Especially forums that are inhospitable to writers (after quite happily benefiting from all the content many of those writers have put up on the forum over the years). Unfortunately, I have limited self-control (none) and train wrecks are riveting. Besides which, I so want to post an “I’m leaving and never coming back” post but I’d probably be lying. The truth is I’m a passive conflict junkie, because I’m mostly a lurker who doesn’t post on these kinds of threads and I certainly don’t post “I’m leaving and never coming back” posts. :)
The last forum I left, I just decided it was time to go, changed my username, deleted the posts that were a bit more personal in nature, and then deleted my account. It’s better that way, easier, more permanent. I can’t waffle on the decision. Just, poof. I’m gone. :D
Maybe it’s time I did something similar here. I really don’t want to support a site that takes advantage of writers like that, knowing how hard it would be for most people to delete all the content they’d put on the site over the years and taking away the few benefits participation on the forum provides them. It just reinforces the idea that a person should keep most of their writings somewhere within their direct control, not hosted on a forum or blog that someone else owns.
Yep. I do believe it’s time to do some injudicious deleting. In the future, if I feel compelled to comment on something at one of these places, I’ll just quote it here and post my thoughts. :)
Now, how’m I going to do this without it being just another way to procrastinate?
Quickly, I hope! :D
Update—
Holy crap. Two and a half hours later I have finished deleting every post I ever wrote on that particular forum (just over 500 that hadn’t been deleted already—I seriously doubt it was more than 600 ever, but yikes, that was a lot of deleting). I felt a bit like I had OCD while I was doing it. I … just … couldn’t … stop, until everything was gone.
Yay?
Now, time for fresh tea and writing!