Why do people delete their own (non-controversial) posts?

Hi Lola, That is mysterious to me too. I think that there are lots of behaviors on forums that are a bit off. Although, I think that this is particularly troublesome, because you're right. We don't just research for the one person, it's for the lurkers and other search at a later time.

Maybe someone who did this will post and explain their reasoning.

Pam

The only explanation I can think of, besides people just not realizing that others read the answers and find them useful, is that people don't want to keep getting the notifications in their email inbox. I know - why don't they just delete them, or shut off the notifications on their preferences? But I've seen it mentioned as a "problem."

One other possibility is that the post will reappear. That happened to one of mine; I had written a detailed answer and wanted to reference it, but when I searched about 6 months later, it was gone. However, about a month after that, it reappeared. I have no explanation for this.

I never get notifications by email---I must have switched something off? Is the default setting for notifications "on"?

Anyway, I am glad to know I am not alone in finding this post deletion thing odd.

Lola: If you click on your profile name while logged in, under "My Options" , click "Edit Profile" and there is a check box to toggle whether you receive email notifications to topics that you originate.

Twice over the years I have found it, shall we say expedient, to delete a couple of my own posts. I won't go into reasons but, at the time, it didn't occur to me to make a fuss with the webmaster so I just deleted them myself.

I understand that it might be frustrating but it really isn't any of our business why someone would delete their posts. It's also possible that it might have been done by accident and once it's been deleted you can't restore it. I'm sure this isn't very helpful and maybe the OP in question will respond with a PM if they happen to see your post. I don't think it happens very often but I have seen posts disappear a few times when I didn't see anything controversial on them. It's impossible to know if it was deleted by the webmaster or by the OP unless it happens on a weekend, then it's probably the OP.

Nothing personal if you have not noticed before it can be a mean uncaring cold world in life, even when it comes to free travel advice; also sometimes there are too many responses duplicating the same solutions and/or people don't read or stay on track when supplying an answer to what the OP originally posed rendering the original posting useless and worth deletion in consideration to others seeking straight forward advice.

Sometimes people will jump on another person for what they post, one theory is that it's easier and more civilized to just delete the original post than respond in kind to snarkiness. I don't know the specific reasons for the example that you cite, but that might be one. The number of responses that amount to "you are asking a stupid question," or criticize one of the other responses, is much fewer since they stepped up the moderation on this board, but it still does occur. I routinely go back and edit posts because I don't want people to stir things up. A better choice than deleting the original post is to report any snarky responses. The moderators are very good about addressing nasty behavior.

Well, would it be any consolation to know that, because of you and others who post specific information, I have started to do more research before I respond?

I assure you there was nothing controversial about this post. It was a straightforward question about where to stay in London with a family of four, and I gave an answer which I believe was responsive, factual, and totally non-judgmental. There is no way the Webmaster would have deleted it. I just do not understand why the OP did.

I am very familiar with travel forums and know that things can go sideways. And then posts can and should be deleted. But that it not what was going on here. Person asks a question, I gave a detailed answer, I have no idea if anyone else responeded, and the post disappeared. It was as though the OP was satisfied with my answer and thought the right thing was to delete---but why?

Let me say that I enjoy participating on travel forums and do so here with the sincere hope to help others, as I have a fair amount of knowledge and experience. I do not post to provoke or cause argument. The only reason I can think this person deleted the whole thing ( which the OP can do) is he or she got an answer to the question and thought deletion was the right thing to do. Maybe because of the notifications, but as noted there are other ways to deal with that. Or maybe that is how chat rooms (which this is not) work? Just very frustrating.

Lola,

I also find it somewhat annoying to spend time providing a comprehensive answer to a travel question, only to have the OP delete it for whatever reason. I always wonder, "why did I bother" as the person didn't really seem to care about the answer. As others have mentioned in this thread, lurkers or others also benefit from the answers.

Thankfully the majority of people that seek travel advice here seem to appreciate the efforts of the group on the forum.

I did not know that you can delete somebody else's post. My understanding is that you can delete only your own and I noticed this happening when they probably got scared that they were politically incorrect. I thought that deleting somebody else's post can be done only by Webmaster.

I think she is referring to an OP deleting their own post, and thereby deleting the responses. There is no way to delete someone else's response only.

you see too many respond when they do not understand the OP thereby rendering the topic useless and deletable

Ken, you hit it exactly. "Why did I bother" is my question when I see the whole thing disappear.

This forum is good in that individual responders can edit or delete their responses---I often have to edit the typos that myipad autofill provides. But the OP has the power to delete the whole thing--- making everyones' responses moot and a waste of time. I just wish people would not do that.

I also wish people wouldn't do that. It makes one think that they don't appreciate the time and effort of others who have tried to help them with their travel questions. Oh well, I try to focus on the majority who do appreciate the answers they get from all of us on the forum.

I think we should all delete our posts in this thread.

About the only way to avoid this is to post your response as a new thread, perhaps with a copy to the OP's thread. Then you get the feedback from the community and everyone else can search if, too.

Some may consider it their own answering service rather than a discussion; once their question has been answered the job is done. This is also seen by those who don't like the discussion veering off, or being advised that the plans they have already done aren't the best or most sensible for them.

Also some seem to be excessively concerned about privacy, even to the extent of not providing enough information to usefully answer the query.

These concerns about privacy on this website are almost paranoid. Some people are writing their names as combination of numbers and random letters. Why not to use the first name or if even that's too much then at least pseudonym. Very few put location and something about themselves into their profile which could often be helpful in answering their questions.
IMHO one should not be able to delete the topic if there are already replies to it.

Lola, after I go to the trouble of answering your OP, I hope you don't delete this whole thread.

I always delete one of my own (original) posts each month - the post about the previous month's Denver meeting. I don't think the post has much historical value, and it just adds to the size of Rick's database. Anyway, I'm not trying to build my post count by making meeting announcements.

To answer your question, I haven't seen a lot of OPs deleting their thread, but I have seen it happen and wondered why. Did someone in the meantime make a trollish response so the OP deleted their post to delete the response? I think a lot of times, on OP makes a pretty silly post and responders point it out, so, to avoid further embarrassment, the OP just deletes the entire thread.

Or maybe they just didn't get the answer they wanted (not necessarily from you). For example, they proudly post an itinerary showing how smart they are because they have figured out how to see 12 major attractions in six days. They wanted congratulations but instead everyone points out that they will only spend minutes at each attraction and all day in trains or their rental car getting to the attractions. That wasn't the answer they wanted and they end up deleting the whole thread.

What I find more often seems to be that a person make a posting, then doesn't seem to come back and read the answers. Often, they post a vague question that requires clarification to get a specific answer. Weeks go by and multiple responders ask for clarification, but the OP never posts again.

I suspect that for some, once they get the answers they need, they delete their post. They don't realize that this forum helps others. And/or they get annoyed by the constant notifications for every time their thread has a post in it (and don't realize they can turn that off).

Don't take offense or get upset about it.

I've deleted posts I started a couple of times, when I realized, my question did not make sense, I found an answer in previous post that I missed while Searching, or it was redundant. Its often easy to mistake a reply for criticism or snarkiness, when its not directly answering the question, which I've been guilty of.

I agree Lola that it's frustrating -- that we write in an effort to help not only the OP, but others who might come along later and benefit from the post. Then, if the OP deletes it, our effort is lost. I get where you're coming from.

Add a footer to leave posting/responses in place as others may benefit?

I think OPs edit and delete their posts for the same exact reasons that people who reply edit or delete their replies. In both scenarios some people will be inevitably deprived of their knowledge. There are lots of potential, legitimate reasons for deleting/editing, most of which have already been covered. The bottom line is they don't want their words to live on in perpetuity or they don't want to be associated with certain replies - their reasons are their reasons. Because the site design has a delete option, they exercise it as they see fit. I think if you stop and put yourself in their shoes you can understand why they may not hold the same value for keeping your (and others) replies alive (or that they even think about it that way at all)...it's not exactly intuitive that some posters are replying so their responses are seen by people other than the OP.

My take is that the searchability of this forum is so very rudimentary, no matter how well-thought out or painstakingly composed a response may be, its utility is not that high - especially over time - because very few people will see it (and fewer will use the advice because it may be time bound and person-specific). So the same or similar questions will get posed again and again (and the forum is littered with softball questions that are easily answered with a simple google search). In other words, unless the OPs question was so unusual, you'll have countless other opportunities to help someone with an almost identical iteration of the question that was just deleted. If feelings are hurt or frustration abounds over this, then I think the efforts made are probably too high for the reward. To me, if the OP presumably saw and read your reply (and hopefully incorporated it into their planning), then you've satisfied your objective. I don't know why the feeling of "this was a waste of time". Everyone who responds does so (I think) without any promise of recognition from the OP or any assurance that their reply is useful to others. Of course everyone hopes it is, but there's no way to control it. It's way too hard to impute the motivations of people you don't know, many of whom are posting for the first time or infrequently. I agree with another poster who said not to take this personally because it's not personal.

Lola, I think you just got your answer. The OP, whom you just replied to on a new thread, apparently changed their plans, making the original question moot and did not want to receive notifications for answers to a question they were no longer interested in.

Cannot say that I have noticed a lot of deletions like the OP references. I have noticed a few will be deleted with the OP realized that they are getting great answers to the wrong question. What bothers me the most, like Lee, is that this site works best when you have a conversation. If you question is unclear, misunderstood, etc., come back and answer the questions that the respondents are posting. If you want good answers, you need to ask a good question. AND if asking a question you need to be prepared to accept any answer - assuming on target. It is called having a conversation.

Lola, you said the OP you referred to was looking for hotel guidance in London for a family of 4. Maybe the OP was living a double life, and had 2 different families, and once they received your detailed and on point recommendations, maybe they needed to delete the whole record to be sure their other family did not happen on the thread and figure out the whole double life thing, ruining many lives. Just maybe.

Re: getting feedback or clarification from OPs: When you set up a profile, the default setting is in the form of an "opt-in" as opposed to "opt-out" when it comes to getting an e-mail notification when someone replies to a question. Even though it seems self-evident, it may be the case that people forget, don't care to, or aren't careful in clicking that check box. So they may not realize that they have responses to their query and you never hear from them again. Perhaps they post their questions to so many travel forums that they don't keep track of what's what. Or alternatively, they do click that box and become overwhelmed with the pile-ons to so many questions. The Trump thread had over 100 responses - I'd hate to be getting 100 e-mails notifying me that yet another person has an opinion about how Europeans would perceive us (the Webmaster finally put it to sleep on Monday). With straightforward questions, usually the first one or few responses do the trick and everything else is diminishing returns. Why continue to pay attention once you feel like your question is answered?

Conclusion:
The forum has concluded that people delete their own (non-controversial) posts because.

Conclusion:

I'm not sure that it has run to conclusion, and I'm not sure that the OP, Lola, has either.

Yesterday a poster said, in one of their own posts, that they had deleted their first post because they had decided that going to Austria was no longer a good option for them so they cleared the decks.

There isn't much guidance from the Forum to new posters, and not really a good, easily findable or regularly visible guide to the way we do things here. So the result was that the answers given to the first post were lost, and the losers would be the other first time visitors to the Forums, and the lurkers, and the people searching for the given answer.

The person who did the deleting sounds like they thought they did the right thing.....

Solutions? Pondering....

Maybe a focus group for the webbie to help develop new whizbangs?

Sam---I think you are referring to Jenna's posts ( Italy, [Austria], Switzerland, Paris) where she deleted one after I pointed out she has two conflicting posts going at the same time.

The one I am talking about specifically ( but it is but one of many times I have seen this) was a well-framed and reasonable question about London and where to stay with good access, by walking if possible, to the major sites. I was the first to respond, and because we have spent considerable time in London ( most recently three weeks) and we walk almost everywhere, I wrote a long and detailed response, explaining my reasons and including links to some hotel options, with prices. The person was a first-timer, if I recall correctly. I did not see subsequent responses, as when I returned to check the whole thing was gone. I cannot imagine there would have been critical or snarky responses. And since I have seen other posts disappear I just wonder what leads OPs to do this.

Maybe Larry in Carmel is correct that he (so it appeared from the screen name) is leading a double life and deleted the post after getting one answer to destroy the evidence. . . . But somehow I think not.

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful comments.

Haven't notice this happening at all, but my best guess is that some people don't know how to turn off the email notifications, so they delete the whole thread. Just like some people don't know how to delete a duplicate post, or how to correct their title or spelling or dates. Or how to copy and paste their question from a wrong forum to the correct forum.

I deleted a post once because my non controversial question somehow took a controversial turn and I just got tired of the direction it was going.

Lola,
I admit it, I've sometimes deleted my original posts.....why? Various reasons, but usually (not always) because of some snarky or put-down type responses, or general non-helpful judgements about my travel plans or because I was going to be traveling and didn't want a flood of email while gone.
Also, I suspect (not sure, I've never gone back to look), but from time to time, some new posters will use their entire names for their identify, mention which city they are flying out of, and when they will be gone. For those dear folks, I will sometimes send them a private message that kindly says: you might not want to use your real identify and might not want to give specific travel dates, then give an example such as: a quick internet search reveals that you work at such and such place, live at such and such address, blah, blah, blah, and while most people on the RS Forum are not ill-willed, you might not want your travel details available to anyone on the internet for obvious reasons. I would guess, if those people did not know how to change their user name (or if that is even possible), it may have resulted in a panic-delete of the thread. Just guessing.
When I answer posts, I do not expect those answers to remain as part of some long-term library as such. My intention is to just be helpful to that poster at a specific point in time. And, while some folks search for past Forum topics (I do), it appears many just ask the same question that has been asked many times before, which is not a problem either.
Just guessing.

Note: I realize it IS possible to change one's name...I just did it :) So, in the future, I will just advise folks to edit their names when they are too revealing.

Lots of us have changed our names on here, when there were too many Freds, Franks, Steves, Toms, or Jo's. All of your posts will change the name automatically.

Maggie---you may have hit on the right answer in this particular case. The OP (one I believe was brand new here) use firstname.lastname as their screen name. Although his question did not include specific dates of travel, that is still never a good idea. So possibly someone sent him a PM advising of possible privacy issues, and suggested the deletion.

Now that is a reason I can understand and support.

Maggie's answer makes sense. Lola, I followed that particular post and there were only about 5 response when I saw it, none of them controversial or snarky. It disappeared shortly after, so that's why Maggie's response makes possible. The thoroughness of your response to that post is what encouraged me to start doing a bit more research so I could give more specific responses.

And, in defense of those who seem to ask questions that have been answered repeatedly on the forum, those archives are not all that easy to navigate. In the past, I've remembered a past post, but the digging required can be frustrating and unproductive, and I know what I'm looking for. I'm continually impressed and thankful for all those who continue to share their knowledge, over and over and over...

Patty: I agree with you on searching the archives. Am I missing something or is there a way to sort the results newest-to-oldest? I know you can choose to display, for example, results from the past six months, but they still don't seem to be in any date order at all.

The best way to search this site is to use google advanced search and include ricksteves in the domain. This was advice that I go quite a few years ago. I find that actually Rick Steves forum posts come up pretty easily on google.

I am one to delete my post after I have posted. I do this across the Internet whether on blogs or social media. After I post anything public I get anxiety about things I've written and made public even when it's not controversial. I try and leave my post to let a conversation form and flow, but then I become anxious about my thoughts, beliefs, or anything on the Internet forever. I just Googled if other people do this and this dialogue came up in my search. So I decided to sign up just to thank everyone on here for letting me discover that other people do what I do as well. And proving why I should overcome the anxiety and let the information stay public so others have access to it in the future. For I Googled this topic and felt assured that others deleting their post might be dealing with that particular anxiety as I and that I'm not alone.