Deleted Post Round-Up (03/21/25)

Back when I was really active on social media I had a tendency to delete a lot of posts. Overall I think deleting is good and often wise to do, but there was probably some stuff I didn't necessarily need to delete. So today I'm going to review a few of my many deletions.



Post Date: Around June 11th, 2022

Original Caption: "I see a lot of anti-mosquito discourse this time of year so i made a graphic to educate ppl about these wholesome lil critters ❤️"

Why'd I Delete it: For context, I made this pic a few weeks after my obvious satire post about how going to the bathroom is caused by capitalism made a ton of people mad at me. That was a hilarious experience, in part because I had no intention of deceiving people - I thought people would immediately clock it as a bit. They didn't, though, and it showed that a certain portion of social media users analyze the media in their feeds super briefly before cooking up a furious reply.

That whole thing made me consider being a bit of an internet shit-stirrer. I'd already disgusted people plenty with my mild gore images, so I thought making intentional rage bait could be kinda funny. And it was summer, so I thought making a deranged pop science infographic about how mosquitos are actually cute could be a fun, classic jape. It made people too mad though.

Did I Need To Delete It: Yeah, people were mad at it in a not-fun way. I realized that I wasn't "duping" anyone, I just made an irritating post and people understandably didn't like it. I also think the "human pollinators" joke about malaria and West Nile virus is one of the more edgy jokes I've made - while it's clearly satire, I still feel bad about making light of diseases that kill more than 600,000 people a year. I guess another way to put it is that while it's maybe defensible as satire, people weren't laughing... it felt bad to make people angry for no reason.



Post Date: Around October 1st, 2022

Original Caption: "Stupid message pops up every time i use the john 🙄"

Why'd I Delete it: It's just a bit juvenile and one-dimensional. Relies too much on the viewer finding the word "dingleberry" funny.

Did I Need To Delete It: Sure, yeah. Maybe it would've been better if I found more layers of ideas to add to the post but it's not enough as it is. I do like the way I posed my hands though.

 



Post Date: Around August 4th, 2022

Original Caption: "I think I should click this."

Why'd I Delete it: People often would call my art around this time "shitposts" but this is a proper shitpost - low effort, low concept, just a weird idea I threw together. I think shitposts are most successful when there's minimal effort put into them, and my slightly fussy graphic design here betrays that I spent ~30 minutes or so putting it together.

Did I Need To Delete It: It makes sense that I did. I am a tryhard through and through, and that's a part of my personality I've come to embrace.



Post Date: Around March 27th, 2022

Original Caption: "Hot girls love to chew and swallow these 💋"

Why'd I Delete it: Now this is a much better shitpost. It's disgusting and I belong in jail for posting it but something about it is undeniable.

Did I Need To Delete It: NO!!! I should've left this horrible post up.



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Post Date: Around September 15th, 2021

Original Caption: "Worm Is Pissed"

Why'd I Delete it: Sometimes I have a thought where I'm like, what if I posted a stupid lil low effort video? No plot, just a quick moving doodle for fun. It sounds liberating, but at this point, a "Carter Amelia Davis video" IS something. By diluting people's understanding of what that form represents, I risk people losing interest in my subsequent high effort projects. This became clear to me when I posted "Worm Is Pissed."

This post came at a time when I was less prolific - I'd posted New Friend Pt. 1 and 2 a few months before, and I thought it'd be fun to break that period with a quick sketch. But I immediately felt like people were disappointed, especially since I used the Capital Letters Title and square video conventions I'd used to distinguish my major works around that point.

Did I Need To Delete It: Yeah, I could make the choice to be a rough and tumble artist that posts a lot of unrefined work, but that's just not how I like to carry myself online. (Although maybe the existence of all of these posts begs to differ.)



Post Date: Around June 30th, 2021

Original Caption: "a decision"

Why'd I Delete it: People who've been following my art for a while are probably aware that I find poop funny. I like that we find that smelly stuff so elementally disgusting despite the fact that everyone on earth has to deal with it almost every single day. In my novel UYCTB there's a particularly nasty chapter where I explore the idea of crap very in depth to illustrate the way that sanitary spaces like offices feel in denial about our lived reality as stinky animals. But my jokes about #2 are not always as high-minded as that.

There's kind of an absurdist case to be made for this comic - why would she climb in if there's such prominent stink lines? Is she not aware of the mistake that would be? But I think any joke about poop has to feel earned, and there's just not much to this joke.

Did I Need To Delete It: Let's be real about the stakes here. By making low-quality jokes about poop, I risk seeming horny about poop. Plenty of people on the internet are, and more power to em, but that just isn't me. "A woman unaware of her surroundings accidentally climbing into a bucket of poop" sounds like the premise of a fetish comic. That's the terrifying thing about being an artist online; you can draw a quick doodle for fun and post it on the internet, and in doing so risk people thinking you're sexually excited about turds. Let that sink in. This had to be deleted.