# Why are posts withdrawn instead of being deleted immediately?

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-are-posts-withdrawn-instead-of-being-deleted-immediately/75985
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [December 13, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-are-posts-withdrawn-instead-of-being-deleted-immediately/75985 "2017-12-13T19:10:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 8

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### Author: ![Sailsman63](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sailsman63](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Sailsman63)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2017, 5:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-are-posts-withdrawn-instead-of-being-deleted-immediately/75985/8 "2017-12-15T05:13:42Z")

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I can’t find detailed discussion about this now, but IIRC, the main rationale for this is to leverage the community for front line moderation support. In particular, the team was concerned about two types of destructive behaviors, mentioned in the linked posts:

[https://meta.discourse.org/t/improvements-to-self-deleted-posts/8564?u=sailsman63](https://meta.discourse.org/t/improvements-to-self-deleted-posts/8564)

> [@Allow users to suspend/close their accounts for good](https://meta.discourse.org/t/allow-users-to-suspend-close-their-accounts-for-good/55029/6):
>
> Destroying conversations by deleting all your posts because you rage quit is not desirable. Contacting staff for anonymization suffices, it is not hard to do. Friction is needed in front of rage quits. The default Creative Commons license – unless you have changed that section of your default TOS – does not allow people to withdraw their posts en masse, just anonymize them.

The first, in particular, can be hard for staff to track in a busy site with many users. Allowing normal users to see withdrawn posts can get extra eyes on potential trolls and bullies, and a few flags on “NOT OK” content can alert staff much more quickly than if they try to review all withdrawn posts and other activity.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-are-posts-withdrawn-instead-of-being-deleted-immediately/75985)._