Why do bloggers take their blogs down?

Posted on by

question-mark-706906_640

This is something I’ve always wondered about.   I see so many bloggers take down their blogs when they lose interest or they feel like their blog has fulfilled its purpose.    I can’t tell you how many times I’ve visited a blog I like and seen a message saying the blog has been removed.

I don’t get it.  Even if I were to lose interest in blogging and stop writing posts, I would still leave my blog(s) up.    One, it costs nothing on WordPress.  Two, people will continue to stumble on my blog and may be helped, entertained, or inspired by something I wrote.  Three, people who already know about my blog want to go back and reread something they already read.

It’s always so disappointing to see that a blog I’ve grown attached to no longer exists.   If I haven’t kept in touch with the blog’s writer,  it’s as if they’ve disappeared from the face of the earth.  I always wonder what happened to them.

I understand people move on with their lives and they often reach a point where they feel as if blogging has served its purpose.  I also understand that in certain blogging communities (such as the narcissistic abuse community), the posts may be of a very personal nature.   But why remove the whole blog?   Just leave it up so others can still benefit from it.

I have no plans to stop blogging, even though I post less than I used to and have moved onto other subjects (less posts about narcissistic abuse).    If I ever did stop blogging though, I would leave my blogs alone so others could still read them.

 

43 thoughts on “Why do bloggers take their blogs down?”

  2. I will never take my blogs down. I had to give up my website because I couldn’t continue paying the server. But I had the whole thing on my hard drive and I put the best of them on blogs. I have 8 separate blogs, Cluster B being the main one. And a blog can grow as one develops new interests. I’m finding my interest in current events and The Fourth Turning integrate well in my Cluster B blog so it’s all good.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Since I’m also interested in current events and 4th turning/generational theory (after all, I dragged you into that, lol) I find it’s absolutely the case that writing about narcissism and current events and turning/generational theory dovetails together VERY nicely! I like merging together two disparate interests that really aren’t all that unrelated at the end of the day. I feel like there are reasons for this and reasons why I’m so drawn to both of these topics.

      Like

  3. Funny you mentioned this because I am thinking of taking my blog down. I’ve outgrown my blog. Also the things that I felt a pressing need to share back then, I don’t necessarily want to stand behind the same words now. I’ve changed and I am a completely different person! Still debating though…

    Liked by 3 people

    • I agree with Luckyotter, but I also see this point too. There’s so much on my blog that I wrote when I first started that I already feel I no longer connect to. There’s some stuff I want to (and will) take down. I’m in a different place and don’t view thibgs the same.

      Then there’s other stuff that I don’t agree with anymore but I want to leave up. Especially on a blog like mine, about recovering from a personality disorder, I think it can be good to leave just to show the arc of progress.

      Honestly, sometimes I won’t agree with something I wrote even a few days ago! I attribute that to trying to decipher my false selves from my true self. I was thinking that may also be a good thing, because it gives readers some additional insight about living with the disorder — being able to see the fluctuations in personality. There’s nothing on my blog I didn’t 100% agree with at the time I wrote it.

      Liked by 5 people

      • I have the same problem. I cringe when I look at some of my early posts here (and on Down the Rabbit Hole). I’m a different person now than I was then. But it’s all been part of my recovery and could help others, so I leave the cringey stuff up even though it’s embarrassing to me now.

        Others may not want to leave certain posts up and that’s understandable. But since your blog isn’t that huge yet (not that many articles yet), you can do housecleaning and delete certain early posts you can’t relate to anymore (or better, set them to private so you can still read them but no one else can, and you can make them public again later or rewrite them) There’s no need to take a whole blog down.

        In your case especially, since you have a blog about having NPD (and are one of the few that do — and the only really good blog about it I’ve seen) you almost have an obligation to leave it up, to inspire others with self-aware and non-malignant NPD or BPD to do the same — or just give hope to others who do have it or suspect they might have it. There’s too much narc-bashing on the web and so little from someone like you who is actively trying to work on yourself and showing that it really is possible to overcome the disorder, or at least control the behaviors that go with it.

        There’s more of a need for a blog like yours than there is for a blog like mine. There are hundreds of narcissistic abuse blogs. There are almost as many blogs about having C-PTSD or BPD — but NOT NPD! Removing my blog would not be any big deal in the grand scheme of things (but don’t worry, I’m not going to remove it because it’s evolving and turning into something else now, but I’m not sure what yet though). I haven’t posted on Down the Rabbit Hole in a while but there are reasons for that I’ll explain soon. I would never take that one down either.

        Like

      • I also agree with you about the arc of progress — others may be experiencing that too and it helps them to be able to make sense of whatever they’re feeling at the time.

        Like

    • You can set it to private — the blog is still there but no one except you can see it. Or make certain posts password protected so only the people you choose can read those posts. Like I told Yara, you can also do “housecleaning” and leave up only those posts you can still relate to or think might help someone. But remember, other people are at the beginning of the learning curve, and although you might have outgrown posts you wrote early on, others might be experiencing that thing right now and really need to read your words. It’s something to think about.

      Liked by 2 people

    • Oh and I also always think about what happened with people/how it is going, including those I’ve only met on the internet.

      Liked by 1 person

    • That’s he only reason I can think of too. I’ve known a couple of people who were being trolled or stalked, and had to set their blogs to private until the dust cleared. If there are things like death or bodily harm threats/threats on property, etc. then I can understand someone actually removing their blog. But really that’s the only case I can understand something like that might make sense.

      Liked by 1 person

    • I have set mine to private: partly due to the reason already mentioned, that I feel I don’t agree with some of the things I said there, and partly because I think I wrote too much that would make me identifiable and it would give more information that I would want to give to some people.

      Liked by 3 people

      • Yes, I think those are good reasons and partially what I meant. Although it only matters what you yourself think about it. I was also thinking maybe if you’re ashamed of stuff you wrote? Maybe afraid of being bullied or that it will come after you many years later.

        I am continuously in a struggle of wanting to share more (for example about things I’ve experienced) to help people and worried I’ve said too much, since nobody knows except for my partner and I want to keep it that way. Still don’t know what I’m going to do with it.

        Liked by 2 people

  5. Im in that situation right now. Not sure which way to go. Thanks for this post. I’ve just decided to continue leaving it up.

    Liked by 2 people

  7. I have started and taken down several blogs since I first started blogging in 2009. I regret that, now. My primary reason for taking down my blogs was fear. I would open up and share a lot of personal things, and then feel like I was naked in public. Worried about what people might think, I would delete my blogs.

    I was dissociating a lot, too, when I first started blogging. That made it very hard for me to be consistent in what I was writing.

    But now, my neurofeedback treatments are helping me to accept my reality as it is, and not feel like I have to dissociate and run and hide from the truth about how badly broken I have been. I also feel, for the first time in my life, like I don’t care very much about what people think of me. That’s so huge! Now I am coming to the place where I can just shrug that off. If some people don’t “get” me — so what? They don’t understand, is all. They haven’t been in my shoes. They don’t understand how hard I have struggled just to BE. To be sane, to be normal, to function. It has taken everything I had, every ounce of my strength. There is no shame in being dysfunctional and broken, when life has run over you like a freight train.

    Until now — I am talking about right now, this minute, now as I am writing this post — I could not even admit to myself that I was dissociating. Dissociation seemed too crazy to me, too broken. I haven’t even told this to a therapist yet. But I am telling you now, Lucky, and I am also telling me: I have been dissociating. And I don’t have to be afraid to admit it.

    I’m not saying that I have Multiple Personality Disorder, like my dad was diagnosed with. That’s a big part of why I could never acknowledge to myself that I was dissociative to any degree, because I did not want to be like my crazy dad! But I think I do have a milder form of something along the lines of DID…. yes, I think maybe I do. The truth is that I was really very badly broken by an almost unbelievable amount of severe trauma. But none of that was my fault, and I have no reason to be ashamed.

    I’m a survivor, doing the best I can with what I have. And so are you. Blogging definitely helps. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    • I’m glad your biofeedback is having positive results. I agree that’s a huge step when you can get to a place where you stop caring so much about what people think of you. Congratulations!
      Oh, I get you about the dissociataion — trauma can cause a lot of DID-like conditions. I learned that went i went to that HeartSync seminar in November. CPTSD and many PDs cause a splitting of the personality much like a milder form of DID. I’m glad you’re putting the pieces together and you never took your blog down permanently.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. Several of my longtime blogging buddies have taken their blogs down in the last few years. It always comes as a shock — I’d just assumed they would be there forever, and I’d be able to visit them when the urge struck and reread things they’d written that I particularly liked. Many of them I had linked to on my blog, and now the links are dead. It’s very unsettling.

    Liked by 1 person

    • It is. I hate going to a blog I like, but that I haven’t bothered or had time to read in awhile, and get that awful “the author has removed this blog” message. It’s a terrible feeling really. You always think something terrible must have happened to them when the truth is, they probably just lost interest. Since I don’t get notifications from all the blogs I follow, if they posted something about taking down their blog, half the time I never get to see it.

      Liked by 1 person

  9. You are right in some ways though I have deleted many of my old posts, thinking how badly they were written and how stupid they appeared.

    Self-critical , am i?

    Liked by 1 person

  11. I think reading all the comments has shined some light into answering the question of why. Opinions changing, people changing, posts which are now deemed cringeworthy and embaressing by the writer and personal posts where things were revealed which is later regretted. I guess at the end of it, it’s a personal choice and everyone has their reasons. Although I also believe that what you might find cringeworthy, someone else might find inspiring. What you might regret revealing, someone else might be thanking you for because no one else has had the courage to. And what you posted that you no longer agree with, plenty of readers will agree to and won’t be displeased with the fact that you’ve changed. Rather they might find your personal journey and change very enlightening and interesting. And if you’ve just had enough of blogging…well I doubt us readers will ever have enough of reading 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    • I definitely think some of my early posts here are cringeworthy and that’s why I don’t read them (I might want to take them down). I know they’re there though, but like you said, the reason I leave them up is because they might be of help to someone else.

      Like

  12. Just popped over from Danny’s place and I would have laughed to see “This post no longer exists”. Alas, here it is. I suppose those of a more personal nature don’t want their info posted for all eternity. I, like you, plan to leave this here forever. Mostly so I can go back and reread my own work in years to come. But also so my kids can go back and read it when they grow up. Assuming WP still exists in 20 years.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I’m glad you stopped by. I don’t even like re-reading stuff I posted when I first started this blog because I’ve changed so much (some of it’s embarrassing now) but I leave it up because I think it could help others and also I may want to see my own progression at some point in time.
      That would be funny if you got “this post no longer exists” when you clicked on my link, lol.

      Liked by 1 person

  13. I’ve taken a blog down (actually, it was unpublished and it still exists). The main reason for it was to start anew without the baggage that had developed over its lifetime. Frankly, nobody is missing much with it gone. I would like to say, I am doing things better but bad habits tend to creep in. It isn’t better. It’s just different. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  15. I have deleted a few blogs and started over, only to repeat the process. I have a difficult, raw, and painful story that I want to share and I know it will help a lot of people, but I’m worried about the judgments and responses I will get. I’m in a narc/co-dependent relationship and just learning about it all frankly. It’s a lot to process, I don’t know what my next step is, many people in my life will be ignorant of this, and basically the story isn’t complete. I want to write when I feel like I’ve fully come through the other side, otherwise I just feel like I’m harping and complaining, but it’s a huge testimony already. I feel I have a right to share my truth, but I don’t know how it will be received by those in my life who don’t understand this.

    Liked by 1 person

    • My advice is to write it anyway, but keep your blog set to private until you sort things outs. That means no one will be able to see it but you. But it helped me so much to write it out. Writing helped so much in the early part of my recovery. I don’t know where I’d be if I had not been able to blog.

      Of course, making your blog public gives you that sense of community and you meet so many others going through the same thing who will relate to your story and will make you feel so much less alone. But I understand what you mean about the wrong people reading it and judging you negatively. It can be very triggering, especially if you’re newly out of an abusive situation.

      Another thing you could do — which a good friend of mine does here with their blog — is not allow comments. That means people can read your posts but will not be able to comment. Again, you sacrifice that sense of community, but you won’t have to read negative opinions, if there are any.

      Like

  16. Reblogged this on newauthoronline and commented:
    A good question and some interesting responses following on from the post. Nothing is, of course ever truly deleted. For example if one removes a blog/website, its possible that it may have been archived by archive.org (or similar archiving services). Try going to archive.org and typing in the url of an existing (or deleted) site and see what comes up. You may well be surprised. In the case of archive.org one can request that material you own is deleted from their servers, however there is no guarantee that someone has not (in the meantime) taken a copy of sections of your blog/website. So, basically, once one presses that publish button your content is (quite possibly) out there permanently.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I use that site all the time. It’s also known as the Wayback Machine. It goes all the way back to 1996 I think. It’s very cool to look at websites as they appeared on a particular date in the past or look up ones that no longer exist. There are archived copies of this site too. The old versions looked terrible!

      Like

  17. Pingback: The Weekly Headlines – My Daily Musing

  18. Pingback: The Weekly Headlines – My Daily Musing – Br Andrew's Muses

Comments are closed.