The (relatively) recent paradigm of Web 2.0, community, makes the user-provided content issues a major concern for the future. Ever since forums have existed on the web, they have thrived on content that individuals post to them ratherthan a publisher. I will repeat this statement throughout this article: read the legalese you agree to when you join any site.

When you leave a site, can you remove your contributions?

Suppose you get tired of an online service and want to leave. Is is possible to take the content you provided with you? The only way to find out is to carefully read the agreement you presumably clicked through to get into the site when you registered. These are often presented as boxes to check when registering and most people don't actually read them. Look at the example I quote below from Hubpages.com which keeps your content under your control and ownership.

I recently wanted to get out of Facebook, but when I tried to delete my account, they state that nothing is deleted except your own access to the account. Any content, forum posts, groups I created or photos I uploaded remain. I exchanged several emails with Facebook about this and after telling me it was "very complicated" to remove my data, they claim to have done so. There have been some public discussions on this situation and the more frightening one concerning your contact list. Be extra careful about storing contacts on these sites, they are a part of your "content" and in many cases, the emails and names are worth more to the site than your actual postings.

My recent experience with a wine forum

After several years of membership, providing tech support and posting FAQ answers about how the software I installed free was supposed to work, I realized that I had no further empathy with the agglomerate group. A relatively minor incident regarding an immature poster and my posted request for mature behavior provoked anger by this poster's groupies. Because of the support received from people who contributed little other than symantic analysis of my pleas for civility, I was incensed and left in a huff. In fact, my reaction, stomping out, was childish and lowered me to the level of the offender. I should have just backed out quietly. None of this would be germaine to the discussion here, except that as I was able to access the database I had built to run the forum, I was able to delete all my posts when I left. While my "content" about the subject of the forum may not have been complelling (it's just opinion, after all), the FAQ and answers were at least useful and represented many hours of thought and typing. The pre-registration statement of that forum reads thus:

"We assert no claim on your intellectual property other than [...] the right to publish it online under your name"

You may want to think about this situation and investigate the possibility to remove your contributions should you so desire at some future time.

Hubpages.com has done it right, so for the purpose of example, I will quote parts of their agreement. The bold type emphasis is mine.

"6. PROPRIETARY RIGHTS CONTENT OWNERSHIP

"As a Author (sic), You will be able to incorporate different types of content into Your Hubs ("Content"). Hubpages does not claim ownership of the Content You place on Your Hubs. [...]The Content will be owned by You. "