Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Halfbakery Idea Deletion Allowance

maintaining halfharmony
  (+4, -9)(+4, -9)
(+4, -9)
  [vote for,
against]

While perusing various random ideas, I stumbled upon a halfbaker with an absolutely sterling record. Stunned by the seeming omnipotence of this individual, I examined his profile carefully. Lo and behold, out of some 70-odd ideas, only one registered any bones at all, and that one had the full 2-1/2, a kind of badge of glory, as if this halfbaker’s *only* boned idea was so patently and intentionally terrible that it registered the maximum allowable negative impact, making it the best of the worst, and therefore imminently fit for inclusion in the astounding list of otherwise bunned ideas.

How did this state of affairs come to pass, perchance? No, not a sole among us could be so indomitable, so invincible, so perfect. Not even the wise and venerable Jutta, whose record shows … perfection?! How could this be?

Clearly, those with perfect records have carefully pruned their profile, eliminating ideas that cast aspersion upon their otherwise fine character and demonstrably good judgment and fine intelligence.

‘Tis no wondering that some call for renormalization, halfbakery electoral colleges and other ideas to bring parity and truth to the halfbakery. The practice of cleansing one’s history, of web-scrubbing if you will, is despicable in that it paints a truly distorted picture, similar to the way the current US administration has gone to great lengths to hide, confound or otherwise distract their true behavior from the larger body of citizens to whom they owe allegiance.

As such, I hereby propose the Halfbakery Idea Deletion Allowance. This is a simple system that would allow a halfbaker to delete any of his own ideas as long as a correspondingly inverse idea was deleted as well; for example, to delete a 1-1/2 bone idea, it would be necessary to delete a 1-1/2 bun idea simultaneously, thereby maintaining not only the correct and necessary balance of cosmic forces but also a true and honest representation of each and every halfbaker.

Thus a halfbaker with all bones will find it impossible to delete even a single idea until he has at least one that is bunned. Getting rid of a nasty idea that garnered one the full 2-1/2 bones would require the deletion of an elusive and highly prized idea that earned one 2-1/2 buns. Thus would all halfbakers, from the most revered to the most defiled, be maintained with a true and accurate record, unaffected by self-manipulation, and exposed for all to see.

Thus would the halfbakery be normalized, and the Gods made mortal, and the mortal made even more so.

nuclear hobo, May 21 2007

Halfbakery renormalisation Halfbakery_20renormalisation
[nuclear hobo, May 21 2007]

Halfbakery Electoral College Halfbakery_20Electoral_20College
[nuclear hobo, May 21 2007]

Voting 'Karma' Voting_20_27Karma_27
[nuclear hobo, May 21 2007]

[link]






       If he's going to get an allowance, I want one too. ([normzone] goes off to figure out he's going to spend his allowance)
normzone, May 21 2007
  

       Sorry, I'm afraid [nuclear hobo] that this idea will be sticking with you forever unless you're willing to sacrifice your crayola dot matrix printer.
phundug, May 21 2007
  

       Which is, in essence, the idea.   

       Either that, or I'm operating on the principle that each bone is worth 3.265 buns, making accumulation of bones much more valuable than accumulation of buns.
nuclear hobo, May 21 2007
  

       //Clearly, those with perfect records have carefully pruned their profile, eliminating ideas that cast aspersion upon their otherwise fine character and demonstrably good judgment and fine intelligence.//   

       Why 'clearly'? They might have been more careful about only posting ideas they're reasonably sure are good ones in the first place. I make no claims to be a brilliant 'baker, but my list only has a few fishboned ideas at the moment and that's not through pruning; I've only deleted ideas when they were redundant. (If I had pruned my list, I'd also have removed some of my feebler half-bun ideas.) I have no problems believing some people here can get a pretty high proportion of croissanted ideas purely due to their creativity, wit and madness.   

       //The practice of cleansing one’s history, of web-scrubbing if you will, is despicable in that it paints a truly distorted picture//   

       Deleting ideas isn't always 'dishonest' or 'despicable'. People likely delete ideas for a mix of reasons: some prune their bad ideas to reduce the clutter of bad ideas on the site, others because they've learned from their bad ideas and the feedback they received, and keeping those ideas on their list might inaccurately suggest that they still see them as good ideas, others remove ideas in line with their personal philosophy that all is change and flux and trying to hold on to anything too long is foolish, others because they accidentally deleted them in a drunken stupor. And yep, maybe some people do delete ideas out of an ego-fuelled desire to make themselves look more consistently brilliant than they are.   

       Isn't it simpler to let go of the assumption that users' ideas lists ought to show all the ideas they've ever posted and/or the assumption that a user's ideas list gives a completely accurate and complete reflection of that user's halfbaking abilities, rather than introduce some rule about when and how users can delete their ideas?
imaginality, May 21 2007
  

       //Why 'clearly'? They might have been more careful about only posting ideas they're reasonably sure are good ones in the first place.//   

       Or in the case of a deity, it may be fear of wrath and eternal damnation (whether justified or not) that keeps the fish away. And given an infinite number of monkeys with keyboards and internet accounts, it is inevitable that one will have a perfectly boneless halfbakery record.   

       //because they accidentally deleted them in a drunken stupor//   

       Or created them in one, which would be all the more reason for keeping them, or allowing their deletion only with a penance.   

       //Isn't it simpler to let go//   

       Oommmmmm   

       Of course it is simpler to let go, and not just of this. But since when does simplicity have anything to do with a halfbaked idea? Tortured logic is one of the hallmarks of this great citadel.
nuclear hobo, May 21 2007
  

       The secret is to create false accounts and vote up all your ideas ;)
xaviergisz, May 21 2007
  

       I personally think we should be as proud of our less stellar ideas as we are of our best. They help others learn who we are and how we think.
jhomrighaus, May 21 2007
  

       Ideas get boned for many reasons... I have deleleted some of mine, but others I think are ok and I leave up. Bakery is about creating and sharing ideas. The voting bit is another level to this process. Wear your bones with pride, unless they are lodged for offensive or just plain lack of invention. Everyone has the right to say: "I don't like this", though it may still be inventive.
xenzag, May 21 2007
  

       It's not really about the votes for me, it's more about a place to share and collaborate on ideas. If I get a positive vote, I'm delighted, but the scoring is really neither here nor there. Others may disagree.
jonthegeologist, May 21 2007
  

       I can't say that I really understand why anyone would care about being *normalized*. Most of my fishboned ideas had to be deleted because they were m-f-d. I enjoy getting buns, but much rather have a great rapor going on whether there were votes or not. The votes make it all seem fun in the end but not the primary reason for posting.
xandram, May 21 2007
  

       I've deleted a small handful of ideas here, both bunned and boned. As [imaginality] points out, there are enough bad ideas here already. If someone brings up valid reasons why a particular idea is bad, then I'll usually get rid of it eventually.   

       Believe it or not, a lot of people here don't care what some strangers that they've never met think about their writings.
hidden truths, May 21 2007
  

       Sounds like [nuclear] is arguing for a statistic on your profile that indicates the true number of buns and bones you've received, regardless of what ideas still actually remain on the 1/2b.
phundug, May 21 2007
  

       OK - I'm egotistical enough to care what my account looks like. I don't delete ideas because they get fishboned, but I will delete an idea if it's met with a storm of "that exists already, you fool!" Google before posting... It is possible to have a good record without cheating, but one might argue that it stifles creativity, as one never dares to post anything a bit edgy - to cast one's bun upon the waters, as it were.   

       Recording the net total would serve this purpose well, but I don't think that the bakesperson is too keen on that sort of thing.   

       (edit: do I sound arrogant, or stuck-up, or both? Answers on a bun please, or maybe on a carefully-toasted white slice)
david_scothern, May 21 2007
  

       Yes, my glowing transient friend, there were people here who were just *that* good at presenting things or were that popular, or both. There are few rules except the unwritten ones, the bones are only as important as you think they are, and its most wise to not really worry about them that much.
RayfordSteele, May 21 2007
  

       I haven't edited any of my profile. I didn't know I could, and frankly didn't have any interest in trying.
elhigh, May 31 2007
  
      
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