# Have You Ever Posted Something You Regret Posting? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399 "2012-05-09T15:48:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/41 "2012-05-12T10:47:46Z")
I regret every post I make. Even this one. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/42 "2012-05-12T11:09:42Z")
Sometimes it becomes clear that I have fed a troll, and yet I perpetuate an argument that goes nowhere. Other times I have asked a question in the hope others would agree, and they didn’t, and it just made me feel like an idiot. Now I try to assess my posts so I don’t do that anymore. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/43 "2012-05-12T12:20:53Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/44 "2012-05-12T15:06:44Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Other times I have asked a question in the hope others would agree, and they didn’t, and it just made me feel like an idiot. Now I try to assess my posts so I don’t do that anymore. I heard that! Bitter experience coupled with being chastised for such behavior have caused me to be a bit more thoughtful before posting. Still, there are things I regret having put out there for others to ridicule and take offense over. After all that, I regret most not being clear enough in what I meant so that responses that obviously didn’t get my point and take off on some tangent to what I was actually saying make me sorry I opened that can of worms. I would happily un-post a good percentage of my 15,000+ posts! ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/45 "2012-05-12T15:39:16Z")
Yes, alchohol and internet don’t mix well for me. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/46 "2012-05-12T15:39:23Z")
You’re kidding, right? After almost every post I make, I finally get up the nerve to go back and check for Replys. I try to come at it kind of slow and sideways, with a long stick, like poking at a sleeping dog. Sometimes it bites, but sometimes it just sniffs and walks away. _whew_ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Cornholio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Cornholio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Cornholio)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/47 "2012-05-12T23:39:06Z")
I have learned that having the same pretty unique username on several different message boards is an error of judgement. A woman I was keen on, who was demonstrating the same back, suddenly went cold on me, out of the blue for no apparent reason. I later found from her friend that she had idly Googled my username and found some depraved filth I had posted describing the “fat chick I was nailing” on some site, albeit not identifying her personally. It was a site where blokes would bullshit and exaggerate, saying the kinds of things men used to say to each other in the safety of the pub, instantly forgotten, not to be taken seriously, nor as Gospel, but definitely lacking the respect our SO’s deserve. The worst of it is that I was genuinely keen on this lass, with high hopes of a serious relationship, and if things had progressed, I’d have stopped hanging out on blokey websites where geezers discuss tits and whose missus likes it up the arse, and quietly melted back into the ether and got on with real life. Ah well, you live and you learn… ---
**Author:** ![brittekland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/48 "2012-05-13T00:00:33Z")
C’est la vie. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/49 "2012-05-13T01:25:53Z")
Sure. Pretty much my entire posting history. Hopefully I’ve learned from my mistakes. If not, I _hope_ the mods would just beat me with a banning stick. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/50 "2012-05-13T02:44:04Z")
Throughout my years here at the SDMB, there are many things I’ve regretted posting. I gave people up, let them down, deserted them, made them cry, said goodbye, told lies and hurt them. I’m sincerely sorry. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/51 "2012-05-13T03:06:02Z")
I got into an extended fight on usenet with someone over the definition of the word “prechoreographed” many years ago, that still embarrasses me. I just spent five minutes unsuccessfully searching for it, though, so maybe it’s finally vanished away. I post under my real name most places to remind myself that nothing is private on the internet. If I’m hesitant to post it under my real name, then I shouldn’t say it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/52 "2012-05-13T04:45:01Z")
I’m very careful about posting anything I care if anybody sees–I assume that anything I post will be public (even if it’s a private message board–that can change. The Dope didn’t used to be searchable by the ‘outside world’ IIRC) so I act accordingly. The closest I ever came was that I posted something to a “you know you grew up in \” Facebook group…it was a piece of extremely juicy gossip that my dad had told me about something that had happened many many years ago…but I immediately regretted it and removed the post because the person in question, though dead, still had family in town who might be reading the group. I don’t think anyone saw it before I was able to delete it–it was only a minute or two. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/53 "2012-05-13T19:29:27Z")
Someone posted something about posting on the internet like you can expect it to show up on the front page of your local newspaper very early on in my internet career, and I took that advice to heart (mostly). I think if I hadn’t read that, I’d have a lot more regrettable posts. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/54 "2012-05-13T19:34:22Z")
I’ve got a ridiculously common real name, and even this user name is in use by at least 3 other people on websites I don’t go to, so my drunken fuck-ups aren’t really searchable because they disappear into the general internet noise, but I’ve made a number of them, both here and other places. I don’t think it’s likely to come back and bite me IRL, though, because some of the people who share my real or user names are even more prominent assholes and fuck-ups, and are readily identifiable as “not me” to anyone with actual biographical data on me. Sometimes it’s good to have a common name. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/55 "2012-05-13T20:20:23Z")
Once upon a time, I was the only Scumpup the search engines would turn up. Now there are, apparently, a number of them including at least one female. There is also, or was also, a band called scumpuppy. I predate all of them, but I’m happy they are out there muddying the waters. Now the only hits returned that are still me are from this board. My earlier posting history is gone to the casual searcher. I used to post under my real name at several gun boards, which led me to be temperate mostly, but I share a name with a professional musician, several lawyers, and a superintendant of schools, among others. Unless you search with my name and gun terms all of them come up instead of me. Reducing my on-line presence was a good idea. I don’t do social sites or twitter or any other discussion boards. If I allow myself to get in another poo-flinging contest here, I believe I’ll let this place go too. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/56 "2012-05-14T10:16:11Z")
Not a major problem, but last year when I was lonely and enthusiatic (okay, bored) I posted a link to my facebook in the “Let’s be facebook friends!” thread. Then after an encounter in the Pit, it occured to me I didn’t really want my RL identity and Dope name so easily linked, so a mod kindly edited my post for me. There’s still enough identifying data in my posts that if someone from my real life stumbles across the dope, they could swiftly confirm that \*\*hermette \*\*is indeed I, but it’s a bit harder (hopefully) to go the other way. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/57 "2012-05-14T10:22:55Z")
Yup. Stupid comments. Factually wrong comments (that I should known better about). Overly heated comments. Revealing personal info that’s been used against me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/58 "2012-05-14T11:17:20Z")
What I learned this weekend: Do not use the word “cunt” on your SIL’s FB page. Even if you aren’t calling her one. Christ, she’s stricter than the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/59 "2012-05-14T12:11:24Z")
> [@hermette](#): > > …it occured to me I didn’t really want my RL identity and Dope name so easily linked… Unfortunately, for some frustrating reason, all the social networks are insisting on you only using your real name. Even though I don’t really mind too much about using my real name in some places, I am upset that the choice of when and where is being taken from me. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399/60 "2012-05-14T14:54:22Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Unfortunately, for some frustrating reason, all the social networks are insisting on you only using your real name. Even though I don’t really mind too much about using my real name in some places, I am upset that the choice of when and where is being taken from me. They don’t check very hard. I signed on to farcebook just because much of it’s content is not viewable to non-members. The profile is a complete work of fiction. Even the name is something a human looking at it would readily identify as probably fake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-posted-something-you-regret-posting/621399.md?page=4)