I wouldn’t hazard a guess at frequency but it’s by no means rare. Usually it is longer responses that get chucked, even stupid short ones don’t take up much of anyones time.
About half and half. Usually if I realize I’ve repeated something that’s already been said or if my response to a debatable issue is clearly more emotional than rational, then I’ll decide not to post.
That is almost verbatim what I was going to write.
UncaStuart said:
Amateur. 
*
To answer the OP… all the time. I second guess myself a lot, wondering, “Do I really want to post that? That makes me look like an idiot/I don’t want to do a ‘Me Too’ " post”. The other main site I visit daily is FARK… I’ve been a registered member over there for 5 years and I think I have about 20 posts total for the same reason.
In my mind, why I ditch replys is twofold: 1) I have a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor, and that does not translate well in written form, and 2) I have a very bad habit of PWI, so things I think are clever and witty and germaine to the topic at hand at the moment really aren’t on a second read the next morning. So, I just shut the window. If UncaStuart’s ratio is a gazillion to one, mine is 50 gazillion to one.
The screwy part is, if you ever meet me in person, you will not get me to shut the fuck up. I have no problems in social situations. I have no problem with public speaking. I do radio commercials. I do karaoke. I can hold court as easily as eating pizza. One of these days I’m going to do stand-up comedy. I’ll admit it… I’m an attention whore. But that part of me does not translate well in cyberspace. Ergo, tons of ditching and a resultant low post count. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to reply, I just think it’s better for everyone involved if I don’t.
*And I say that knowing full well that someone can look at my join date and post count and do the same to me. Don’t ditch your post! Bring it!
Quite often. I should probably do it more often.
I thought I was the only one who did this. A lot. Either it’s been said already enough times, better than I could have, I don’t feel like rocking the boat or don’t have the energy.
Now I have to hit submit, sigh.
At least as often as I actually post, probably more. I’m relieved to see other people do it too.
Yes, I would also say that I ditch about posts for every five I post. I am also here every day, reading.
Why ditch? Sometimes I want to make a joke… I’ve got a weird sense of humour, but it’s not exactly mature and refined, so I don’t know how well it would be received. I’m nervous about how I’ll come across. I’ve got a little knowledge on some subjects, but we’ve got experts here who are likely to pick up what I’ve missed or be right while I’m horribly wrong. I don’t really have that “Maybe I shouldn’t be posting this information” sixth sense, either, so sometimes I’ll type up a post and go, “Whoa, LiveJournal much?” delete delete. I suck at giving advice. I want to avoid too many “me too” posts.
You know, I do much better at getting people to appreciate me in chat than I do on message boards. Group chats, though, not one-on-ones.
And IvoryTowerDenizen put it best when posting:
Probably 20:1. Usually because I know I won’t have the time to make my points if someone comes in and argues against my position, so I figure why start. If I know I will have some free time coming up, then I usually post. Or if I feel I actually have something to contribute, or if the thread is something innocuous like this
Other times the person has said something that pisses me off, so I start a post, all pissed off. Then I finish it and realize I sound stupid and out there and delete it. Actually though it is very catharthic since I have now cooled off! I do that with emails too–luckily never accidently hit submit!
Ditched posts to posted posts, about 1:3 I think.
Posts thought about and rejected before I actually started writing anything to posted posts, about 10:1, probably.
I do it all the time too. I read way more than I post, usually because what I want to say has already been said. I also think that sometimes it adds nothing to the thread but then again, I am reading a bunch of posts by others that don’t add as well.
I guess the point is that responses DO add to the thread unless it’s strictly a “me too” kind of thing. I need to up my post count.
Probably about 1 in 10. Usually when I’m at work and the real world interferes with my dope posting!
Lately seems like I’m doing it a lot. I think the reason is: I’m angry and frustrated at work (at my boss specifically) and so I have been starting to submit posts that are more aggressive than I normally would. Most of the way through I realize that this isn’t the part of me that I want exposed to the world and I trash it.
I’ve gotten better at never starting the ones that I would eventually delete.
IOW, I used to do it more than I do now.
My post above is why I should probably ditch more posts:
Good job there, rinni. I meant, I ditch about five for every posted post. Yargle blargle.
(deleted because I don’t really have anything to add)
I’m not sure of the ratio, but a reason for ditching posts I don’t see upthread is that sometimes I write posts which are a little too personal, and so halfway or three-quarters of the way through writing the post, I decide I don’t really want posted for posterity.
Or sometimes I decide the post is both too personal and yet not personal enough–such as is washing dishes a one or two person job–"Well, my parents do a two person job, . . . " hit back button.
I’d guess my started-but-not-posted:posted rate is about 4:1. However, I talk myself out of even clicking ‘reply’ far more often than I abandon posts.
Partially-typed replys often get ditched because I’m embarassed of my excessive use of -s and ()s and “I” statements. Also, I’m rarely susinct in my phrasing. People tune me out enough in real life. No need to subject myself to it here as well.
I’m about 70/40, ditch after writing vs. posting. It just doesn’t seem worth it most of the time.
I bail every once in a while. It’s always when I try to come up with some obscure joke or tie in with some other post, and I can’t find an elegant way to post it. I’ll just say, “Fuck it, no one is going to get this anyway,” and close the thread.