Posted by Jost on June 29, 2006, at 11:35:38
In reply to Sigh, Bob, your back to your one liners AND » Dr. Bob, posted by muffled on June 29, 2006, at 1:48:20
okay, I'm going to nitpick> Happyflower said that deleting uncivil posts would tend to discourage people from posting later uncivil things. Now I don't happen to agree with that (I don't necessarily disagree, though)-- it could cut the other way, just as easily.
So, it's not that deletion per se prevents the past incivility, but future incivility (in her argument)-- so you can't really answer her argument by saying that deleting doesn't prevent the post from having been posted.
The question was whether it would prevent others from posting later.
If you see what I mean...
Anyway. My other thought is that on the other MBs I've frequented (in the past--not psychology-related), I was able to delete, or at least substantively revise posts after having posted them.
One thing I really like about Pbabble is that you can really see how your post reads before committing to posting it (which you couldn't on the other sites, you could only see this small box). So you get a much clearer sense of what you're saying (which is interesting in itself) and can make better decisions about wanting to go through with it (it's a commitment after preliminary submission).
On the other hand, sometimes I was intemperate--or more intemperate than I wanted to be-- so I would either restate or delete occasionally, a few minutes, or even an hour after posting. (of course, you have to be careful that no one has replied--or, if someone has, that you explain that they're responding to something you'd rather not leave up--which of course is your choice, but otherwise they look rather odd.) Then I didn't feel like a bad person for having stated things in a cutting or huffy way, or having somewhat euphemistically (but nonetheless) derogated someone. Which I have a tendency to do.
I think it's interesting that Bob has set it up this way. I like the permanency, in a way, because it creates an amazing historical record of truth, not made nicer or glossed over. I especially like the idea that this accepts and includes "bad" impulses and expressions--as if saying that we can all get carried away, and say mean things, and yet we'ere basically accepted as part of the community--and we can accept this about one another, without having to deny or erase it--so this part of all of us is acknowledged,, even though it's important to try not to act on the impulse.
On the other hand, I have the feeling I'm going to eventually get blocked. Because I'll lose my temper about something someday, I'm sure. And I might very well have regretted what I said, perhaps even as soon as thirty seconds after I said it. That prospect I don't like.
Jost
poster:Jost
thread:660662
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20060622/msgs/662558.html