Six Words Questions at SMITH Magazine

sixes: more deleted or more submitted?

Backstory

i think i delete as many as i submit. second-guess myself... do you, too?

by kathi_wright in Six Words Questions on Feb 26, 2013 | | T-shirt

Comments

I've deleted a few...but not many. So to answer your question...I've posted more than deleted. Now on the other hand, I've composed probably hundreds that I purposely didn't post, simply because they didn't seem good enough...but hey, they were still at least six words!

Sagacious says,

If the deletion process were made simpler, I'd happily delete all but the most recent twenty or so.

Wench says,

I've deleted several hundred, but I'm in the thousands, now, so I think the ratio is about 1 discarded to every 3 kept. I deleted all but one memoir from before I started dating my husband - kind of wish I hadn't, now, but too late.

Dragonflower says,

I go back and delete old ones every now and again to sort of "clean up" the not-so-good ones. Sometimes I'll post one and just don't like how it looks "published" so I either immediately delete it or within a day or two. Sometimes I'll reword it and re-post. Maybe choose a different word or phrasing. That can mean comments get deleted also if there are comments. I like we have the option to delete, but I agree with Sag. Wish it was a little easier and less time consuming to delete several at a time.

Sagacious says,

It should be like with Gmail- where you tick the box on the emails you want to delete, then press the 'rubbish bin' icon. Arrivederci, unwanted memoirs.

JAD says,

Everything DE Said.

canadafreeze says,

What I post is most often a personal reflection. My six word memoirs are a kind of journey for me. I don't go back to old memoirs and delete, but I sometimes delete shortly after posting if they're not truly reflective.

favepeep says,

What canadafreeze said; it's like a journal; I want to remember them. I don't post if it's not something relevant to the world around me or that is happening in my life or in my mind. In regards to deleting, again, ditto CF.

kathi_wright says,

if the process were easier i would probably delete most of what i have submitted. i so like the idea of it being as easy to delete as a g-mail message! i think this site is such an addiction, so much fun. who would've thunk that six words... sixes just appear to me throughout my day, and if i remember it/them, i will post. but then i will think 'that was way too cynical or crude' so i will delete it shortly after posting. i do that a lot..... thank you all for your responses - and for all of your amazing submissions to the site...

TheAngstyPoet says,

I think I've deleted two or three at max. Usually I keep everything and scrap nothing. The old crappy stuff shows why the new stuff is so good. Plus the old ones track my progress as a sixer.

NumbrOneAunt says,

i tend to self-edit before i post, so when i hit send i know that the memoir is something i'm ready to publish. i wonder if it's purposeful that the delete process is not as fast as the gmail method, so that people have to reflect a bit before they make the decision...after all, our benevolent dictator is a very smart man...

ErikaStellar says,

I don't delete old ones. I agree with NOA. My problem is that I will type something in the box and sit watching the cursor flash while the arrow sits idle next to the PUBLISH button and I ponder its existence. Nine times out of ten, I choose to hold down the backspace and watch it disappear. Sometimes just that can be very therapeutic.

kathi_wright says,

oh, TAP - if only i had a learning curve when it came to sixes! (some of my favorites are my earliest ones on food and motherhood.) NOA, yes, larry's idea for this site was GENIUS! and erika, i do the same thing - that hesitation before submitting, before the backspace. however, sometimes i am not a keen enough editor of my own words.

ba_miracle says,

Far more written than submitted. Most of the time the ones actually posted were written at that moment. Planning on thinning them out. The first ones will likely stay as well as some that I remember being Favorited or commented on.

Steve__Anthony says,

I have deleted a few 1000.

kathi_wright says,

i too mostly write 'at the moment.' i haven't deleted thousands yet, but hundreds i have.