Should users be able to edit their own posts? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 12:46:36 am
content: Please discuss this here, and NOT in this thread, it's just a poll. But feel free to post something to bump it.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/news/deleting-posts/The argument is:1) Not deleting or editing posts keeps the historical record of the discussion, once said, it's said. You can't correct or add things later.2) Like the forum has always been. There are advantages in editing info to keep it current or fixing mistakes.3) A combination of both. Allows you to fix mistakes with in a short time, but after that it's there forever. If you want to add new info or correct stuff later, you start a new post.I'll sticky this for a short time.

author: PedroDaGr8
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 01:21:23 am
content: For much of what this forum does, I think editing is essential. Threads like the rigol hacking, flir e4, ec would become very unwieldy without the ability to edit the first post.Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 03:43:16 am
content: Voted : Yes, always.As English isn't my native, you will find most of my posts are marked with edit marks since I did and do correct my English grammar/typo etc all the times.

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 03:46:29 am
content: Dave, there's another option that isn't exactly like your three choices. I mentioned I had an idea for how to do it in the other thread but you didn't even show interest, so I'm not sure I should write it up tomorrow or not.

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 04:10:52 am
content: Voted for a limited time, but I think #1 posts (or posts deemed 'special' by mod/admin) should be always editable, for reasons stated in the other thread.

author: TMM
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 09:00:16 am
content: 30 mins limit IMO.

author: smashedProton
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 09:09:14 am
content: The original post should be able to be edited. Maybe a 30 min allowance for the others? And you get infinite rights to edit of course :p

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 11:53:02 am
content: I know this is probably too complex to implement. But I'd say:* 1st post in a thread can always be edited by the author.* The current last post in a thread can always have additions appended. (This allows for adding stuff, instead of making multiple sequential posts if no one else is posting.)* Other posts, can be edited for up to two days since posting. Sometimes people post and don't come back for a while, then realize they screwed up quote brackets or something. (Me, for instance.)It's good manners to mark any substantive edits with "Edit, because ..."But trying to enforce that would be a whole can of worms.

author: GeoffS
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 12:15:30 pm
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on December 31, 2013, 11:53:02 amSMF can't do any of these things without extensive (impractical) modifications.All posts are considered equal so no special significance is attached to a first or last post.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 12:19:27 pm
content: Quote from: xrunner on December 31, 2013, 03:46:29 amJust write it up. Is it that complicated that it's a huge job?Just don't feel personally offended if I don't use your idea, ok?

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 01:12:18 pm
content: QuotePosts get marked with "last edited by $username at $time" already.How about "append-only" posts after a certain time, where you can edit but only by appending to a previous post, and all your previous revisions are marked as such e.g. bystrikeout formatting. I think it's nice to have a history of the changes you made, but only after the "fix minor typos and formatting" period has expired.

author: GeoffS
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 01:15:03 pm
content: Quote from: amyk on December 31, 2013, 01:12:18 pmSMF software is not capable of these options.

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 01:26:42 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on December 31, 2013, 12:19:27 pmAnd don't feel personally offended and show it in your posts when people disagree with you either. You might try thanking people such as myself for what they have contributed to your project, such as graphics, a mailbag item, and other suggestions that have solved problems on this forum.QuoteNo, it's not a huge job, but I'm not keen on wasting my time much longer with this either. Let's put it this way, it involves assigning board moderators which you do not yet have on the forum. If you aren't interested in assigning board moderators, then I don't need to go farther. And no - they aren't going to police the threads so don't freak out all you free-speech defenders.So let's get that out of the way first. Are you willing to assign board moderators for this forum? If so I'll write it up. If not, I can stop here.Oh by the way - the search function is limiting results to 30 items. I've asked you guys to check the settings in the thread below but nobody responded. It's still returning 30 results no matter what you search for -https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/newbies-you%27re-screwed-%28aka-forum-search-doesn%27t-work-half-the-time%29/msg356377/#msg356377

author: liquibyte
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 01:30:26 pm
content: Dave, being that SMF is so limited, why are you using it and not another option such as FluxBB or phpBB? On topic, I think editing is absolutely necessary. Deletion seems to be a hot topic but I vote to keep that as well. Users should police themselves to an extent.

author: Carrington
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 02:04:30 pm
content: Quote from: BravoV on December 31, 2013, 03:43:16 amQuite right! I feel the same.

author: nitro2k01
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 02:25:09 pm
content: Speaking of forum features, you may want to disable user's ability to lock their own threads.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 02:26:28 pm
content: IMHO the text 'last edited by...' already shows a posting was edited. Many times I correct typos in my own posts.

author: echen1024
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 03:51:44 pm
content: Edit is a must. In those long posts, we need to update the information sometimes.

author: jancumps
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 09:03:19 pm
content: redundant

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 09:06:20 pm
content: More being polite and diplomatic.

author: rexxar
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 09:08:02 pm
content: I think editing is necessary to any forum.I want to think that I've been to a couple of forums that have a 'reason for edit' field that you had to fill in. Dunno if that's possible to implement here, but I think it's a good idea.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 09:13:01 pm
content: Quote from: rexxar on December 31, 2013, 09:08:02 pmWith me that would be because I cannot always use the built in spell check properly and often mistype but the words are in the database but are just out of context in the sentence. Should not always rely on the red underlines too much.

author: Icarus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 09:21:51 pm
content: I'm aenginerrengieereengeerrWell, We need to able edit our posts

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 10:40:25 pm
content: Quote from: nitro2k01 on December 31, 2013, 02:25:09 pmAlready done.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 10:55:49 pm
content: Quote from: xrunner on December 31, 2013, 01:26:42 pmYes, but only for the right reasons.My reply is in your other thread.QuoteIt is set to 30 per page, with 1200 maximum.There are 600+ posts a day on this forum, the couple of moderators only see a fraction of them I'm afraid.

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 10:59:33 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on December 31, 2013, 10:55:49 pmOK thanks.QuoteI just tried searching for "resistor" and got back exactly 30 results with no other pages but , so I don't think something is quite right still. I say this only to accurately report what I'm seeing. I'd like another person to verify this.

author: marmad
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 11:26:46 pm
content: Quote from: xrunner on December 31, 2013, 10:59:33 pmSomething is strange with the search. If I search 'waveform' (with no boxes checked), it returns 1 page of 30 results. If I check "Search in topic subjects only", it returns 3 pages of results.

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 11:29:19 pm
content: Quote from: marmad on December 31, 2013, 11:26:46 pmYep it's acting weird. I tried "SMD" and got back 4 or 5 pages, yet if I try transistor, resistor, or capacitor, same old 30 results. And you know there's more results than 30 for those terms.

author: nitro2k01
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 11:37:42 pm
content: Quote from: DiligentMinds.com on December 31, 2013, 11:15:42 pmExcellent contribution and really relevant bump ust 15 minutes after the last post. :/Quote from: xrunner on December 31, 2013, 10:59:33 pmI can confirm that the search function is wonky. Tried searching for another component using the search box in the upper right corner and got... nothing. I think it's because this function only searches locally in the view you're in (thread, subforum etc.) (cap.png)Ok fair enough. So then I tried searching for capacitor from the general discussion view. (cap2.png) 18 pages. Looks plausible. But when I clicked 18, I got an empty view. And going back to page 1, I could now only see titles. (cap3.png). Is the search being done in the background and wasn't finished?Note that the search box is using theforum/search2path. There's alsoforum/searchwhich seems to be the advanced search which lets you sort by date instead of relevance among other thing. Not sure if they're using the same code under the hood, or if they're actually completely separate pieces of code. But either way, I've seen som Heisenbuggery from the search function.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 11:43:49 pm
content: I've ticked "force use of search index". Apart from that I don't know what to try. Only thing I changed recently is the enabling of full index. I might need to disable that?

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2013, 11:44:46 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on December 31, 2013, 11:43:49 pmDave I found how to fix it - check the other thread.

author: ixfd64
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2014, 01:59:43 am
content: I think users should be able to edit their posts. However, the ability to see a post's edit history (like in MediaWiki) would be very useful.

author: MatCat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2014, 02:18:23 am
content: A lot of forum threads are treated like info pages where the OP manages the first or first few posts with updated information. A forum isn't really a set and stone thing, at least not to me, if one wants to write something that is permanent then a blog is better then that.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2014, 02:28:04 am
content: limited time.i place i post, re-read then edit to correct or add a few things or a picture.espcecially with ascii-graphics this is important as the forum text field does not use a non-proportional font. The font selection and size boxes don't work. they only inject markers for the rendered result, the editor box is NOT wysiwyg.why don;t you use preview ? because a lot of my posts are done using an ipad ! there is only so much screen real estate !text entry should be in a courier font. and make the damn window to enter text larger. with large posts it is very tedious to scroll !fff

author: ablacon64
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2014, 04:35:17 am
content: 24 hours limit, just for adding new info and mainly for correcting mistakes.

author: FJV
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2014, 04:55:54 pm
content: Well it is also their content in a way, so they should always be able to edit their posts in my opinion.However to prevent abuse of this, if it would not be using too much storage, maybe it would be possible to keep previous versions.This would prevent people saying insulting stuff in a post, editing it out and then pretending they never did anything to piss people off.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2014, 05:42:56 pm
content: Quote from: ablacon64 on January 01, 2014, 04:35:17 amI've used the edit function to add some new findings/URLs a few days later after the initial posting. Of course I could have written a new post but the original post seemed to me more suitable.BTW: Is the next poll going to be "Should users be able to write their own posts?"

author: ablacon64
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2014, 08:35:23 pm
content: Quote from: madires on January 01, 2014, 05:42:56 pmIn that case you could add a new post to the topic.