Do I have any legal recourse to force a website to remove comments
that I made on their website forums / bulletin boards / comments box,
if I feel that I made a poor judgement after the fact?

Hello Calydon

Unfortunately there is no legal recourse to force a website to remove
comments made on their site unless they are disobeying rules stated in
their site privacy policy (even this is a legal minefield).

You may have a case if the comments are libellous or illegal and it is
pointed out to the website that they are.  Many ISP's and webhosts are
responsible for the content that is held on their servers - not the
people who run the website.  If this content is illegal or open to
question (such as libellous comments) it is the ISP/Webhost that would
be in trouble.  The ISP/webhost would then be forced to take action
against the website owner.

What I would advise you to do is:

1)  Read through the site's privacy policy and any other terms and
conditions they have on the forum and act upon these as you see fit.

2)  Contact the website owner and politely request that the comments
are removed.  Many reputable owners will do this immediately (as it
saves them hassle in the long run).

3)  If 2) gives you no option, then contact the ISP or webhost of the
site and ask them to contact the site owner.

I wish you well as I know how frustrating this can be.  If you have
any further questions please do not hesitate to ask for clarification,
I am here to help you!

Cheers mate, thanks.