hidden editing

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Cardinal Tourettes

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Dec 7 2006 20:07

I don't know if its just my browser settings, but when I edit one of my existing posts nothing appears in the post to show that it has been edited.
Obviously, sooner or later somebody will use this to alter a past post to try and win an argument, or conceal some past position that they don't want remembered, or whatever.

I'd urge that the editing facility be disabled altogether. If people want to correct a post, they can do it in a new post - easy, and more transparent all round. But at the absolute minimum peole should not be able to edit past posts without this being signified.

revol68

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Joined: 23-02-04

Dec 8 2006 01:04

Cardinal Tourettes wrote:

I don't know if its just my browser settings, but when I edit one of my existing posts nothing appears in the post to show that it has been edited.
Obviously, sooner or later somebody will use this to alter a past post to try and win an argument, or conceal some past position that they don't want remembered, or whatever.
I'd urge that the editing facility be disabled altogether. If people want to correct a post, they can do it in a new post - easy, and more transparent all round. But at the absolute minimum peole should not be able to edit past posts without this being signified.

thats all abit paranoid, i mean it's only an internet forum.

madashell

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Joined: 19-06-06

Dec 8 2006 12:02

Mmm, if it's a contentious post, then presumably it will already have been quoted a few times by the time that person wants to edit it, and several people will already have seen it.

Though it would be slightly better if there was some indication, to save confusion.

Joseph Kay

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Joined: 14-03-06

Dec 8 2006 12:05

i think it's a case of we would if we could. the next drupal update (3 months away maybe ...) is hopefully going to add a lot of forum functionality, hopefully adding a lot of the now-standard stuff from phpbb (the software that ran the old boards)

Joseph Kay

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Joined: 14-03-06

Dec 8 2006 12:11

yeah i do that too actually, and it used to say 'edited 3 times' cos my spelling was crap tongue

Steven.

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Joined: 27-06-06

Dec 8 2006 12:18

Joseph K. wrote:

yeah i do that too actually, and it used to say 'edited 3 times' cos my spelling was crap

urban75 gives you 2 minutes to edit without marking it, and afterwards does. But it is useful yes, hopefully it'll be in the upgrade.

Mean time yeah just quote anything contentious when you reply to it.

Mike Harman

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Joined: 7-02-06

Dec 8 2006 13:52

This won't be in the new version of drupal, but that's not really an issue. I changed the comments a while ago so you could all still edit posts after someone had replied - it used to block editing once that'd happened, but that meant if you wanted to fix an error/link/photo/spelling you couldn't.

If loads of people want it I'm sure it's possible to work it out ourselves, would just need to find out how to do it. Most people quote anything contentious though and I usually find those edited messages annoying tbh so not too keen myself. If it's really popular I'll look into it though.

Cardinal Tourettes

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Joined: 1-04-06

Dec 8 2006 18:55

Funnily enough the editing actually does seem to be disabled in this thread.
Or is that just that you can't edit a first post on a thread?

Cardinal Tourettes wrote:

Yes.

Cardinal Tourettes

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Joined: 1-04-06

Dec 8 2006 18:58

Yes.

I don't like it, it violates the second law of thermodynamics.
Seriously, its bad design, its totally unnecessary, and it leaves open a doorway for fucking about and disputes.

Say even somebody goes back with the idea of just tidying up a clumsy sentence. Various people reply to their original post, then see its changed - "What the fuck are you playing at?" {Eee its like a trip to the theatre}
" I didn't change the meaning, I just made a few stylistic adjustments"
"No you changed the meaning"
"So what if I did, what do you think the edit thing is for? I changed my mind"
"Yeah but you never said you'd changed your mind.." etc etc

But the pissed off folk in the above drama would be right to be pissed off.

I don't like it - if you've said it, you've said it. If you want to correct yourself, you can. Its actually beneficial to go "no, actually its better to say ...". You learn something from it, its a genuine clarification.

Being able to go back and alter stuff you've said is genuinely anti-historical. Do you know what I mean?
It might seem like a minor issue, but it is actually quite important.

#10

Joseph Kay

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Joined: 14-03-06

Dec 8 2006 20:03

yeah, when we allowed edits of the first post, it also let you delete the whole thread, so we had to disable it. for future ref, if there's important edits needed for a first post - broken links etc, just post a reply asking an admin to fix it.

#11

Cardinal Tourettes

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Joined: 1-04-06

Dec 8 2006 20:15

See my previous post for my general views on this.
I put it in there by mistake cos I was pissing about with the editing - genuine mistake, not me trying to be a smartarse on this occasion.

But anyway Joseph - so the editing can be disabled then?

#12

Joseph Kay

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Joined: 14-03-06

Dec 8 2006 20:27

i think editing can be disabled, but its undesirable on balance, given as people can simply quote contentious posts to guard against any hypothetical re-writing of history.

#13

Steven.

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Joined: 27-06-06

Dec 8 2006 23:29

Joseph K. wrote:

i think editing can be disabled, but its undesirable on balance, given as people can simply quote contentious posts to guard against any hypothetical re-writing of history.

And we've had some heavy rows here, and no one has ever done that. Enough people would generally see something to remember anyway.