What is it with people who throw a fit and delete all their stuff in a given on-line community? Who do they think they're punishing? Just themselves. It's a classic "cut your nose to spite your face" scenario.

Happens on WinCustomize.com all the time. Some skinner will get mad because some guy ticked them off in the forums and so they go and delete all their stuff in a huff.  Typically, a few weeks later, they come back and ask us to restore their stuff for them.

The same thing happens with blogs. Every week or so, somebody gets mad at someone else and deletes their entire blog. Once in awhile, the person throwing the fit will be someone who's pretty popular so it gets more noticed.

From talking to the drama kings/queens over the years who do this, the explaination I get is almost always the same: "I want to make a statement".  They don't really know what the statement is.  The more intellectual ones will say something like "I don't want to support a community that would have members such as <insert user X here> who poison everything with his/her vile behavior."

The thing is, they are the ones losing out. Vile nasty people lurk in every community. But they burn out. The candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long.  And toxic users burn very very bright and last very briefly.  I've been participating non-stop in on-line communities for the past 20 years. From 300 baud BBSes to what we have today.  People who are nasty and ill-willed towards others always flame out.

But before they flame out, they usually manage to take out one or two drama king/queens with them. The key is not to be one of them. 

Like I said, ultimately, the person taking themselves out isn't really making a statement. A user who leaves a community inevitably only makes their absence felt for a very short amount of time.  There were users here who were prolific in their day, who got mad, deleted their blogs in a huff and within a few months, the regulars of the day barely remembered them.

It's even worse with skinners who leave because the fanbase has such a short attention span.  I've known skinners who got mad at us at WinCustomize.com, deleted their skins and were convinced that their leaving would spark some sort of mass exodus -- or at the very least deal a fatal blow to the "community".  And inevitably, they are shocked -- and hurt -- to learn that while there is usually some short term sorrow at their leaving, within a few weeks, it's as if they had never existed.

And that's the thing about on-line communities that people need to understand. Being a drama king/queen is the fast track to misery. Even I, who have spent years building communities would be largely forgotten within months by most people. The hole that my absence would make would be filled by others. I never mistake my popularity for more than it really is.

And so to the potential net personality reading this - that is my advice to you - don't look to any sort of on-line community as being some sort of sentient being. It's not. It's just a mass.  Do what you do because you enjoy it. Make your wallpaper, skin, theme, article, blog, whatever because it's what you want to do.  And if it ceases being fun - and it will from time to time -- take a break. Don't eliminate yourself by removing everything you've built up. The effect on the community will be negligible and may only bring you regret later on.