why cant I edit my post?

somebodyelse · Post by **somebodyelse** » Sat 13 May 2006 14:24

Why isn't there a modify button to edit post ?Why isn't there a delete button for the author of the thread to delete there thread if they wan't?

Post by **Oscar** » Sat 13 May 2006 17:07

Only the admins and moderators can edit/delete posts.

somebodyelse · Post by **somebodyelse** » Sat 13 May 2006 17:14

ok.

I asked why though?

It seams like a great idea.

Post by **Oscar** » Sat 13 May 2006 17:18

You asked why, I answered.

But I assume you want to know why only the admins and moderators can edit/delete posts? Because there have been occasions where people delete whole threads which contained interesting and valuable information/discussions. So we want to keep that little bit of control.

somebodyelse · Post by **somebodyelse** » Sat 13 May 2006 17:48

Isn't the wai diet and other info from her complete enough to not need to rely on peoples problems to come up with ideas? I think it is.

I don't know about everyone else but I don't like to publicly post about my acne or any skin issues and leave it up.It's suppose to be emberacing.

Mabye someone could add that threads can be removed if asked for people that feel the same way.

I'd go to a doctor but none believe in acne and food.

YouTube · Post by **RRM** » Sat 13 May 2006 20:05

What posts do you want to be deleted?

Wintran · Post by **Wintran** » Fri 09 Jun 2006 23:37

Actually, a very common setting that is used on most large phpBB forums, and that I've used on a couple of forums that I've administrated myself, is to give registered users permission to "Edit own posts". This means that registered users can only edit (not delete) posts that they have written themselves. If the thread has had following replies after the edited post, a note will be included stating that the post was altered at a specific date to avoid confusion.

Allowing registered users to edit their own posts works very well to let people correct minor misspellings that they notice after they post, or to add information to a recent post instead of having to create a new one. It also gives the initiator of a thread the opportunity to retroactively update his first post in the topic to, for example, summarize the resulting topic discussion for new readers. To give you an example: If I start a new topic that I call "List of fruits", in which I try to provide a complete list of all fruits on Earth (good luck), someone might point out that I missed one or two. In that case it's great help if I can update the list in my first post so new readers don't have to read the full thread to get the full list.

avalon · Post by **avalon** » Sat 10 Jun 2006 00:20

I agree! And if for some reason I was say drinking wine one night, and well went off some deep end of some conversation, ehh i gould well fix it the next morning

Post by **Brian** » Sat 10 Jun 2006 00:33

Wintran, it is true that that is possible.
However I am not sure that it is ideal here.

While an entire thread will no longer be lost, people can still edit their posts and remove the contents entirely.
This results in threads losing coherence and degrading the ability to use the forum for reference.

I believe having a solid archive is one of the goals of the forum and I think that is worth more than the minor inconveniences of not being able to edit posts.

If there is something truly a problem with a post, a moderator or administrator can be asked to modify or remove it.

Wintran · Post by **Wintran** » Sat 10 Jun 2006 04:01

I understand your worry about losing coherence if people keep editing their posts, but from my experience this has not been a problem at other forums (I've never seen it being abused), and it's actually helped improving the quality of the posts because it gives the users a little bit more freedom, allowing them to use it as I described in the post above.

It's not such a big issue though, and I'm not 100% sure what is best in our case, so maybe we should just put it on hold for a while.

avalon · Post by **avalon** » Sat 10 Jun 2006 13:44

It has been said that WaiTalk is a Totalitarian state, so less control seems appropriated for those 'Right' Wing 100%'ers heh heh

Just kidding

spring · Post by **spring** » Sat 01 Jul 2006 10:04

Totalitarian.

I have heard that said about Wai's site.

I think there should be an Edit function. It should just be for one's own posts and it should expire after a week(?) The window period for editing one's own posts can be set by the administrator, it is quite flexible.

YouTube · Post by **RRM** » Wed 05 Jul 2006 02:26

Wintran wrote:from my experience this has not been a problem at other forums (I've never seen it being abused

Thats because you cannot see it; you cannot see threads that have been deleted, or whats been edited away.
We have seen it being abused here (because we were monitoring the boards so closely). In the sense that posts / entire threads with valuable info got deleted / taken out of context.
Not once, but a couple of times. Not often, but still...