Why Do You Delete Posts?

by dez on July 31, 2010 · 12 comments

in Personal

Post image for Why Do You Delete Posts?

I asked the question yesterday on Twitter:

Bloggers: How many times have you been nearly done with a post and decided you’re spewing bullshit and trashed it?

I was actually a little bit surprised at the answers I got. The overall consensus was that a size-able percentage of posts written end up getting deleted.

Why? For me it’s if the topic starts spinning itself into nothingness or ends up being out of my comfort area from a knowledge perspective. The other reason is if I’m just being picky. I always make sure I leave a post like that as a draft overnight before I publish it to be sure I’m not being unduly harsh

Why do you delete posts before publishing? Respond in the comments

image credit: Mixy Lorenzo

  • http://www.lazylightning.org Bill Roehl

    I have only done it once and that was because I could not get the corroboration I required in order for it to be published. It was a real bummer too because the topic was fucking awesome and really needs to be out there :(

    • http://iamdez.com dez

      Bill,
      Only once? What might the differences be between a site like yours and mine that would cause this. Because I delete (on average) about 2 posts a week.

      • http://www.lazylightning.org Bill Roehl

        I really don’t know. We’re different people with different sites and different content. The best I can offer is that I post at least one post each and every day except Saturday and I generally post about topics that are time sensitive and I need to squeeze every last bit out of what I have.

  • http://www.designedbylucas.com Lucas | Miami Web Design

    I have done so many time when I realized that by the middle of the article I am not making sense or relation to the title.

    • http://iamdez.com dez

      Totally! I end up on some random topic completely unrelated and just press the “Move to trash”.

  • http://blog.elementengage.com Mitch

    I’m pretty new to blogging, but have yet to delete a post. In my blogging infancy I am considering each one an experiment. Also, I don’t even go to the control panel until my prose is 99% complete in a word processor. Is that over anal?

    • http://iamdez.com dez

      Mitch,
      thanks for commenting. First off, there’s no real “right way” to write your posts. Do whatever works for you. Sometimes it is easier to write in a word processor simply because you’re not distracted by other elements.

  • http://www.kaneconsulting.biz Kary

    I “scrap” posts a lot … but do my best to never “trash” them.

    And, I’d like to encourage all of you to do the same.

    You invest a lot of time into drafting a post. Sometimes, they go off-topic, or your thoughts aren’t coming to fruition, or it’s just not right…RIGHT NOW.

    But, don’t trash it! Bank it! I have an ever-growing file of drafts and ideas that have never made it to post form. I keep them because who knows? Maybe one day that rambling post that totally sucked a few months ago will spark an idea for a future post. Or, maybe the only reason I thought it sucked to begin with was because I was having a craptastic day.

    While I completely understand the notion that a draft is not worthy of being published, why totally trash your thoughts?

    • http://iamdez.com dez

      Great advice! I guess even though I click the “Move to Trash” button they aren’t really deleted in WordPress. They are sitting in the trash folder waiting to be totally removed, but they are out of my view scape.

      However, for me, there are still posts (like the venting ones) that get deleted. Those are typically more time sensitive and don’t offer any further value, but it did feel good to post it. Every once in a while though my vents/rants get published over on my anonymous site (http://ventanon.com) I can share that because it’s not just me posting there.

  • http://sorenson.blogspot.com Sornie

    I can think of only two times I have deleted a post. I re-read them both days after hitting publish and after having some attention given to me about the subject matter I killed them. Other than that, I really don’t have too much of a filter so I basically publish everything I write.

  • http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-profit-online-with-mini-sites Gwen

    I never delete posts before publishing. This is mainly because I really take a lot of time to make drafts for all my post. In my personal blog I take around half a day to write a short post. I should be able to end up with something sensible if it takes that long for me to write.

  • http://www.pixelwebstudio.co.uk Web Design Edinburgh

    In fact, never. I have my first draft and read it again and again, make corrections, leave it for a while, come back, read the final draft and once I’m happy – it is published. It always takes lots of time and energy, so I don’t see a reason why should I give up.

Previous post:

Next post: