Introduction

Hey people of PMC, I've been wanting to write this blog for quite some time and I guess today will be the day I do it. I'm going to discuss the topic of deletion, specifically self deletion not including those for moderation reasons.
You may have seen those accounts with hundreds of subscribers with 0 projects, skins or anything at all. Usually this is a sign that they have deleted all of their work. Another sign is that their profile has contest badges with no work to show for it, even you may find entries that were finalists missing. Now this is not an uncommon practice on PMC, but to every person who did it, they have to ask themselves if they wish to delete it or not.

Reasons to delete

There are several reasons that a person may want to delete their submission. It could be due to not liking their past work, a major reason for many, they aren't proud of what they've created and are embarrassed. Even if people have diamonded and subscribed because of it, they feel their creation is garbage. It could actually be or not, it depends on the person's standards.
Another reason is to start fresh, some people may feel a spark and renewed if they start from scratch, working their way from the beginning and this means deleting all old works. There are other reasons, but these are the two main ones.

Reasons not to delete

Some people want to show only quality content and this is quite admirable, but think of this: you don't have to be a perfectionist. If you delete work that people have actually liked, you are erasing a part of your past. People can't look back at where you came from and compare to your new more awesome stuff. Think of it as a before and after pictures, the after pictures mean more if you compare it with the before. If you want quality, I think you should start uploading new things that instead of deleting the old. Also you can reap the experience points from what views it has.

For those people who want to start fresh, it's great if you have enthusiasm, but it may only be for the moment. Maybe a couple years down the line you may want to see them again, but you have gotten rid of them. Deleting work can be risky and you may regret it. In some cases it may be worth deleting as in actual trash that had little effort put into it and that anyone can make in a few minutes. But usually if many people liked it or it was a contest finalist, you should keep it not for yourself but for others to look at.

Yeah.

Ultimately the choice of deletion is up to the individual person. This not only applies to PMC, but other places and things. For example on YouTube, videos that I have favorited or liked will have gone missing and it's puzzling to see why someone would do that and delete it forever. But it is up to the owners of the content in the end to decide to keep it or not and you cannot really do anything about it. For everyone reading this, I urge you to think twice of deleting, thinking about the consequences and seeing if it really is worth it.