This happens periodically to me as well where I want to go back and edit a older topic of mine but find that I am longer able to. @codinghorror what is the purpose of having the ability to edit tied to a time after which it expires? What is the amount of time before your ability to edit a topic or post expires? Also, why don’t wiki’s have this edit expiration?
If this is a site feature that needs to be preserved, and if it is tied to a set time limit and not something else, would it be possible to tie it instead to continued views or activity around a post or topic? How feasible would it be to reactivate the ability to edit posts or topics if they see an uptick in activity and views even after they have been quiet for a while?
Yeah the idea is that unbounded edit leaves room for weirdnesses. If you have a post you need edited many months later it can be made wiki by a mod, but then it will be editable by any trust level 1 user as well. I think TL3 users can opt into wiki mode on their posts as well, I remember us adding that to TL3 abilities recently-ish?
TL3 users can definitely opt into wiki on their posts, I have done it a few times, but it seems if you don’t do it soon enough after you create a post or topic the ability to opt into wiki expires with the ability to edit.
EDIT: Huh, I just went back and checked the BBS Style topic, a wiki I created a little while back (I’m sure you remember it ), and it seems the ability for me to remove the wiki has expired as well… is that supposed to happen as well?
EDIT 2: @M_Dub you should hit up @beschizza, @Falcor, or @codinghorror to reopen your topic to editing, or being wikied.
Can confirm. That was something I used to try when my images wouldn’t render correctly.
I would put it into Wiki mode and then back, and it seemed to fix it. I eventually realized that was a placebo: if I gave it a few minutes, the BBS would download the image and display it properly.
The advantage of a limited window is it encourages a little thought before posting. IIRC you couldn’t edit at all after posting until the last year or two.
I reckon I’d remember that… As some of you might have noticed, I’m pretty bad at finalising my posts before putting them up; I often edit them once or twice or even more in the first few minutes.
I had one post pretty early in my time here which I immediately (within 5 minutes) decided was too abrasive, and discovered I could not remove or modify it. Fortunately, the mods did it for me when I requested them to. (No, it wasn’t so strong that they would have done so without the request!) That would have been in 2013, so maybe not “the last year or two.”
Well, in DP’s defense the problem is not visible edits in this specific case but the fact that nobody would notice – there would be literally no notifications to anyone if, say, (pick innocuous user name of choice) went back months later and edited five of their old posts to have horrible racist, sexist, stuff in them.
), and it seems the ability for me to remove the wiki has expired as well… is that supposed to happen as well?
