All of us have, at one time or another, posted someone on a blog that is angry, stupid, insulting, possibly even illegal (threatening, etc.). And then we think better of it and take it down.
It's gone, right? No longer exists?
Sorry, no. Google sucked it up, and perhaps the best way to demonstrate is to use Google Reader, their RSS feed reader.
I ran across this today when I discovered that one of the bloggers whose feed I subscribe to had posted this:
Obviously I had to take that last post down, but thanks for your comments. I'll sort things out, one way or another. But really: it is a shitty line of work.
Hmm! That made me curious, and since I had missed "that last post," I just changed my Google Reader to display "all items" instead of only "new items." Voila:
There it is, in all its angry, frustrated, glory.
You can't prevent Google from sucking up and saving anything you post to teh internets. But the moral of the story is: If you do post something, then take it down, don't draw attention to it by saying "I took down my last ill-advised post." It just makes people curious.
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Martha Nichols
mypsyche
DktrShe
ambiacademic
Ersatz Reader
O'Really?
Salon.com
Comments
1. Go to reader.google.com
2. Log in with your GMail address and password. If you don't have a Google account, you can register now.
3. In the Google Reader interface, click the Add a Subscription button.
4. Type in the URL of the site where you posted your lost blog entry. For example, myCrazeeBlog.blogspot.com, or open.salon.com/blog/ben_sen
5. Click Add.
It will now say "You have been subscribed to _______" (name of the blog you subscribed to.)
It will automatically show you the last 10 posts from that blog.
6. Click the link that says "all items" and it will show you every post, in reverse chronological order. I don't know how far back it goes.
You needn't scroll down endlessly. You can search within your results. Let's suppose you want to find that post where you wrote "My boss is a lunatic and I quit!"
7. Find the search box at the top of the Google Reader interface. It is next to a dropdown button labeled "All Items." (This is not the same as the "all items" link you clicked before.)
8. Click the "All Items" dropdown button and select the name of the blog where you lost your post.
9. In the search box, type "My boss is a lunatic" (or whatever string of words you can remember from your post). Hit Return.
It should find your lost post.
http://valleywag.gawker.com/5399065/cornell-employees-email-blunder-from-hell