Comment by dusted

I don't delete files. They are put in directories, and at some interval, the directories are put in other directories. I've kept everything that didn't die in sudden catastrophic failures. I can access files that I got before there was even a harddrive in my computer. And I love it, like browsing an old photo album, I once in a while take a stroll through my life, but, unlike the photo, which only captures one angle of a situation, I have entire installations to look at, what was on my desktop 20 years ago, what had I downloaded, oh, that movie, yeah, I remember it now! those funny pictures a long-forgotten friend send to me over IRC DCC, the chatlogs of our cringe teenage banter..

Yes, this is hoarding, but, as opposed to the physical kind, where it goes from some neatly displayed trinkets, to inaccessible rooms and biological hazards, computer files allow us almost infinite room, and almost infinite structure.

While it is probably not healthy to entertain the idea, I believe most hoarders, given sufficient physical space (infinite, really, is sufficient cannot be determined before they're dead and no longer amassing objects), their collections, their order, would look somewhat neater (although not any less pathological).

Whereas physical objects are a burden both in weight and volume, a few hundred terabytes of data does not take up significantly more room in the physical realm.. A file server, and its backup, is really all it takes..

So I don't think they're comparible.. At least, it depends, also, how it affects you, is it a source of stress and negativity, or simply a peace of mind, or a mad obsession..

I don't delete stuff, but I don't fuss over it either, it's not a big deal, once in a while, I move everything out of sight, it's a very small effort, and, so far, 30 years later, current me is grateful for past me for leaving those little breadcrumbs to spark my memories, and so, I will continue this tradition, in honor of future me.