Your essay is well-written and engaging, with excellent substance. I've read a lot of posts, but yours is one of the most memorable; thank you for sharing it.
@lolamoth Deleting is one thing - shouldn't change your score and as far as I can tell, it's only available before a player plays (or before the second move). After that, one can only resign, which does affect rating.
Also, I seem to recall that the rating change isn't instantaneous. So perhaps that could explain why there was a change?