I presume this topic is an outgrowth of my
message 6 ("Ken's editing of previous messages"), at the "Directory of creationist sites, essays, arguments, and quotes" topic. Part of the reason I closed that topic, is so that this debate would not happen there. Part of what I said there was:
quote:
While it is not totally improper to go back and edit things, it isn't really proper to change the content after the topic has proceeded.
If you must go back and edit old messages, it's only right that you ADD information, to correct or clarify what you were saying. Please preserve what you said initially, and make clear what content is by what later edit.
Essentially, I think that the original content of messages should remain the same, after the message is posted. Original messages should not be "updated". Updating your thoughts is what subsequent messages are for.
Not the most eloquent statement, but I wanted to get it said and done, and get that topic closed.
Mr Jack said:
quote:
Following Ken's mad editing exploits, I think it might be an idea to limit editing of post to a short window after their creation (say two hours?)
Ideally, editing for content should be done before the initial posting is done. Use the "preview" feature, to look at your tentitive message. That said, we all have occasions where we think we have the final form, and click on "submit". Then we see we were wrong, and want to do an edit. In those cases, any editing for content should be only very shortly after the original posting time. Maybe a 15 minute window would be adaquate. I think that 2 hours would be too generous.
Unfortunately, permissions for editing for content, and permissions for editing for typos, spelling errors, formating, etc. can't be made seperate.
The bottom line is, a note about what the edit was is a nice touch. You can see my examples at the above cited message.
Adminnemooseus