# Is it possible to remove or edit an old thread? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 7, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215 "2011-07-07T18:17:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Whiteknight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whiteknight/32/4962_2.png) [@Whiteknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiteknight)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/1 "2011-07-07T18:17:46Z")
I recently discovered that a google search using some of my real-life information leads to a thread I started on here a while back. Is it possible to edit or delete that thread? I am concerned that a acquaintance or would-be employer could locate this information and thus gain access to all of my SDMB posts. I am normally pretty cautious about keeping my real life separate from my online life, but in this case I inadvertently posted some very specific terms that, according to Google, don’t seem to show up too many other places on the interwebs. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/2 "2011-07-07T22:11:51Z")
The general rule around here is that you have to live with what you post. The mods and admins _might_ be willing to make an exception for a single post, but i’m not sure they’d do it for a whole thread. You should email an admin (probably **TubaDiva** of **Gfactor** ) and make your case to them. Personally, i think they should stick with a fairly strict rule about removing content. It’s up to individuals to think about what they post, and to be careful about revealing personally-identifying information. I wouldn’t want the mods and admins to create big holes in board content in order to protect someone from the consequences of the information they freely chose to reveal. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/3 "2011-07-07T22:19:30Z")
On the one hand, I say suck it up. On the other hand, it’s not like we’re dipping into the archives for random-ass thread #3653. If a post in it gets deleted, who gives a rip. ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/4 "2011-07-07T22:57:34Z")
Anything that shows up in a search has already been archived by Google, deleting the thread from the forum won’t remove it from Google. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/5 "2011-07-07T23:47:25Z")
Generally speaking, we won’t remove old threads. However, exceptional circumstances are possible, I suppose. Your best bet is to email one of the mods or admins; I mean, obviously if you want something to be forgotten from history, posting a thread about it is sort of anti-something-etical. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/6 "2011-07-07T23:58:41Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > Generally speaking, we won’t remove old threads. However, exceptional circumstances are possible, I suppose. Your best bet is to email one of the mods or admins; I mean, obviously if you want something to be forgotten from history, posting a thread about it is sort of anti-something-etical. I have to admit the first thing I did was to go through all of the threads started by the OP to see if I could identify the one in question. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/7 "2011-07-08T00:16:18Z")
> [@Implicit](#): > > Anything that shows up in a search has already been archived by Google, deleting the thread from the forum won’t remove it from Google. I may be off here, but doesn’t Google just index the SDMB and other websites, not actually archive them? ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/8 "2011-07-08T00:35:30Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I may be off here, but doesn’t Google just index the SDMB and other websites, not actually archive them? Sorry, index is indeed the correct word. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/9 "2011-07-08T00:54:52Z")
And that means that Google will eventually remove it from the index if it is deleted. ---
**Author:** ![Whiteknight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whiteknight/32/4962_2.png) [@Whiteknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiteknight)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/10 "2011-07-08T11:13:55Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I have to admit the first thing I did was to go through all of the threads started by the OP to see if I could identify the one in question. Of course you did, I would have expected nothing less. There’s nothing incriminating, just a link to my real life. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/11 "2011-07-08T12:32:05Z")
> [@Whiteknight](#): > > Of course you did, I would have expected nothing less. There’s nothing incriminating, just a link to my real life. Just a point of curiosity: does that “link to my real life” point to a site that could be deleted or renamed? ---
**Author:** ![Whiteknight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whiteknight/32/4962_2.png) [@Whiteknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiteknight)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/12 "2011-07-08T15:58:34Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Just a point of curiosity: does that “link to my real life” point to a site that could be deleted or renamed? Unfortunately not. By “link”, I didn’t mean a hyperlink. Rather, I posted some information that was not as obscure as I thought it would be. Someone who knows me IRL could search for that information and end up at the SDMB and my user name. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/13 "2011-07-08T16:31:47Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > And that means that Google will eventually remove it from the index if it is deleted. Maybe, though they often have cached versions of the page. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/14 "2011-07-08T17:11:03Z")
Once Google failed to find the content after a few crawls it would probably disappear from their search results and cached results in a short time. But there are many web archives out there that will retain the historical record of those posts forever. [Here](http://web.archive.org/web/20010407204714/http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=2)is what ATMB looked like 10 years ago. No Google required. These would be less likely to be located by casual searches for whatever was revealed by the OP but they will definitely still be out there. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/15 "2011-07-08T19:06:25Z")
Man, I had forgotten the board ever looked like that. A lot of blood under the bridge in those ten years, too. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-remove-or-edit-an-old-thread/588215/16 "2011-07-08T19:08:29Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Man, I had forgotten the board ever looked like that. A lot of blood under the bridge in those ten years, too. A pertinent notice on that page too that I hadn’t even intended: > [@](#): > > **Changes:** Messages CANNOT be edited by their author. Messages CANNOT be deleted by their author.