deleting old stories

[caleb35]

Okay, simple question, short and to the point -- do any of you ever delete old stories? I've got one out there from mid-2023, ~5,900 views, 3.78, and I kinda agree with that rating. I'm debating if I delete it to clean up my story list or if I just don't worry about it and leave it. Curious what others think; thanks in advance.

 

[WittyUserName]

Okay, simple question, short and to the point -- do any of you ever delete old stories? I've got one out there from mid-2023, ~5,900 views, 3.78, and I kinda agree with that rating. I'm debating if I delete it to clean up my story list or if I just don't worry about it and leave it. Curious what others think; thanks in advance.

I've never deleted a story. Unless you have a specific reason for deleting it, I'd leave it. Even if it doesn't go with your other stories, people who find you might want to read everything you have.

 

[IWroteThis]

I haven't deleted anything, and I don't intend to. I have that one low score that I hate to see, but it reminds me not to rush through editing.

 

[SmilingLez]

Okay, simple question, short and to the point -- do any of you ever delete old stories? I've got one out there from mid-2023, ~5,900 views, 3.78, and I kinda agree with that rating. I'm debating if I delete it to clean up my story list or if I just don't worry about it and leave it. Curious what others think; thanks in advance.

Unless you really don't like that story, I would leave it. It's a living record of where you were as a writer when you posted it

 

[StillStunned]

Okay, simple question, short and to the point -- do any of you ever delete old stories? I've got one out there from mid-2023, ~5,900 views, 3.78, and I kinda agree with that rating. I'm debating if I delete it to clean up my story list or if I just don't worry about it and leave it. Curious what others think; thanks in advance.

I deleted my original series here on Lit for personal reasons. I moved on to other stuff and asked Laurel (may she live forever) to delete the entire series.

Since then, I've left everything up regardless of the story's quality or its reception. If I remove my lowest-scoring story, what then? I have another lowest scoring story, plus a vague sense of having cheated.

 

[MK_Whimsy]

I've deleted a few stories. Sometimes it's out of personal reasons, such as I just wasn't satisfied with how they turned out in retrospect. Or I might delete a shorter flash piece if I decide to explore the same fantasy in a longer story, rendering the shorter one redundant.

I'm also averse to clutter and am uncomfortable with having a story list that's too long, so that can be a further motivation to prune some out.

 

[BeechLeaf]

Don't delete things that just have low scores, or are not your best, or are in any way just below average. Only if you have a thorough conviction that it has no value and you don't want to be judged by it. That's a stronger test.

[Edited to remove a reference to another author, meant to be respectful and admiring but which could have been taken as critical.]

 

[Katie_Mae]

I deleted a story which was 16 chapters. Because of the way lit does chapters, it was 16 stories in a series. Scores ranged from 4.4-4.9. Nothing to do with the scores, the reception or what others thought.

There were several varying personal reasons as to why I didn't want to have publicly posted that story and those parts of me it contained at that time. It's not gone forever. I've already sent it to two people who wanted to read it.

I also did have some issues with the story itself, but those alone weren't what caused me to delete it.

Personally, I wouldn't delete a story just because some people didn't like it, but everyone posts here for different reasons, I wouldn't say it's wrong for another person to do so. I am sad when some authors I follow delete their stories, but they put their work out for free to be enjoyed and can withdraw their consent to share at any time.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Okay, simple question, short and to the point -- do any of you ever delete old stories? I've got one out there from mid-2023, ~5,900 views, 3.78, and I kinda agree with that rating. I'm debating if I delete it to clean up my story list or if I just don't worry about it and leave it. Curious what others think; thanks in advance.

Some poetry, very early on, and a duplicate submission, once. For some reason I submitted the same story twice, some years apart, and didn't realise until I read the first version again. That was strange.

 

[ItsJustMeApathy]

I asked for everything I had posted here to be deleted a few years ago, but then I eventually just asked to have my account deleted.

I do hate that once a story is posted I feel like I don't have control over it so I don't think I'll ever submit here again. Maybe. It's just a me issue. I wrote something and I love it and think I want everyone to read it, and a few days later I read it again and think this is absolute shit and want it erased. I guess that's just the bpd talking though.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I have deleted one story that I absolutely, completely botched.
Others I have submitted an edit, just to clean up some mistakes. I'm fine that my early work isn't as good as my current, so I'm not likely to delete them.

 

[PennameWombat]

I'd only delete a story if I'd been offered a publishing deal based on something I'd posted here, and they didn't want the free version to remain. Because, uh, they're paying me . As that hasn't yet happened, and I'm not exactly on the edge of my seat waiting, I've never deleted anything here.

I do have stories that have 'mistakes.' Not editing errors (I've submitted edits for the most egregious of these.) But clumsy plotting, characters that don't quite fit, other structural errors. Some of these stories have surprisingly (to me) high scores, others not so high. Shrug. I take those lessons for new and future stories rather than delete or rewrite.

It's also the case that I never know which of my stories a new reader might find. And, I've been surprised when someone hit 'Favorite' on something I felt wasn't awesome, so, hey. It touched them. Cool.

 

[Britva415]

3.78, and I kinda agree with that rating.

Allow people to see that you have changed over time.

 

[Lumiere_Amie]

I’ve never deleted a story. I’ve done edits, but every story I have published is still here. It’s a record of how I’ve developed as a writer. When I leave here I ll leave them for future readers.

 

[usable001]

I recently deleted two stories and both were because I had written new versions which were better. I have other stuff which is worse which is still available online, but those haven't been replaced.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I wouldn't say that I deleted stories, although that was part of the process.

I submitted single files for four stories that were originally submitted in chapters. Laurel deleted those chapters for me after publishing their single file replacements.

 

[HordHolm]

I'd ask why you are considering deleting it. Is it purely about the score, or do you think it's a genuinely bad story? Anyway, personally I'd leave it up unless there was something particularly objectionable within it, low score or not.

 

[caleb35]

I'd ask why you are considering deleting it. Is it purely about the score, or do you think it's a genuinely bad story? Anyway, personally I'd leave it up unless there was something particularly objectionable within it, low score or not.

Oh, no, it's not the score, though I think the score is indicative of it being a weaker story. No, I was mostly approaching this from the angle of whether I should clean up my queue. It's just the one story that has a (relatively) low score and readership, so wasn't sure if there was a benefit to keeping it out there. I was leaning against deleting it, just thought I'd pose the question, and it seems the majority opinion is that others also wouldn't delete.