus far resisted the urge. Seeing as they can't even be easily accessed, there is less temptation to do so. And so what if I had terrible posts three years ago. Clearly I've grown a hell of a lot since starting on here, to the point I am occasionally proud of a post or a piece of writing.

I wish I was like this. I deleted a few RPs from the dark past because my posts looked too shitty for me not to feel sick whenever I looked at them.

I think all of them were with partners who are now long gone but if any of them can read this message, I apologize.

 

[Temptationist]

I've never deleted my posts from a thread role play.
I've never had it happen to me either (a partner deleting posts). So, this is definitely something new that I've never heard of.
I would be bummed if they did delete, probably slightly insulted. I really enjoy all of my RPs and do like to re-read them even if they have ended/ been terminated.

 

[HeyThereLittleBear]

I've never heard of this happening before and never really seen it anywhere else. I know that I have gone and deleted some things of my own that were not role-plays themselves but that's about it. It was my own personal things that I deleted and my own ideas that I wanted to get rid of so I wouldn't be getting messages with requests for old ideas that I was no longer interested in.

 

[Rudolph Quin]

I wish I was like this. I deleted a few RPs from the dark past because my posts looked too shitty for me not to feel sick whenever I looked at them.

I think all of them were with partners who are now long gone but if any of them can read this message, I apologize.

That's something I can definitely understand. I've written journals and blog entries over the years that made me feel so anxious that I literally couldn't stand another moment of being so vulnerable and exposed and ended up deleting them. Writing is a showcase of talent and a just as vulnerable exposing of the self, sometimes even more so as we reveal our personal, intimate libidinous thoughts. So I can understand that self-consciousness in relation to the writing of fictional stories.