Editing threads issues

[Ookami]

Hi...

After browsing a bit through some threads, I've found the thread in D2S Advanced where Bach decided to delete his postings...

But, what's more important to me is to make a cap for editing postings, something like 30 min. or so, a exception could be the filter threads etc. where the download link is in the first posting or so (or the persons could ask a mod, or even better make a small homepage for their stuff).

It's very confusing to read discussions where certain people constantly re-edit their postings and thoughts, if you want to be sure for spelling etc. just write offline.

So, is it ok for member so edit their postings, theories after days/hours etc., in this case even delete it?

I'm for a edit limit, as for deleting, I would only allow it if the member decides to go from the forum forever (no comeback with different nick etc.!), altough I found this attitude very childish and silly, anyhow.

Well, don't know if this makes any sense, but I hope you know what I mean.

Uh-oh... I've posted on Doom9... I've posted on Doom9...

Cheers to y'all and hope that everything is ok, I'm still trying to go to the mod chat every time I'm here, learning through repetition ;) .

Cheers,

Mijo.

[Gaia]

I don't agree with you. I think everybody should have right editing their posts when ever they want or delete all if they wish to do so. Changing this is only causing lots of problems and extra work for mods. In many cases it's very usefull if you can edit your posts after 30 minutes or somenthing like that.

Please don't change this :)

Just my opinion...

[Ookami]

Hello Gaia.

Thanks for your opinion.

I am aware that some "right" of the poster is taken away, but the rights of the readers should be more important, IMO.

If you change your opinion, write a new posting, if you want to quit, then quit. No need to re-edit old postings, delete etc. If you're not mature enough to stand by your old thoughts or actions then don't post at all (and I wonder how such persons function in real life). After you post on the net, the postings stop being your own only, but they are a part of this community, board etc.

The minor editing things like, links etc. can always be done by a mod or circumevented by choosing different methods (linking to the homepage instead of direct links etc.).

The option wouldn't cause too much work at all, AFAIK, (I even believe the admin has an time limit option) as that's in common on many boards;like E-budo, another vBulletin boar. I agree the unlimited editing is useful in many cases, but, it's getting misused too often, IMO.

Let's wait what the team members think of this one.

Cheers,

Mijo.

[gerti67]

Hi there,

I agree with Ookami on that - I myself regard posts on a public board like this as a contribution to something similar like the public domain.

Once you did participate in a thread all your words belong to this thread and become public - by deleting your old posts you will in most cases completely ruin the thread as no one can read it properly again - thus you ruin the work of other contributers to this thread too - and in my opinion you don't have the right to do so.

As in real life - if you fear to be nailed down by the words you said and didn't want to tke the consequences for them - then don't say anything. In real life you can't take back the words that left your mouth and that did reach the ears of someone else too - it's sometimes a pitty but that's how life goes. ;)

So, all in all, my opinion on this is: Let editing only be allowed for a couple of hours to correct typos and such (if the bulletin board software will allow this of course) - after that stand to your words and live with them like a real (wo)man. ;)

Greetz,
Gerti

[Herske]

Definitely agree. Editing/deleting posts after a long time (say 2-3 days) will completely twist the context of a discussion, the casual reader will not understand anything when reading that.

[Gaia]

As in real life - if you fear to be nailed down by the words you said and didn't want to tke the consequences for them - then don't say anything. In real life you can't take back the words that left your mouth and that did reach the ears of someone else too - it's sometimes a pitty but that's how life goes

Well i don't have problems with this but if you have limits for editing it means lots of extra useless posts and big problems with links. That's what i ment. I don't have problems to stay behind my words and i don't delete posts. Good thing is that if you have limits you have to ofcourse think more careful what you write.

[Doom9]

this is in a way related to editing titles of a thread. Initially, after creating a new one, you had like 5 minutes to change the title and it should change in the forum overview, after that, it would only show when you access the thread. I believe the treshold has been upped to 24h. As with editing titles, editing posts is usually something you do within a certain period. I guess if that period is long enough, it's not really much of a problem. How many times have you wanted to edit a post you have made, say, a week ago? I can't remember the last time I wanted to do that.

[Wilbert]

When the AviSynth faq was still on this forum (and I was not a mod), I edited it frequently. Of course it's an exception, but there are more of those threads (for example: RealVideo 9 Information).

[smiller667]

I am definitely in favour of a limited timespan for editing (or deleting) posts. A window of, say, 48 hours after posting should be sufficient. As Gerti pointed out, in real life you can't take back your words once spoken ... similar rules should apply here.

I have seen quite a few forums lately (mainly ezboards) which were messed up because of disgruntled members ("nobody likes/understands me/appreciates my genius") deciding to delete their postings, or, if this was impossible, replace them with blank postings. Highly annoying as discussions frequently become pointless if a previous postings diappears.

Some boards also have a policy so that a thread starter can never remove his initial posting (limited editing is possible, though) and thus delete an entire thread including other people's contributions. It used to be possible for some versions of vbulletin.

Steve

[onesoul]

I don't really understand why bach deleted all his posts, and the content of the post was deleted in the threads started by him! This makes very hard following a thread like for example the repal plugin made by bach.

[r6d2]

Removing your posts is like erasing with the elbow what you wrote with your hand. As Gerti67 said, it breaks the whole thread. And you have no right to do that.

Editing, on the other hand, is useful to correct typos or even mistakes (we all make them). Also for adding new info found afterwards (properly documenting the change).

Furthermore, I think it would make little sense to change the way most members work today just because we will find eventually a guy playing the cranky diva.

That would be to legislate and operate for just a singularity, and it is the favor of most users which we might want to uphold.

Furthermore, it is not possible to trust just technology to enforce politicaly correct behaviour. That's whay we have rules (and laws).

Perhaps a rule stating "You may edit your posts to correct typos and such. Purposedly deleting your posts is bad manners and a disrespect to other members: 3 strikes in a row."

I think you should be able to do anything on the net, on one condition: take responsability for what you do.

In the case in question, we had an induhvidual who probably would have not abided by this rule even if it was there, but he did not abide to other rules either, and the mods did not ban him o strike him for that anyway, and surely had their reasons (not questioning the mods here, just in case). So the community cannot complain after having accepted the guy's behaviour for months. This was not foreseeable, but it is consistent with previous conduct.

It's a pity we lost him, as it will be if any other diva pulls her hair on the way out. But such is life.