To say or not to say

I have written before about the reasons for writing blogs. One always has to remember that it could be read by anyone. I have found instances when people write something and delete that post. It might be the case, which the person wanted to write a better post. But sometimes this is because one somehow gets the feeling that it would not be good if the post remains there.

My reading list on the web can be seen in the left sidebar. I use Google Reader to get the posts from these sites as soon as the sites are updated. It happens that sometimes I read the post within the Reader itself and sometimes use the link to go the site to read it where it is written.

Recently, I got a post from one of the blogs that I read in my Reader. It was clear that the writer was in a sorry state of mind and wanted to share his feelings. Though I am not sure if he did find some other outlet for his emotions, he definitely chose to put them on his blog. I thought that the minimum I can do is to leave a comment on the post and so thought of following the link.

My browser showed me a page that said that the post did not exist. I thought that it might be a mistake. I again clicked the link in my Reader and again got to the same page. It became clear that the author chose to remove the post. I am aware that sometimes people write things imagining stuff and it might not portray reality. But the fact that the post was removed confirmed that it was for real.

The dilemma I faced was whether – to send the author an email mentioning the post and writing what I planned to leave as a comment – or just not do anything for clearly the author did not want anyone to read his stuff. I chose the latter.

Hope things become better at the author’s end.