I'd like to take this opportunity to remind the world that the internet is an open forum. Nothing is ever deleted completely, nothing is ever entirely lost. Once you've put it online, that's it. Then end. No takebacks.
That goes for everything from your Facebook status to Tumblr reblogs to the MySpace you had when you were twelve.
That being said, I'm upset. I'm scrolling along my Tumblr dash, completely innocently, and I saw a text post from a friend of a friend. Nothing new. It was a beautiful comparison of love to a cigarette burn, and I thought it was lovely. So I reblogged it. Does any of this seem out of the ordinary? No? As I thought.
Next thing I know, the original poster is contacting me personally wanting me to remove the post from my blog because it was extremely personal and had no business being there. I responded, surprised, and asked what the problem was. It's the internet, right? Why post something if you didn't want it shared? Plus, I'm not even friends with this person! I reblogged it from a mutual connection!
Next thing I know I'm being reamed in text form for "trying to teach [them] a lesson instead of just deleting the post like [they] asked". I received this message directly AFTER I deleted the post, as I was asked.
Um. I'm as happy to be obliging as the next person, but I'm still confused. And now I'm hurt. If it was so extremely personal and you didn't want people seeing it, then why did you post it on the internet? And why was it so ridiculously offensive that I reblogged the post- that's what everyone does on Tumblr! Are you trying to make me feel bad for being normal and ordinary?
I deleted the post, per request. I'm not a complete jerk. But I'm still kind of upset about it because I don't feel the situation was fair to me. I hate that someone who doesn't know me from Eve was able to get under my skin and make me feel awful on the inside for something that logically was not my fault in any way.
Now I feel even worse, because I think that it may have been some kind of romantic connection or something, between my friend and the original poster. I'd hate to think that the original poster getting into a fight with me ruined my friend's chance at a relationship (regardless of how much I may now think that my friend deserves better than someone who can't even figure out the internet).
Oh well. There's nothing to be done but forget it. It's not like I'll ever have to deal with this person in reality. At least, I don't think so. At this point, I honestly hope not.
Because if this person, whoever they are, had no qualms about harshly burning a complete stranger on the internet for no reason, I'd hate to find out what they're capable of doing to their friends.
People have no fucking sense of privacy on the internet. And people have a constant impulse to post every thought and feeling--regardless of tact--on the internet as if people aren't reading. It's stupid, and people need to grow up. If you liked the quote, I don't see a problem with reblogging it. I think it's good you deleted it, just because, but they're stupid for posting that online as if no one else would see it.
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