- x Foman123 x
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- Master Forum Ninja
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No, users should not delete anything, in my opinion. Even more, deletion of threads should be a last resort only.
This forces people to think before they post. Moreover, as a previous poster pointed out, a thread created by a user belongs to the Community. Just as a user may not legitimately dictate who does or does not post in a thread they created, they should not have the ability to destroy or undermine the work of other posters.
I can imagine several scenarios where the ability to delete your own post would be bad. If you can't think of any, I'll provide a few of the examples, but I think that if you imagine this hypothetical out to its end, you'll reach the logical conclusion that keeping posts permanent (which, at the very least, forms a record that you actually posted) is the wisest course of action.
The moderators do not delete threads and posts except as a last resort -- even when they are locked and sometimes filled with pretty bad content -- because deletion of threads and posts on public forums is an action that could easily cause more confusion and problems than it solves.
Free speech and open discussion do not call for censorship -- and if you are unwise enough to say something without thinking in a discussion that sparks a response, you should not be able to pretend that it never happened.
As far as flaming and spam within your thread go, those problems are erased when the forum ninjas exercise their good judgment as to choosing whether to blacklist rulebreakers.
All in all, I don't see the ability to delete your own post solving any major problems with these forums that can't be solved in other, better ways -- and the smaller problems that it does solve are outweighed by the potential negaitve detriments.
I respectfully disagree with this idea.