Edit function suggestion

As the edit function is now implemented, it appears that when a poster edits his or her post and notes a reason for the edit, there is a tag line added noting the edit, the time of the edit, and the reason for the edit. (See my Post No. 5 here )

On the other hand, when no reason is added into the reason box, the edited post does not have any tag line added (See my Post No. 6 in the same thread). I believe that I have seen other message board implementations where there is an edit notation added each time there is an edit, whether or not a reason is specified.

If it is technically feasible, it would be better to have there be a “Last Edited by . . .” tag line added for all edits, even if no reason is given. This will make clear which posts were edited, eliminating disputes over whether or not they were (though leaving the dispute as to what the edit was, of course).

A 5 minute limit is going to be fine.
As the elder Bush used to say, there’s no point in playing Gotcha.

This was mentioned in another thread: if you edit your post before anybody else views the thread, the reason tag isn’t added, on the rationale that it doesn’t matter. I haven’t verified this, but somebody who seems to know these things said it was true, and this message board operates of course on blind faith in authority figures ;), so I believe it.

In other words, if a tree is edited in a forest and nobody is there to hear, does it make a sound?

When the terrible bad words are gone they can’t hurt you any more, so let it go.

Preach it, Brother!

Yeah, this is how it works at another board I frequent. Edits are intially made with no notification. I hadn’t considered that the deciding factor was whether it had been viewed by someone else or not, but it makes sense and fits with my experience.

That’s not how it works with vBulletin by default. In the Admin CP there are two settings:

Time Limit on Editing of Posts - Time limit (in minutes) to impose on editing of messages. After this time limit only moderators will be able edit or delete the message. 1 day is 1440 minutes.

Time to Wait Before Starting to Display ‘Edited by…’ - Time limit (in minutes) to allow user to edit the post without the [Edited by xxx] message appearing at the bottom of the edited post.

If both these settings are set to the same thing, you’ll only see the “Edited by…” messages when someone specifies a reason. Disclaimer: As usual, I’m speaking to my experience with vBulletin in general to make assumptions about the SDMB. If they’ve got something special set up it could be different.

If this is indeed the case, I would reinstate my original suggestion that the time for the “Edited by” tag line be set to zero.

Maybe it would be a good time for Dex to update this sticky thread, especially post #12 where it says we can’t edit:

http://208.100.26.199/sdmb/showthread.php?t=384736

Um, missed a setting. Which I have set.

Should be good now.

Let’s see.

[edit]

Got what? Milk?

I hope Tuba turned off the power, first… :eek:

Edited for testing purposes only.

Ah, now all edits produce the line regardless.

You will note how quickly the Straight Dope on the issue of the edit tag became a restatement of INACCURATE INFORMATION! :smack:

Thanks, Tuba.