Open door
Two requests for deletions from the online archive led to some head scratching recently. The first came from a journalist who, several years ago, wrote about her young son's attitude to clothing. The article caused no bother until her son - by now computer literate - discovered it on the web. He was upset and embarrassed, and was being teased about it. The second request was from the parents of a child who was born with severe disabilities. Our article followed an interview they gave to a Sunday newspaper about the home birth that they had arranged. When they gave that interview they were thinking only about the print publication. It didn't occur to them that the online version might be picked up by other websites, and they didn't anticipate that cyber-bullies would send emails blaming them for their son's condition. They were finding it difficult to cope, and we deleted the article for compassionate reasons.