Sep
24th
2021
You ever sit back and think... · 5:51am Sep 24th, 2021
Should I delete that story?
Now before you say deleting stories / book burning is bad, hear me out for a moment. Let's just say I got 2 stories from 2013 that I wrote for someone, and at the time, they came across as a well mannered human being who liked darker stories. However during my 4 year hiatus from this site, turns out they did very bad things to another user on this site in real life. I'm not at the liberty to disclose the specifics, but lets just say it's evil enough that it makes me wonder if having those 2 stories up for that bad person is something i should rectify.
I sat on this news since July when this was first presented to me, and it's been casually gnawing at my moral conscience since then.
Uh depends on how terrible the things are.
to be fair .deleting story's is only bad when other people try to pressure you into doing it ,if you do it cause you want to or you dont like the fic anymore then its fine you wrote it you can delete it .my opinion delete it but give a 24 hour warning so if anyone actually wants to download it they can
This is the same discussion that goes on about Blizzard and their games though in a different sense.
"With what the company did, should I stop playing their games?"
And the argument is that it depends on who you ask. There's arguments for and against. Arguments that just because those it is associated with have gone bad doesn't make the product itself bad, and to remove/stop using it isnt just against the bad people but also the good ones.
In the context of these stories, just because the person is bad doesnt mean that you should remove things that you made, that others enjoy. But on the other end, it connects to that person whether directly or indirectly.
I personally wouldnt remove them, and instead remove any references to that person (remove the story if it's a reference to them in its entirety) but ultimately as said, it depends who you ask. So ultimately, it's up to you.
Deleting the stories would achieve nothing. If they cared enough to have you write the stories they probably would have downloaded a copy of them. It is what I would have done. All deleting the stories would do is stop new readers from finding and reading them.
5585967
This was going to be my answer as well. If the description mentions whoever it is, you could take that out without deleting the story. Plus there's always the Streisand effect to consider if you deleted it.
Honestly your call, Tiddy. If I wrote something for someone who turned out to be a dirty evil bastard I'd end up in the same position as you. So I say if you really want it off your page for your sake, do it. If not, then that's also your call.
I say delete them if you feel like that's the right call and leave them alone if you don't.
5585965
In the case of video games, stopping play of them does nothing. The company already got your money. They don't care if you play or not. At that point the only thing you are doing is punishing yourself in taking away your own enjoyment of play.
This is relevant to the OP because the person for whom these stories were written has already gotten what they wanted. So it's too late to undo that. But deleting the stories now prevents anyone who has since, or yet might, read them. And that is punishing the wrong people.
The only thing you can reasonably do for you own conscience, would be to remove the dedication: "Written for UserName", as suggested.
It's a shitty situation. But sometimes bad people do doing bad things and get away with it without consequence. But just because one kid shot up a school doesn't mean all video games need to be banned, or whatever variation of that you want to use. It punishes the wrong people.
That said, I'll agree with 5585964 . If you want to delete a story because YOU want to, then that's up to you. But don't do it because someone else told you to, or because someone else made you feel bad about it. (And I think this case counts as the latter.)
And to answer the original question,
Yes. I have laid a couple of turd stories over the course of my time here. And every so often I wonder about just quietly deleting them. But I feel that we must stand by our mistakes. Not to be proud of them, but to own them, and learn from them, rather than try to hide them. "Yes, I wrote this story. Yes, it's grammatically poor and of weird subject matter. I was horny and not thinking clearly. But I wrote it. And I have improved since then."
As 5585967 has said, there are still people to this day who upvote and comment on my "bad" stories. There are still people who enjoy them. And I always remember that in deleting those stories, no matter how bad they are in my opinion, it would be unfair to them. That's my take on it.
5586020
Totally agree about owning up to mistakes. Otherwise we're no better than all the covid/wuhan lab coverup people.
5585983
Yep regarding the Streisand effect
I don't mean to be dense, but I'd honestly need more info, but going off of just this... if the person is tainted enough, and if the story doesn't matter all that much to you or anyone else, I personally would probably delete the story after some consideration as well. A 24 hour blogged warning of the deletion is always appreciated, though. I sincerely hope you are doing well, T.
*shakes head*
Ok let me put it this way, there is no reason, ZERO reason to retcon things you have done in life. Your actions (writing the stories) has no reflection on the person you wrote them "for" nor their actions any reflection on you what so ever.
This insane and absolutely pathologically stupid need to delete and retcon history young people have needs to stop. This damages us all when someone does this.
You made that story for the person you thought they were and that they let you see. You shouldn’t destroy art because the person they hid from you went on to do bad shit. I haven’t read this story and won’t because I’m pretty sure it contains sadistic Foalcon from looking at what’s shown on this post which is really gross, but if you think you should delete something you made because the reality thing that inspired you to write it wasn’t what you thought it was then you’re wrong. A lot of people are inspired by false versions of historical figures. Ford once said “A business that only makes money is a poor business” and I stand by and believe in those words. Ford later went on to support some pretty evil people during WW2 but I still believe in those words, even if the person who spoke them didn’t.
I see that taking down one's own creation of any form as an act of stealing and self-destruction. It may not mean anything to you now, but it did back then, as well as it was with others. And while this individual you wrote for is now looked down upon, it shouldn't be harboring you any.
They brought their choice upon themselves, and just because your story is associating to them is some way, it is its own entity. If we did this every time whenever someone does something stupid, then we would pretty much destroy everything that was ever created, leaving nothing for us to enjoy. In a weird sense, you'll be supplying their despicable influence further by allowing it to effect all of us, making us into their victims because of it.
Besides, your story wouldn't be erased from FiMFetch, so why bother trying?
In a sentiment similar to what quite a few people already expressed (from what I have glimpsed from other comments), I'd say that the only thing worthy of removing are obvious references to the commissioner in question. Other than that it is just a story that I doubt vast majority of people would ever assume is linked to the commissioner (except if told so directly).
Unless the story as a whole is a reference enough, taking said story away from other readers who might otherwise enjoy the read will not bring on any positive change.
Hmm, it's pretty much the same question as to whether stop watching and/or showing movies with, say, Kevin Spacey because he had a disgusting episode in his life.
Personally, I believe that just because Kevin Spacey, Amber Heard, or Bill Cosbey are weasels, that doesn't turn everything they ever touched into radioactive crap. We can watch a movie, and praise someone's artistic performance and call that person an a-hole at the same time. The same with books and stories.
So, my answer would be a big NO - I wouldn't delete a story even if the one for who I wrote it for turned out to be Hitler 2.0
Everyone has already given some great advice, but I've also been thinking about that same question lately on deleting stories and thought I'd share my thoughts.
You know the stories better than anyone else. If it's just that the commissioner is horrible, you can uncredit them. If you're not comfortable with the story itself, you can remove it. They already got what they paid for. Anyone who would 'still enjoy it' can find it from various archives.
A lot of people told me it's important to remember how far we've come and grown over the years. "If you look back and don't cringe at how you used to act, you're probably in the cringe phase of your life still."
But at the same time, I don't think it's worth making ourselves uncomfortable and dwelling on the past. You clearly know you've grown just by the fact you're uncomfortable with the story. If the constant reminder impacts you negatively, whether from the content or the association with the commissioner, delete it and move on.
As important as learning from the past is, we also shouldn't dwell on it too much.
You're an awesome author, and anyone who hassles you over an old commission or story content is not worth your time.
honestly if it's eating having those stories up then I'd say delete them
If someone does something horrible, you should go to the police. You give Knighty too much credit if you think the delete button will get rid of them.
You can't delete the stories.
I don't mean that in a "I, Cryosite have not given you permission to do this" sense. I mean this in the, "this literally is impossible for you to do" sense.
You've published them. They're out. They're no longer hidden. The internet has them. There are archives which will continue to contain them no matter what your will is. There are mirrors folks have put up. There are folks that have a copy sitting on their hard drive just in case.
Regrdless of whether you want to or even if it is a good idea to, you cannot delete them. All you can do is reduce the visibility of the stories on this particular site. Is that a good idea? No. As others have pointed out, the art is separate from the things you're concerned about. There are folks in the future you'd be denying the pleasure of reading them. What did those future maybes ever do to deserve that?
The real problem, as others zeroed in on, is the association between yourself and that person via the stories. Which you can reduce the visibility of by removing dedications/etc. from the stories.
It frankly doesn't matter what the person did. It doesn't matter if it is mildly gross or heinously evil. What's in the past is unchangeable and all you can do is try to anticipate future things and adjust your choices for them in the now.
(Edited for clarification)
Yes, I've pondered deletion many a time, on several stories. Some stories are harmless enough to most, some aren't. It's a simple question of self-preservation, and wanting to avoid risk, as well as reducing the amount of overall glut. Some of the older stories are just not up to snuff, and way back when there were one or two people who told me to re-write them again completely, because, and I'm quoting as best I can recall: "Everything you publish should be a representation of your best work."
That person is still on-site, and has about twice the influence I do in general, just as a comparison. This isn't a nobody's advice. This is a household name in the fandom, so to speak.
Other stories, people hated outright, or hated me for writing them. In fact, the aforementioned person was one of them, though they hid it under the veneer of wanting to advise and 'only looking out for me.' There were others and always will be, and no, it's not even limited to R-rated stories, funnily enough, the ones rated E can get an outrage mob going just as easily, moreso even. Evasion and deletion are simply options to prevent some unpleasantness. True, FimFetch doesn't delete the stories (can you request they do, though?), but it's a more obscure site than FimFiction, less public, less likely real life finds you on there.
I get why people advocate against story deletion, but these days it's more understandable, at least. Some of it is probably cultural.
Obviously exaggerating, but the broad strokes are there, at least for some people. Doesn't matter if it's a real risk or not, the fear is enough. I don't like it, but that's how things are atm.
All that said, for your case it would boil down to what consequences you are worried about and how likely it would be to come across them. It doesn't seem like you have much to fear, so I'd keep it up.
Are you absolutely sure? Seems like there's a pretty compelling public interest here.