Recently, I received a request to remove an old blog post because one of the people in it didn’t like the fact that I blogged about the person making a mistake. (I’m keeping it vague because the subject of that particular post doesn’t really matter for this post.)
I didn’t remove the post, but did update it, and changed the headline to tone it down some. (Even that wasn’t needed, but I was trying to be nice.)
On Twitter, I posed the question if there’s any reason to remove a blog post. I didn’t get any public response (yay or nay and why), but did get some private messages. One person said he’d remove the post.
Yes, I know blogging and the stuff I write about isn’t earth shattering. And, removing an old post won’t cause WWIII.
Still — and maybe it’s the former journalist in me — I just don’t like changing history. (Though, every once in a great while, I will delete a tweet.)
The Internet is filled with people doing stupid things or things they might regret later — for whatever reason. (Yes, even I’ve made a stupid mistake or two, but didn’t delete my own post.) Other than maybe a one-on-one interview, there’s no better tool to check on someone than doing a simple search for his or her name.
Maybe I’m being too self-righteous but I just don’t see any legit reason to alter history.
Barring some legit court order, do you have any genuine, good reasons to remove a blog post?
-Mike
