So, that “Dribs and Drabs” post that I inadvertently released to the world still has legs. My friend Paul calls it the basement tape of the hamblog. Hopefully, you completists will copy and paste it into a text document and pass it around the internet, bootleg-style. (No, you won’t!) This whole thing is amusing, more than anything else — of all the embarrassing things one can accidentally do with the internet and mistaken button clicking, this rates a cringe factor of about 2.

Tristy points out that she was able to read the post because her feed reader had caught it and kept it for her. There are about 20 people that subscribe to my blog via readers, so, presumably, that lot had/has access to it, as well.

To bring the less-technical up to speed: A website or piece of software called a feed reader, or aggregator, brings syndicated content — blog posts, news feeds, schedules, etc — to you in one place, so you can do all your reading without clicking though to each website.

Therefore, if something’s published, it will be delivered to your reader — even if the post is subsequently removed by the author.

I have a habit of clicking “save” on posts that I suspect may be taken down by their authors. I do this for people I don’t know personally. It’s kind of snoopy and weird. To wit:

A usually cool and sardonic artist drunkenly rants, in one dense paragraph, about his inability with openness, his mistreatment of women — then descends into “I love you, blog people” territory. As far as I know, it’s still on his blog, but he got married recently, so I suspect he might do a little revisionist unposting.

A minor celebrity’s recap of a horrible night where she and her boyfriend were both taken to jail for assault. Includes pictures from inside jail. Taken down after one of her readers leaked the story to the press.

A well-known craft blogger has a brief and mysterious breakdown. She talks obliquely about how she received some horrible news, about how she’s overwhelmed by her life, family and health. She took it down the next day. Fascinating, as she usually paints the most pastel-colored, domestically blissful pictures on her blog. Usually.

A performer’s hilarious rant about an entertainment industry event she attended, in which she badmouthed the organizers — who then tried to sue her for defamation.

Now that I’ve confessed this, I feel like a weirdo voyeur, a weirdo voyeur with a camera.

Dear Diary, uploaded by Mal Cubed