I’m going to talk about this from social media angle cos that’s the closest comparison. When it comes to my social media feeds, I have zero issue deleting negative comments from my posts. I used to leave them up and mop on them for days but now? I hit delete and I move on with my day. The reason is pretty simple: I treat my personal social media accounts as an extension of my life. I show up on social media the exact same way I would show up if I were at a networking event, in my living room or meeting you for the first time. What you see is what you get. I won’t be rude or callous with you and even when I disagree with you, I’ll try to engage with you in the same way I would if we were having a face-to-face conversation. It’s no different than how I’d be in real life, too. For example, if you started blasting me in a professional networking event, I’m going to walk away. If you were in my living room being callous or rude, I’d ask you to leave. Social media is an extension of my life and my values so I do my best to create a space that honours those. If I don’t feel safe, how can the people who do wish to engage with me feel safe enough to leave a comment or engage in a healthy conversation? My rule is this: if it makes me, or anyone else on my post, feel downright awful, I delete it. If it doesn’t add any value whatsoever to the conversation and was only added for shock value, I delete it. If someone is starting a whole other side tangent to stir up drama and it has nothing to do with the original post, I delete it. Once it’s deleted, I then evaluate that person and ask myself WHY they are in my network. By signing up on these platforms, I didn’t hand over the right for others to treat me however they want, right? Always remember that it’s your space so make sure it feels like it.