Edit button disappearance

[GPSGuided]

This is like North Sydney council taking away street garbage bins a few years ago. It altered people's behaviour, making people think twice and carry their rubbish away - Problem solved. This 5mins limit on editing may sound harsh but it sure is causing me to read twice before posting on this forum. It may slow the back and forth and induce an uncomfortable behavioural change, but not necessarily a bad thing. Can see where the Mod team is going with this and we are the guinea pigs.

[Nuts]

I have my own thoughts on editing (not only that i'd personally be lost without it ) but ..
you both know that it Very Rarely would take that long.. so what's with this then? some other reason it sat there possibly?
And it's probably not so much a matter of (or only of) time as a limit to patience.. just a guess, just saying..

There's no doubt self-editing has it's good and bad. Maybe for those who have used it to thwart forum rules (aka playing fair) should loose the privilege?

I don't understand most of that post nuts, perhaps you can edit it, so it's not quite so cryptic?

Ok, standby.

[matagi]

This is like North Sydney council taking away street garbage bins a few years ago. It altered people's behaviour, making people think twice and carry their rubbish away - Problem solved. This 5mins limit on editing may sound harsh but it sure is causing me to read twice before posting on this forum. It may slow the back and forth and induce an uncomfortable behavioural change, but not necessarily a bad thing. Can see where the Mod team is going with this and we are the guinea pigs.

5 minutes is too short. If the aim is to prevent wholesale deletion of posts by disgruntled individuals, or to stop people from posting something nasty and editing it several hours down the track to circumvent forum rules, then introducing an edit period of 1-2 hours would also work. On all the other forums I belong to, the edit window ranges from 1 hour to 4 hours and they all seem to function fine with that restriction.

[frenchy_84]

Or just don't be so delicate with misspellings and grammatical errors. It doesn't matter. And if that's what someone brings up then they don't anything useful to add.

[GPSGuided]

I have seen at least one grammar/spell cop here. I walk in fear! But agree, 1 hour is not a bad compromise.

[frenchy_84]

I have seen at least one grammar/spell cop here. I walk in fear! .

Oh no doubt they are about, you just gotta stand up and say *&%$#! the police

[GPSGuided]

LOL!

[frenchy_84]

And if that's what someone brings up then they don't anything useful to add.

Ahh the irony, now where is that god dam edit button!

[doogs]

And if that's what someone brings up then they don't anything useful to add.

Ahh the irony, now where is that god dam edit button!

*damn

[matagi]

And if that's what someone brings up then they don't anything useful to add.

Ahh the irony, now where is that god dam edit button!

*damn

See? That's why we need longer than a 5 minute edit window.

[forest]

10-15 would be nice. Now I cannot complete my Larapinta trip report as I replied to the first 10 posts briefly to claim the slot with a view to list pictures and track notes straight after.
Ahh I should have read this first and realised I only had 5 minutes.

[GPSGuided]

10-15 would be nice. Now I cannot complete my Larapinta trip report as I replied to the first 10 posts briefly to claim the slot with a view to list pictures and track notes straight after.
Ahh I should have read this first and realised I only had 5 minutes.

There's a trick to this. Get up at 3am to do your post. This way you can claim the first 10 or however many posts.

[johnw]

I rarely comment on these things but I personally find this one very frustrating. Particularly in the photo games you cannot any longer go back and add a caption to describe the photo as per the intent of the game. Given, it is possible to ask a mod to do it but I would have thought they have already enough to do, and it makes it a tedious process. Surely those who can be trusted not to abuse the rules shouldn't be penalised for the sins of a few .

[walkinTas]

I respectfully submit that 5 minutes is way too short. In fact it is pointless, because it barely allows time to reread, let-alone time to ponder or reconsider. 15 to 30 minutes is much more reasonable. If you actually want people to self-moderate before they cause offence, then you have to allow them time to reconsider. IMHO, what would be perfect would be to allow unfettered editing up until the next person posts. Once there has been a reply, then move to a system where one must ask the moderators to make changes to one's post.

[Strider]

10-15 would be nice. Now I cannot complete my Larapinta trip report as I replied to the first 10 posts briefly to claim the slot with a view to list pictures and track notes straight after.
Ahh I should have read this first and realised I only had 5 minutes.

There's a trick to this. Get up at 3am to do your post. This way you can claim the first 10 or however many posts.

This is the problem - he did exactly that, but is now unable to go back and fill them in!

[GPSGuided]

There's a trick to this. Get up at 3am to do your post. This way you can claim the first 10 or however many posts.

This is the problem - he did exactly that, but is now unable to go back and fill them in!

What I meant was that posters will need to get up at that time of hour to make an uninterrupted series of posts. But guess it won't work in this case as he wanted to come back day after day to fill in those consecutive posts at the start of the thread.

Whilst moving from 5mins to say 30-60mins may provide a bit of a breather for many, it still won't help people who are on an extended trip and seeking to come back for daily reports. One possible arrangement could be to provide those who applies with temporary edit authority to their thread, over the period they need it for. I'd imagine there would only be a very limited number of posters at any one time in this category and can be simply administered.

[doogs]

Put the edit button back!! If anyone is offended by a comment, thinks it may be edited before a moderator can view it then take a screenshot and send that to the moderator (although last time I tried to attach a picture in a PM it didn't work...)

[neilmny]

The guts of the original post could be copied and pasted into the report??????
Maybe hard to authenitcate should the poster change the post.
If the poster changes the post....it's kind of all over in a way anyway??????

[wildwalks]

Put the edit button back!! If anyone is offended by a comment, thinks it may be edited before a moderator can view it then take a screenshot and send that to the moderator (although last time I tried to attach a picture in a PM it didn't work...)

Thanks All
Some good feedback and ideas here - much appreciated.

This issue of attachments has popped up recently -- I am looking into it.
As you have probably noticed we are having a few issues with the server. It was humming along well for just over a year but started to fall apart recently. I switched to new hardware a few months ago after a catastrophic failure of the server - since then we have had some hard drive and network issues.

The screen shot is a good idea.
Once I get the server stability issue resolved (hopefully in the next week or two) - I will look at a better solution for this edit button. I have asked my developer to look at a way that we can store edits - i.e. keep a record of changes before they where made. Technically this is not to hard - and it will go a long way to helping solve the bigger problem we have of been able to track deliberate abuse by editing. All going to plan we can then roll the edit button back to where it was.

Thanks again for keeping the discussion going - I really appreciate the friendly conversation.

Matt (posting as site admin)

[gbagua]

Could you please enable the edit button? I can't edit any of my old posts.

For example:

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=14555

Now I don't want anyone know in this forum that I am hiking that route on Sunday.

Thanks.

[GPSGuided]

Now I don't want anyone know in this forum that I am hiking that route on Sunday..

Why the change of mind?

[Nuts]

Just a note that if anyone needs an edit or has a problem with a post, just report it using the report post button:

Screen Shot 2013-08-22 at 2.18.11 PM.png

Otherwise they often just get missed in the text of topics.

Let me know what you need done gbagua, deleted? edited? and i'll take a look when I can but please.. use the button or it may still get missed. Reporting also leaves it open for other moderators that drop by.

[neilmny]

Could you please enable the edit button? I can't edit any of my old posts.

For example:

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=14555

Now I don't want anyone know in this forum that I am hiking that route on Sunday.

Thanks.

Your post in this thread lets everyone know anyway

[Strider]

Yep this is getting *&%$#! annoying now!

[gbagua]

Thanks (I'm on mobile now so can't really use quotes). The OP of that thread didn't bother to reply so I assume he's rude, can't be bothered or doesn't care, hence no need for me to advertise to whole world about my hike on Sunday and for him and his mates to attend. Valid reason to edit/delete my post (I wish there was a delete button as well, lol). That's about it, no dramas.

[GPSGuided]

The OP of that thread didn't bother to reply so I assume he's rude, can't be bothered or doesn't care...

[Hallu]

Well then tell this to him on his own thread, because at first I thought you were insulting me...

[photohiker]

I have asked my developer to look at a way that we can store edits - i.e. keep a record of changes before they where made. Technically this is not to hard - and it will go a long way to helping solve the bigger problem we have of been able to track deliberate abuse by editing. All going to plan we can then roll the edit button back to where it was.

Aha. So that's what it is about. Understand now.

I find I'm using the preview button a lot more these days, so perhaps this temporary change is good for us anyway.

[Joomy]

I didn't realise this change had happened. I thought it was something wrong with my browser. I have to say it's really inconvenient specifically for the Market Place forum to not be able to edit old posts. Is there a way to make it so you can have different editing privileges for different forums? Also I think 5 minutes is too short regardless. An hour would be a lot better.

[icefest]

I have asked my developer to look at a way that we can store edits - i.e. keep a record of changes before they where made. Technically this is not to hard - and it will go a long way to helping solve the bigger problem we have of been able to track deliberate abuse by editing. All going to plan we can then roll the edit button back to where it was.

This! One hundred time this!

As far as I understand, the only reason for the changed edit button functionality is that people are changing posts after being reported.
Storing changes would satisfy all users.

(Then while you are at it, you can log IP's used by accounts to semi-permaban abusers)