! hour limit on editing

[davieddy]

Originally Posted by Raman

Why not allow permanent edit feature to our own posts forever? I don't bother to moderate others' posts. But, what justice is it if we can't edit our own posts after 1 hour from the time of posting? Perhaps, that it is a feature of vBulletin, I would talk about that later on.

I've had some experience of this on PhysicsForums.

After I corrected a "homework helper" who had posted erroneously and
was abusive in the face of my correction, he deleted his offending
posts and I suffered the indignity of a temporary ban for "attitude".

Lavalamp knows something of this. I've lost my enthusiasm to
contreibute any further to that forum.

Stand by what you say, and engage brain before opening mouth

David

[retina]

Originally Posted by davieddy

After I corrected a "homework helper" ...

When you say "corrected" do you mean that you edited the other posters text, or that you posted a reply with an explanation of how to correct it?

[davieddy]

The latter.
My point is that editing perhaps days after posting can
easily make other posters look stupid.

[CRGreathouse]

Originally Posted by davieddy

The latter.
My point is that editing perhaps days after posting can
easily make other posters look stupid.

Agreed. But the 1-hour limit does feel overly strict some times.

[retina]

Originally Posted by davieddy

The latter.
My point is that editing perhaps days after posting can
easily make other posters look stupid.

I still can't see it.

How does you editing your own post make another poster look silly? And why would someone else deleting their own post get you a ban for "attitude"?

[Dougal]

@retina

i could call you a tool,you respond,calling me something else,i then delete my post calling you a tool,you dont see this for several weeks,in which time,others see your response,and possibly dont see that it was a response.then you look bad.

[retina]

Originally Posted by Dougal

@retina

i could call you a tool,you respond,calling me something else,i then delete my post calling you a tool,you dont see this for several weeks,in which time,others see your response,and possibly dont see that it was a response.then you look bad.

Okay, I can see that one. But even so, if I were to call someone a "tool" then that would not be a good thing to do regardless of whether it is a tit-for-tat response or not.

However I just realised something while responding to you. I could notice that you had deleted the post that I am quoting above, and then I change the text in the quote to pretend that you said something you didn't. And with your original post gone, you would have no evidence to contradict.

[Brian-E]

In my opinion unlimited editing is only a good idea on boards where posters are not encouraged to interact with each other very much.

It works well on sites where articles are posted and general users are able to post reactions to the article - provided that the website operators are trusted not to make alterations to the articles without making these alterations clear so that the reactions which have already been placed can be seen in the appropriate context.

This forum is not of that type. In some threads here, especially the Soap Box but sometimes elsewhere too, what people write is highly dependent on what others have written before. Therefore if someone wants to make a change to what they have previously written, other than correcting simple spelling errors or adding an afterthought which can easily be done in the time limit, then I think they should post again indicating their changed views. That is the only honest way of doing it.