can one delete an old post?

[Emille]

I have a few posts on which I got no or only 1 or 2 replies, and I dont want that sitting on the forum for eternity - can i delete some old or irrelevant posts?

[Jordy]

Hi Emille,

I will check with the other hosts but as far as I know, the answer is no. The reason being that once a member has made a post, they have 24 hours to edit or delete it. Thereafter the post is automatially locked and it becomes "public" property. So unfortunately they will sit on the forum for eternity.

[Mara]

Hi Emille

I agree with Jordy...it has to be very exceptional circumstances for a post to be deleted, unfortunately just not wanting them there, does not qualify.

[Emille]

so how do you delete within 24 hours?

[Jordy]

Members cannot delete a post in its entirety, members can only edit / remove the content of the post. The reason behind this to prevent members from making a contentious or offensive post which provokes a reaction (and starts a war of words), and then deleting their post to make it look they were never involved. So only hosts can delete posts. We delete any post that contravenes forum rules such as racist comments. But people do say things they later regret. A window period of 24 hours is provided to allow for this.

So as for deleting posts within 24 hours, effectively if you make a post you regret, you can edit it to remove all its content and replacing the content with a fullstop.

I sympathise with your concerns about things being on the internet for eternity. Even if we did delete posts as per your request, they would still be available in some cached version somewhere on the net. The reality is there is a record somewhere of every single thing we have ever looked at, searched for, typed in, or sent via the internet. The question is which of those things will come back to bite us at some point in our lives.

[Emille]

thanks Jordy