posted on Jun, 28 2012 @ 02:51 AM
reply to post by swan001
The thing about the Internet (well at least at this point in time) - anything you write or upload is permanent and it's every single user's cross to
bear. That's why we all should be very careful what we write, because in 4 years someone WILL quote your stupidity.
While I don't have the last say, I wouldn't hold my breath for this request to become a reality. Not because we want to punish people for their past
stupidities, but to allow fair play.
I'll use two examples to make my point:
1. Let's say in 2007 you started a thread theorizing that the earth is actually a giant blue marshmallow. Another member spent days writing posts,
doing research and finally prove that the earth is in fact not a giant blue marshmallow. That member considers his research and posts in that thread
as the best posts ever made in the history of the Internet. Forward 5 years. You decide you weren't thinking clearly back in 2007 and delete the
giant blue marshmallow thread. And "poof" gone is the other member's pride and joy... Not very fair to the other participants in that thread, is
it.
2. Because of the nature of ATS your posting history can either lend credibility to your or... not so much. Let's say last month you posted a thread
"A blue marshmallow stole my car and ate my hamster". Your story is disproved and you delete the thread. Today you post a thread "My hamster stole
my blue marshmallow and ate my car". This time you fixed the holes in your story and because other folks can't see the deleted posting history, they
don't know you are actually a liar and they can't disprove your story either. Win for you. Lose for everyone else.
reply to post by snarky412
That only deletes your subscription to the thread, not the actual thread.