How long is "Modify"

[dickw]

I made a typo here in my last post, http://www.landzdown.com/index.php?topic=9068.msg75942;topicseen#msg75942. 
When I went back in to correct it I could still access the "modify" button, corrected the mistake, but was not able to 'save' to the correct spelling. 

• How long is the modify button active for?
• All other forums I am a member of give me an edit button for such mistakes.
• May I suggest one here for the regulars please?
  
  

thank you......could one of the mods or Admin correct it if not as I really do not like leaving spelling mistakes within my posts.

[Basementgeek]

I have asked the same question........answer is:

GR@PH;<'S Wrote

"We have a courtesy edit of 90 seconds ,
and there is a Maximum time after posting in which to edit of 5 minutes ."

Sounds like you were outside this window.

BG

[Vietnam Vet]

Hello dickw,

could one of the mods or Admin correct it

Corrected spelling for you, as requested. Hope I didn't overlook anything.

Best wishes,
VV

[dickw]

Thanks VV, you got it right, but now you could take out one "button"  from my last post in this thread if you wouldn't mind! :hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: I almost feel like a child asking for these minor things to be done.  :wub:

[Vietnam Vet]

Done!! No problem, if you are happy, I am happy. :thumbsup:

[dickw]

Done!! No problem, if you are happy, I am happy. :thumbsup:

I am not happy, I still want an edit button as I have on all forums I am registered on.  If I had one I could correct my wallpaper post on http://www.landzdown.com/index.php?topic=23540.0

Where is the trust on this forum?  :thud:

[Aaron Hulett]

Ok, I can tell you're not happy about not having the ability to edit past posts.  Please help me undesrtand.  How, specifically, do you feel this impacts trust?

[dickw]

Thank you Aaron for your reply -

For what other reason would selected members not have an edit button?.......we all make mistakes from time to time, so as trusted members of a forum, surely we do not have to ask someone with edit capabilites to correct the mistake for us as I have had to do on many ocassions on this forum.

My last post is a good example where I gave the link that I would like to correct and cannot. Alternatively, can you explain (without telling me the forum staff don't want posts changed) why I cannot have an edit button?  As afore mentioned this is the only forum I am a member of that I am missing an edit button to correct my own posts if a mistake is found after the restricted 'modify' time.

kind regards,

   

[Aaron Hulett]

Let me be up front here and say that I'm kind of tired, and when that happens I tend to take a lot of words to explain things, and sometimes they don't make sense.  If any of this is unclear, let me know and I'll clear things up tomorrow after some rest.

Trust can mean different things.  For me it might mean one thing, for you another, for someone else a completely different meaning, for some it's a mix of between what you and I think... so when I hear trust I think of a certain set of feelings, meanings, reactions, I'm not confident that I fully know what trust means for you.  Knowing this, I'm going to try answering your questions using what it means for me and I hope we hold a similar meaning for trust.

To say it's about trust brings feelings of, "Well, if members can edit their posts, then they might change something so that they don't look bad / don't sound like a jerk / can pretend they didn't say something when in fact they did."  In other words, a member might post something that's not very nice and after being called on it he or she might go back and revise the post to remove the offending comments and then reply asking just where something mean was said.  It's troubling to say this but I've seen this happen.  Recently, in fact (no, not here).  Now, understand that this is not the motivation behind limiting the modify time for users' posts, but, it does have some relevance to things.

Where it really matters is when helping visitors remove malware.  It's been a while since I've assisted someone using, say, HijackThis to manually remove malware, but I haven't forgotten how it can go when the ability to modify a post exists.  Allow yourself to experience this with me.  After you view someone's HijackThis log, you start to research some of the entries you see that you don't recognize and think might be related to the user's reported signs of infection.  As you're researching these things, the user comes back and edits the post, replacing the log with a newer one after being assisted at another forum.

Now, just as you feel frustrated, disappointed, somewhat angry after someone asks you for help, and you begin to help them and they come back and say, "Oh never mind I figured it out," this same thing occurs when helping with these logs.  It's one of those moments where you go, "Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!  Why did I even bother!"  It is absolutely annoying.

That's the feeling side of it.  There's also another very important reason: the fact that if a log at one point listed certain things, and now the replaced log doesn't have them anymore, it can hinder the cleaning process.  These removed entries can hold the key to figuring out what malware is on the system, and given they're gone now, they can come back after, say, a reboot, and then when a new log is posted, it presents a, "Woah, where did *that* come from all of a sudden," reaction and potentially can reinfect the system with everything you just spent the last several posts working on manually removing.

This, for me, is the main motivation behind limiting the time one can modify a post.  Know that these are just two reasons I'm coming up with off the top of my head as I try not to fall asleep here, and if there's any other examples of where limiting the modify period is a good idea, I welcome those comments.

Now this doesn't mean that the time period allowed is zero.  There needs to be a good balance between allowing members to go back and edit posts after posting (which I sometimes do myself at other forums where I read a post immediately after posting and magically notice something in the post that I missed in the text box while entering it) and working to ensure members posting for help in removing malware don't edit their post and hinder this process.

Regarding action items I'm taking from here, know that I did start a discussion with others regarding your feedback and I have asked some good questions so that we'll have a good discussion.  Please do understand that after we discuss, know that even if the decision is to keep settings as they are, we are holding much value in your feedback and are providing it high consideration during our discussion.

As we're discussing, I am interested in learning what amount of edit time you feel will provide the good balance that I mentioned earlier.  Would you say 5 minutes provides this good balance, or 10 minutes?

Aaron

[dickw]

Hi Aaron,

This is exactly what trust is for me.  Take any of the numbered items, in the end it is one who trusts another.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trust

Reading this thread,
http://www.landzdown.com/index.php?topic=23540.0
my first post was on 20th March 2008 and I wished to correct it on 31st July 2008 Therefore the following quote from your last post:

Aaron wrote: As we're discussing, I am interested in learning what amount of edit time you feel will provide the good balance that I mentioned earlier.  Would you say 5 minutes provides this good balance, or 10 minutes?

is not what I had in mind.............

An edit button is an edit button, we are not on the same wave length here so as I am busy with other things and other forums, it is best if we let it be.

Giving the example of 'Malware Removal'  re an edit capability, I could not agree more with you. 

I am not an accredited Malware fighter so giving that example concerning my request did not seem to fit our discussion at all in my opinion.  I have huge respect for Malware fighters, read my post here: http://www.landzdown.com/index.php?topic=26509.0 so would not advocate or suggest edit buttons in HJT forums, although I have one in the forum I frequent if I am in trouble.

I enjoy forum work when I have the time, but am wary here to post much as mistakes can be made by me and with no way of correcting them I stay almost clear to tell you the truth.

It is late here, my bedtime, but as I will not be around tomorrow I hope this reply has answered for you my thoughts regarding this topic.

kind regards,

   

[SpyDie]

Hi dickw,

Just so I can understand what you are suggesting - you wish the edit time to be unlimited? So the posts may be edited at any time?

Just wanted to clear that up. :)

Thanks,
SpyDie.

[Aaron Hulett]

Please help me better understand. By not allowing longer edit time, in what way does this suggest distrust for you?

[Basementgeek]

Just my  :2cents: here........I too would like to see unlimited edit time in all post except HJT forum, No not a " trust " issue.

BG

[dickw]

I think BG has said it all here:

Just my  :2cents:   here........I too would like to see unlimited edit time in all post except HJT forum,

SpyDie quote,  Just so I can understand what you are suggesting - you wish the edit time to be unlimited? So the posts may be edited at any time?

Correct.

Aaron Quote: Please help me better understand. By not allowing longer edit time, in what way does this suggest distrust for you?

I feel I answered your question at the beginning of my last post in this thread..........sorry, can't make it any clearer

kind regards,  :)

[Temmu]

personally, i think we should be able to edit, um, eternally.
i trust myself to edit to improve and brevify content.
for example, i could post, "you're a skunk and have the stripes to prove it"
and after the flame has been returned in kind,
could rapidly remove said obnoxiounsessess and post after the return flames,
"now children, let's behave."

and!
i think we should be able to edit other's posts, perhaps injecting a bit of wit here and there...

and!
the spam limit of can't post again for so many seconds... how obsurd.
how can you have a full-on flame war without instantaneous hot headed unthink responses?

here's a funny for you,
i posted something along those lines at another forum... and guess what?  they reduced the time span between posts! 
o. my.

come on folks, especially u admin types, whaddaya think?

ps
i just clicked edit!  :lol:  :tease: