Be Careful with the Publish button...

Genea-bloggers need to be aware that if you hit the Publish button on your blog writer (for me, http://www.blogger.com/), that Google Reader is really quick on the draw.  No sooner did I hit the Publish button this afternoon that I realized I meant to delete the post rather than publish it.  I quickly went to the "Edit posts" list and deleted the post.  It existed on the Internet for all of 30 seconds. 

But wait - here is what I saw in my Google Reader a few minutes ago:

When I clicked on the title, my computer said that the link didn't exist. 

But when I click on Genea-Musings in my Google Reader, it is still there!  I wrote the post because I was struggling in FTM 2011 to delete a duplicate Fact - and the Delete button didn't do it.  I read the Help section, and noticed that I can delete a Fact by highlighting it and then hitting the X button...d'oh!

So how long will the post that was published for 30 seconds last?  I don't know.  What I do like is that Google Reader finds the updated version of posts.  I can't go edit the offensive post because I deleted it!  Oh well!  I wonder if a Google search for the post will bring up a cached version?  I would guess not, but will test it to see!  Nope, not yet! 

The lesson learned:  Think twice before you hit Publish, and then think twice about deleting the entire post.  If I had edited the post title and content rather than deleted the entire post, I could have hidden the mistake easily.  I didn't, and it's out there for all Google Readers to see!

Is it in your blog reader, or did it get sent via RSS feed to your email?