As most of you know, we have had several issues arise out of members editing or deleting posts on the forum, and to prevent it from happening further we have instituted a change to the posting policy and modified the forum software to support this change.

Members can now edit or delete any thread or post they make, but only until there has been a reply posted. Once a reply has been made to the thread or any post in a thread, previous posts can no longer be edited or deleted.

After an incident where a member deleted an entire thread because they did not like the replies they were receiving and the ensuing firestorm it created, we removed the ability for members to delete posts, but not to edit them.

There have also been issues where members have edited out the entire contents of one or more posts in a thread, including the opening post and ruining the entire thread. And in a recent incident, a post that had received a number of nominations for best post in the Post of the Month contest was edited to remove all content, while the contest was still running.

Actions like these were not fair to any member, nor to the forum, and for those reasons we have instituted this change, which we believe is for the better.

We know that the majority of you stand by what you post and would not edit or delete anything just because somebody else questioned you or didn't like what they had to say, and this change was not directed at you nor will it even affect you. Then again, if everybody always did the right thing, there would be no need for laws, policies and any other form of population control and we'd live in a perfect world. Unfortunately we don't and the few cause problems for the many.

This will also prevent members from deleting or editing post to change the context because somebody questioned or challanged them on something they said or they didn't like, or because they didn't like the direction the thread was taking, while still enabling you to edit a post after writing it or changing your mind and deleting it before someone has replied to it.

We feel that this is the best compromise to allow members freedom over their posts, while at the same time protecting thread continuity and ongoing discussions, and is a great step forward.

And we hope that all of you will also feel this change is for the better!

I cannot agree with not being able to edit my posts.
Not being able to deleting a whole thread even if I started it, I agree 100%.
Surely this is rather draconian for "uncensored".

I think it's a great compromise!

Why would you need to edit something AFTER somebody has replied to it. We understand members may post something then feel it didn't come across as intended and may want to cdhange it, and you still can! You just can't change it after somebody has posted behind you and your post played a part in the discussion.

You cannot take back words said in a conversation, and threads are nothing more than written conversations!

And the comment about being draconian for "uncensored" is absolute nonesense. Censoring would be changing or deleting what members said, This actually prevents censorship!

Not a bad idea, but I don't agree 100% to that.

It's not okay to completely delete a post (or to make it blank, what's nearly the same), I agree with that.

Wouldn't it be a solution to let users "incremental edit" their posts?
This means they can edit and add something to their posts, but can not delete anything if there's an answer below them.
Then there would be no disappearing content.
It would be kinda like your rule in an extended way, but I don't know exactly how the MyBB software works and if this is possible.
Just an IT-students 2cents...

If you think my idea won't work then you are right, there is no other solution than completely ban editing, completely enable it or only enable it if there are no anwers.

greets

(02-06-2012 10:07 AM)captain_alex Wrote:  Wouldn't it be a solution to let users "incremental edit" their posts?
This means they can edit and add something to their posts, but can not delete anything if there's an answer below them.
Then there would be no disappearing content.
It would be kinda like your rule in an extended way, but I don't know exactly how the MyBB software works and if this is possible.
Just an IT-students 2cents...

If you think my idea won't work then you are right, there is no other solution than completely ban editing, completely enable it or only enable it if there are no anwers.

greets

Nope, can't be done. If you think about it, it's impossible to allow any sort of edit without also allowing the entire context of the post to be changed. Yes, an incremental abilty to add to a post could be possible with additional coding, but how many people go back and read every previous post to see if anything in a thread has been added?

If you want to add to whats already been posted, then a new post can be made. Just like what would be the case if it were a verbal discssion!

I'm not very happy about that change.

Just look at the second post of my Journal. It's an overview of all the products i tested and their ratings, which i'd like to keep up to date by editing it. Also if i were to post this overview in the Men's section sometime, i'd still like to be able to edit it later. Having the important information/summary in the first post and the discussion in the later posts is very beneficial. And it's how big informative stickies in bigger forums work.

I agree that the edit function was abused. Still edits can be a good way to keep posts up date. IMO you should at least be able to always edit your Journals to remove personal information later on, if you posted it by accident. All in all i can rather live with occasional abuse of edits, than not being able to edit posts after a reply.

(02-06-2012 10:20 AM)idontknow Wrote:  I'm not very happy about that change.

Just look at the second post of my Journal. It's an overview of all the products i tested and their ratings, which i'd like to keep up to date by editing it. Also if i were to post this overview in the Men's section sometime, i'd still like to be able to edit it later. Having the important information/summary in the first post and the discussion in the later posts is very beneficial. And it's how big informative stickies in bigger forums work.

I agree that the edit function was abused. Still edits can be a good way to keep posts up date. IMO you should at least be able to always edit your Journals to remove personal information later on, if you posted it by accident. All in all i can rather live with occasional abuse of edits, than not being able to edit posts after a reply.

Points taken. Now let's look at the other side of it. Informative stickies in big forums can only be edited by the forum administrators or moderators, not regular members, and are generally heavily censored by those moderators.

Your journal is 23 pages long as of right now. How many people that follow threads actually go back and read every post in a thread to see if anything has been changed or added to any posts?

I do agree that a general summary of products tested in one thread is a great idea, but it's also easy enough to copy everything from any post into a new post and add to it, or simply reply to the post yourself and add new information. And, that has the added benefit of those reports being periodically repeated throughout the journal.

I don't get it! If you send somebody an email and don't like the reply you get in return, you cannot go back and change what you said in the previous email, yet some of you think you should be able to here.

You want an uncensored forum, but not when it comes to yourself.

Good idea. If an incremental post is possible , the new text should be highlighted in red to show the additions. Maybe editing could be allowed but sent to the moderator for approval.

Lame, and in my mind, completely unacceptable. Silence is consent - and I am not consenting.

Now all members of the forum are being punished becaused of the wrongful actions of one member who has already been banned for those actions.?!?! So Extremely wrong! Talk about doing HARM with GOOD INTENTIONS. I have never heard of a forum where you cannot edit your posts, and I've been on forums since I was 12!! (good old perfectlydark.com - the N64 game that forum was my first)

Being able to edit your post serves a multitude of purposes, which far outweigh the possibility of abuse by unscrupulous members.
*Being able to go back and clarify what you meant with some additional verbage
*Being able to go back and correct your spelling
*Being able to remove something you have decided is too revealing of your personal information, etc.
*Being able to update the first post of a journal or product summary with current information

I agree that editing out the content of a post (the equivalent of deleting it) is wrong. But this is a complete over-reaction. The forum is a complex system, and this seemingly small change will have far-reaching effects. The most obvious result is that it will make members more reluctant to post.

I am forced to accept what I cannot change, but now you know where I stand.

P.S. sorry for my spelling - I am a little irate. My inability to come back when I've got a moment to spellcheck this post further illustrates my point.