Category: Let's talk
This site has made me think of something I've never considered before: One unique quality of growing up in the Web 2.0 generation now is that you guys have your teenage words immortalized or memorialized on message boards. Facebook doesn't really count, as you can remove your own wall posts or comments on others' posts. Twitter, the same thing. But I've seen in the last month or so, several times where boards resurfaced that were five or more years old. As interesting, historic and entertaining as it is sometimes to see write-ups on Winamp from 2003, discussions that predate Myspace and Facebook or Google Documents or the cloud in general, I was struck last night with the shocking realization some of you came on here at fifteen or so back in 2003, naturally started posting, and unlike any other social networking site (for whatever reason), you can't take back what you said then.
Truth be told, I don't know how I'd feel if I found something I wrote at fifteen suddenly in the Public domain. I'm not sure whether to think some of you brave, equipped with a set of brass ones, or what.
On a similar note, there's a new generation of kids that'll grow up whose parents are on social networking sites discussing parenting. Man oh man what's that gonna be like?
Discussion of one's puke when it relates to a roaring party is one thing. But who at 25 wants to find mom still has discussions on her Facebook of your puke and your footy pajamas and how burned out she was after the fifth or so clean-up that night?
As I said, Facebook and Twitter at least allow someone who's only half-fool to see fit to remove wall posts / comments.
But what about sites like this one? Not exactly a full-on Myspace, but not just a group of threads or a forum like forum.pipes.org either.
Most of us as adults open mouth / insert foot (to the knee and above) plenty often, but man! But for us, at least, as teenagers nothing got memorialized on a message board somewhere.
Possibly this is unique to this particular site as the general tweetroll goes by so fast things won't come back, and Facebook, you can delete that company party pic from Facebook with you-know-who dancing on the copier before the wrong person sees it, but I just have to say the thought of this really rather stunned me! So much changes between when you're 14 and even 16, let alone 20 or later.
I'm one of those who wouldn't be happy to see old board posts of mine come up, and I hope they never do. I wish there was a way to delete/edit posts, cause I can't believe some of the stuff I spat when I was an insecure teen who thought she knew it all...or close to it.
Yeah, for me...it's weird because your thinking...why would they bring that up in the first place? Again...that is.
for me, it depends what it is. sometimes something is bought up to the top and i think wow.. i forgot i posted that. cool. it's nice to read it again. but i know there are things i've posted on sites i would never want to see again.
it can actually provide me with a bit of a laugh. sometimes when i'm reading back on something, i can't help but giggle about how i wrote it... haha
I think it's something that is still so new that we underestimate its power.
I post on lots of other websites too and I am often struck by how much information people give about themselves that might possibly make them traceable either now or in the future.
And I don't think that facebook is exempt from this trend, because while we ourselves have the power to control what we do/don't post on facebook, we often don't have control over what other people post, and how publically they make that information available. So - I might go out to a party one night and get totally smashed out of my mind and do something stupid/embarrassing and someone might photograph me doing so and post the pictures on their facebook (with no privacy settings), and two, five, ten years down the track a perspective employer might decide to google me and then find those pictures from way back. (and employers looking for potential employees on facebook is not unheard of.)
Yeah. there are certain topics I've posted here that I would love to get rid of, given the chance. Personally, I think anything that doesn't get posted to for more than two years should be permanently deleted. It would also clear up more space on the site for the newer topics.
My only real concern is that these boards are apparently viewable to anyone, whether they're logged in or not. Guess it doesn't really matter all that much, but a simple google search could turn up something that I posted years ago. Oh well, it is what it is, I suppose. I just think that if these boards were only visible to logged in users, it might be a bit safer or at least, not quite so widely accessible. I mean, unless an employer is really truly interested in hiring a blind user, they probably wouldn't specifically register for a zone bbs account. As it is now though, anyone can just find all the posts through google, unless I've midunderstood something. Just my ramblings. I'm not really in the public eye all that much, so what people read about me really doesn't bother me at the moment. That could easily change though, so I do understand the concern. It doesn't stop me from posting what I want to post, though it probably does keep me from going in to as much detail as I might if I were in a private chat.
Well, that would depend on just how identifiable you've made yourself through your board postings.
As we all post here under usernames, it would take quite a lot of effort for someone to trawl through our zonebbs posts and find out something potentially damaging about you. And anyone prepared to go to that kind of effort would probably have no hesitation in joining the site if the posts were hidden to those viewing it externally.
I think that in this instance sites like twitter and facebook are of greater interest due to the fact that we use our actual names on these sites (esp facebook).
But in reality I think the message is simple really – don't post things on the internet that you wouldn't want people in rl to read.
I've read of prospective college roommates even, googling each other and finding out information that makes determinations on whether or not they want to share a room with this person.
Well, in my grandparents' day they may have said "God is watching you!", But now, will it be, "God, Google, Facebook, Twitter and pretty much any spidering software is watching, cataloging, and redisseminating you."
Yeah, I've noticed that too, if you type in my whole name...you can find all of my online accounts too. Well, that's for anybody, so.
I think about that from time to time. There are definitely some posts I made that I hope never resurface. I cringe just looking at them, and yes, I have gone back and looked at some of them. Every time I see a 4 or 5 or 6-year-old post getting dragged up I worry it might be something ridiculous I said next. I would definitely go back in time and not say half the shit I did if I could. It is what it is though I guess. I don't think I ever posted anything that would identify me, but I did say some incredibly stupid, immature and fucked up things that I wish I could delete.
I'm still not sure why they don't allow us to delete things that we ourselves have written. Other sites do. And I agree about truly older posts. While they can be interesting, it's not really fair if someone gets judged based on something that they said five years ago, because, of course, they've changed since then.
Exactly. We've all had our, "I wish I hadn't done that" moments, and as much as you have to live with your mistakes, I don't think it should be quite so unforgiving.
Personally I've posted a lot here, and other places. But nothing comes to mind that I've posted that I'd really take back. Maybe that means I've just been cautious, or maybe it means I'm comfortable with who I am and what I've been. Not sure.
It's harder on people who start posting at 14 I think, as by the time you're an adult you do change, yes, but you've had a chance to settle down a bit first. All the more reason to post on sites where you can remove them first. This is the only site I know where you can't.
I personally feel honored, and indeed, humbled to see my old words come back at me. I guess I like to see where I have come and how much I have grown. I have no regrets, even if my posts may be rediculous, hurtful, insensative, slanderous, or what have you. Keep on rockin' in the free world!
You may have a point about the 14 thing; I was 17 when I joined the site I think. In some ways I wish I had joined earlier though, to I could've seen if I had changed a large amount.
I think we've all come a long way.
I've changed at least somewhat since I joined, at which point I was sixteen. Now I'm nineteen. I've heard that late teens and early twenties are usually milestones for change.
It's interesting to track one's changes using posts.