It would be very nice if it were at least possible to add to a post in an edit after a time period, without being able to overwrite the entire post. Occasionally, things are said wrong, or outlooks change. Leaving a contentious message in place as-is often means the responses to it continue, even if the author clarifies what they meant or completely changes their mind later in the thread… many (most?) people don’t read the entire thread before responding, especially if they’re angered by a post. I’ve been in that situation myself, and I’ve seen other recent threads in the other place where something that could be read multiple ways was taken badly and took some time and several explanations to smooth out.
Assuming that the mods are able to see all edits, wouldn’t it be enough for them to take some defined action if an edit appears to be done in bad faith?
That’s a good idea, a post script that can appear as an addition to a post instead of downthread so that it remains closer to the original remarks. This is another way that the initial post can remain the same while benefiting from clarification.
PS
Like this, for instance. If I only I had known then what I know now!
i wonder why the history of edits it’s only visible to mods? it feels like it would be nice to allow edits - but still have others be able to see the entirety of what was said if they’re curious
There is a toggle in the admin menu that enables viewing edits for all members, but I didn’t see an opt-in toggle on my person profile to enable others to see my edit history.
Note that the text is brown and there’s a reset button. That indicates that it’s been changed from the default.
Here’s the post where I made the change:
I’m happy to change it back, and that’s actually what I’d prefer, for many of the reasons mentioned above, but I don’t think we should do so without having a proper vote on it first. It’s an issue that people have strong opinions on, and I’d like for everyone interested to have a change to explain that position before we make a decision. This thread seems like as good of a place as any, but we may also what to create a new thread in #site-feedback that more directly addresses this issue, so it can have the appropriate level of visibility.
I frequently edit my posts after I complete them for clarity and punctuation and grammar. However I have seen on BB and other platforms this thing where people fight and then go back and delete multiple posts, making it impossible for a person viewing the thread later to figure out what happened. I think people should have complete control over what they post. Not quite sure what the solution is to this behavior. It always smacks of drama queen to me.
I was one of the people who argued against the publicly viewable edit history on the BoingBoing BBS, partly because I never felt the need to use my or other people’s post history as weapons in a flamewar. Anyone interested in the (perfectly civil) argument at the time can check it out here:
FWIW, Jeff (codinghorror) was for the publicly viewable edit history, whereas I felt more comfortable if it were only viewable by mods. Back then, Beschizza decided to configure it my way, and I think later it became a user configurable opt-in thing. I think.
Anyway, my opinion hasn’t changed, but whatever. I think it’s sufficient to leave that access to the mods, especially on a board with a tiny fraction of the mod workload they have at BB. I don’t see myself getting into fights that would require screenshots and such to proclaim “Uh HUH, you did SO say that, you lyin’ sack of Trumpnuts!” and if I ever do, somebody please send me to the vice principal’s office.
I like the ability to edit whether I’ve noticed a typo three days later, or if I say something not-quite-clearly and think of (or have suggested to me) a better way to say it. If I do clarify things, I like to note it, however.
We can look at incorporating edit logs into our mod rules, however: if the mods find themselves needing to police a thread and can see a lot of bad-faith edits, that should be used in their evaluation (we can argue over “should” versus “shall”, later. If you ever deal with regulations, you know they are extremely different terms. :-P).
Highlight what you want to quote before hitting reply and a little grey “quote” button should pop up (I am on Firefox for Android, haven’t tested it on other browsers). Hit that and the quote should pop up in a reply window where you can continue typing. Doesn’t really work after you’ve hit reply, however.
like @ChickieD i sometimes go back and edit my posts for spelling, punctuation, and grammar. most of the time i append an edit statement saying which one or more of those elements i edited. i suppose we couldn’t count on someone trollish to be so dependable.
It used to be pretty unreliable for me on my mobile version of Chrome; the gray Quote button would only show up about half the time when I highlighted text. For some reason it seems to work better now. If the Quote button doesn’t appear, I just re-highlight and poof! It appears.
There are certain user I routinely screen cap if they engage with me, because they have a history of editing their replies, and I find it so very dishonest. Stand by your words!
Also, on my phone at least (chrome on android), when you start a reply the “text balloon” icon is in the toolbar and you can hit it to get a quote of the entire message you’re responding to. Then you can edit it down to just the parts you want to keep. Often easier than trying to highlight text.
