It had to happen sooner or later. That’s the risk you take when publishing digitally rather than on paper. This morning I thought of an idea for a future post and jotted down some thoughts on my computer so I could work on it later. Imagine my progression from surprise to shock to horror when I realized I hit the “publish” button instead of the “save draft” button right next to it. Why are those buttons so close to each other anyway?
NOOOOOOOOOooooooo! Panic ensued. How do I recall/retract/delete a published post? Google that quickly with shaking fingers typing the search parameters. Go to the Dashboard, select the post, hit trash. Whew! It’s gone.
Not so fast. My posts automatically go to Facebook and Twitter. I pull up Facebook and see someone already liked it. Really? A stream of consciousness, an unfinished sentence? Ugh. How do I delete a post? Done. On to Twitter. Delete tweet. Done.
Email is next. Some readers subscribe by email so that when I publish they automatically get the post in their inbox. Google that. No way to recall that I can find. Not done.
Now what? Write an explanation and publish that. Am I making it better or worse? You decide.
Lesson learned.