[strenholme]

>I'm not sure it's always so great that everything anyone does online will be permanently archived

The real problem here is the runaway cancel culture, where we attack people for things they said or did years or decades ago which were (at the time) perfectly acceptable and reasonable.

The most egregious example I have seen so far is cancel culture advocates who think we should disregard the late Richard Feynman’s legacy because he said some rude things to a lady back in 1946, even though the lady herself was not offended, since she did sleep with him later that same evening.

There’s a point where we just have to say “That was a long time ago, no one at the time was offended, get over it.”

[philpem]

Indeed. Context matters, and societies evolve over time. Opinions which we'd consider abhorrent today were, once upon a time, may have been acceptable.

A comment made years ago is only a reflection of a person's opinions at that point in time; opinions which may have changed since.