Is it possible to edit and/or delete my posts and threads

[haitch]

Hi,

Is it possible to edit and/or delete my posts and threads if I needed or wanted too?
Thanks

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[Harri]

Hi there.  

We do not delete posts as that would leave gaps in a persons story and it is not fair to those members who took the time to respond.  

We are pretty anonymous here.  We have over 3 million posts so it is pretty hard to randomly find someone on our site.  Rarely are people found and when they are its because of leaving the site open on their computer, not clearing history, or by using a name that they have used elsewhere and is well known.

The best strategies for keeping safe are listed in the above posts.

Harri

[PearlsBefore]

Hi there.  

We do not delete posts as that would leave gaps in a persons story and it is not fair to those members who took the time to respond.  

Harri

Best practices, including protecting privacy rights and even limiting legal liability for the website, might be to re-allow editing/deletion after a thread goes "inactive" (already logged, as evidenced by the fact THIS thread warns me it is inactive and has received no posts in 3 months).

[Harri]

Hi Pearls.

An inactive thread is one that has not had posts within 90 days, but millions of posts here are read long after a thread has gone 'inactive'.  Our collection of threads benefit hundreds of thousands of readers who choose not to post and are important resource they would not otherwise have.

Regarding privacy and best practices, you left out an important part of my answer in your quote, which was:

We are pretty anonymous here.  We have over 3 million posts so it is pretty hard to randomly find someone on our site.  Rarely are people found and when they are its because of leaving the site open on their computer, not clearing history, or by using a name that they have used elsewhere and is well known.

We do take privacy very seriously here.  We also are open about our policy in our guidelines which all members are encouraged to read before posting.  

Harri

[PearlsBefore]

My concern is that, (nothing personal to you and simplyby the nature of hosting of a forum), you are not in possession of the actual data of how often people have been "found out" on this site unless they make the unusual choice of then telling the site about it; I would assume most would not do that, they would simply leave quietly.

Having a privacy policy we encourage people to read again is par for the course for any website, yet the vast majority do allow you to delete your old posts. As it stands right now, if I determine in a year that my own posts might cause distress to a BPD loved one who found them (or other relatives who found them and knew I was talking about them)...my recourse would honestly have to be to [what would be perceived as a 'threat of legal action' if I gave detail] in order to have the posts removed, user account de-activated and general actions taken that can be taken anywhere else on the internet to protect my family years after I sought advice. That's not good for anyone, to make it necessary to have such legal action - and there's no good reason to avoid it; there are many workaround solutions such as only allowing deletions after a certain time period, or allowing users to have their username removed from all their posts and dis-connected from their profile server side, etc.

[Harri]

there are many workaround solutions such as only allowing deletions after a certain time period, or allowing users to have their username removed from all their posts and dis-connected from their profile server side, etc.

With the exception of deleting, which is what the OP asked about, we do work with our members.