How long does MDC keep threads?

[staceychev]

Just wondering how far back threads go. Is there a point where MDC cuts them off? Server space is cheap... will my daughters (newborn and age 4.5 now) be able to read about the "trials and tribulations" of raising them when they grow up?

[AdinaL]

As far as I know we keep them forever. Of course, unplanned things can happen that will delete them, but we don't routinely prune threads from the server. You can also archive the thread on your computer if you want to keep it.

[JessicaS]

If one needs something deleted for privacy reasons one can always pm an administrator and we can assist with that.

[zjande]

Originally Posted by abimommy

If one needs something deleted for privacy reasons one can always pm an administrator and we can assist with that.

Can you tell me more about that? What I was hoping to do was go way, way back to my 1st posts here & delete them for privacy. I used to share all my kids' names & far more very personal details than I am comfortable with today! I would very seriously like to avoid the personal sex life info I shared back in my wild party days saved on this public space for my kids to find one day. How totally humiliating. I have since learned not to share such info online anymore! I discovered that just Googling my daughter's very unique name brings you to all my old posts here.

But I just now learned that we can't edit old posts.

How big of a pain is it for a moderator to allow someone to delete super old posts? Especially if I'm talking about posts from several different forums? How could I go about such a task (editing/deleting the ancient stuff). Is it possible?

[CalvinTy]

Originally Posted by zjande

Can you tell me more about that? What I was hoping to do was go way, way back to my 1st posts here & delete them for privacy. I used to share all my kids' names & far more very personal details than I am comfortable with today! I would very seriously like to avoid the personal sex life info I shared back in my wild party days saved on this public space for my kids to find one day. How totally humiliating. I have since learned not to share such info online anymore! I discovered that just Googling my daughter's very unique name brings you to all my old posts here.

But I just now learned that we can't edit old posts.

How big of a pain is it for a moderator to allow someone to delete super old posts? Especially if I'm talking about posts from several different forums? How could I go about such a task (editing/deleting the ancient stuff). Is it possible?

zjande, that's a very interesting debate. As a forum administrator/founder myself (on unrelated subjects), I haven't been asked that yet to "delete posts from years ago because I shared a lot of private information". I'm sure it may come up in the future.

Thinking about it quickly, I see problems:

1.) it usually is *not* a pain for a moderator to delete your posts or preferably just modify your posts, but as you mentioned, if it's 100+ posts in various threads and forums, then it may open a can of worms if many others ask the same thing of the mods.

2.) Also, since old threads still exist, if someone wants to read old threads, but you succeed in having your post(s) removed, then it may mess up the "spirit" of the old thread or even make people's replies to your posts very confusing (it would then appear that they are replying to the poster ABOVE you, you follow?) That's why modifying the posts would be best, not to soft delete them completely.

3.) Even if a mod takes the time to edit your old posts to change your children's names for privacy reasons, which is completely understandable, but it's likely that there is a web archive that crawled across the web and saved a lot of snapshots in time. I forget the link right now, but I have seen a snapshot from 2000 about one of forums where I am a member. Plus, I'm certain some members had made replies to you about your children and saying their names and then it's not just your posts that the mod has to change, but also others' as well.

As you said, you have learned and matured quite a bit, and are concerned about your kids seeing your partying past chronicled online 10+ years down the road. I really hate to say the words "learning a valuable lesson", but I think that is what it is here & you can always have a good talk to your kids at the right time in the future about your past that may still be online somewhere.

Cheers,

* CalvinTy

[JessicaS]

Originally Posted by zjande

Can you tell me more about that? What I was hoping to do was go way, way back to my 1st posts here & delete them for privacy. I used to share all my kids' names & far more very personal details than I am comfortable with today! I would very seriously like to avoid the personal sex life info I shared back in my wild party days saved on this public space for my kids to find one day. How totally humiliating. I have since learned not to share such info online anymore! I discovered that just Googling my daughter's very unique name brings you to all my old posts here.

But I just now learned that we can't edit old posts.

How big of a pain is it for a moderator to allow someone to delete super old posts? Especially if I'm talking about posts from several different forums? How could I go about such a task (editing/deleting the ancient stuff). Is it possible?

We can go back and remove instances where you posted personal, identifying information.

You would just send the links to an admin and they can help you with that.

As the PP stated, it may be on google cache still or the way back machine so it might not help.

[zjande]

Thanks to both of you! Helpful info.

I'll have to look back & choose a few choice posts & ask for help editing them.

Lesson learned!

Next step... figuring out what to do about that Livejournal I kept back in the day as well.

[almadianna]

Originally Posted by zjande

Thanks to both of you! Helpful info.

I'll have to look back & choose a few choice posts & ask for help editing them.

Lesson learned!

Next step... figuring out what to do about that Livejournal I kept back in the day as well.

Livejournal will let you delete all of your posts or set them all to private so that nobody can access them.