# I vote making edits 15 min... **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 31, 2009, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334 "2009-08-31T08:00:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/1 "2009-08-31T08:00:20Z")
That is my humble opinion, that’s why it’s here. I don’t think I have made a post here and after a few min wanted to edit it, mostly for spell checking. Other times wanted to add another related sentence to tag on, after a few min of overview. Even when I really, really look at what I posted, I seem want to reword parts of it slightly pretty soon afterwords. Then it’s too late…:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/2 "2009-08-31T10:18:13Z")
> [@](#): > > afterwords You might want to edit that. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/3 "2009-08-31T11:10:04Z")
\ Let’s move this to _About This Message Board_. That’s where discussion about this board belongs. IMHO \> ATMB \ ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/4 "2009-08-31T11:16:40Z")
> [@MostlyClueless](#): > > You might want to edit that. You see…its too late…LOL 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/5 "2009-08-31T11:19:50Z")
Preview is your friend. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/6 "2009-08-31T11:58:40Z")
I’m with the 15 min edit … or at least 10… ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/7 "2009-08-31T12:49:46Z")
I think the edit window is fine the way it is. You’ve got a couple minutes after you hit the Submit button. You miss that window and _c’est la vie_. If it’s critical to edit or augment your earlier comments after the window expires, you can always quote yourself and re-submit. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/8 "2009-08-31T12:51:19Z")
I often try to fix problems and find that I took too long. I do use preview, but that doesn’t help when I hit the submit button instead of the preview and my post is still all messed up. By the time I edit it properly the edit is blocked. Instead I then do a quick edit a couple fixes at a time hoping to get as much fixed as I can before the edit is blocked. An extra few minutes would help with this, and they could reduce it down again if they find people are changing their posts to win arguments , which was the reason giving originally for no editing. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/9 "2009-08-31T13:03:24Z")
Here’s the problem with longer edit time: our boards tend to run on a real-time basis, and in many threads, there could be ten posts after yours in that 15 minute interval. Allowing so long an interval would be allowing people to re-write history, changing what they said when others responded (say) negatively. So there’s a potentially huge risk on the downside. And there’s not really much advantage on the upside. If you’re talking about minor spelling/grammar edits, my suggestion is: don’t sweat it. One of the things the internet has taught us is not to be so picky about spelling and grammar, we all make such errors. Seems to me that’s a good lesson in tolerance. If you’re worried about major goofs (say, you typed “not” when you meant “now” or you mis-typed a link), you can always email a forum mod (or REPORT your post) and we’ll be glad to fix it for you, even after the five minute limit. In short, I think I speak for most mods when I say that we see potential for major abuse and no significant advantage in such a change. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/10 "2009-08-31T13:22:33Z")
“Preview is your friend” has turned into snarky shorthand (not that I think **Gukumatz** was being snarky) – but it’s also a good reminder. If I’m writing anything more than a couple of paragraphs, I’ll generally hit “preview” – up to a half dozen times, sometimes. Even then, I’ll often find a typo or the ghost of a rewrite (a missing or extraneous word where I’ve rephrased something) only after hitting submit, at which point I’m darned glad we have “edit” at all. (And of course, if I’m writing a _very_ long post, I’ll work in Word and then cut and paste it over – and still preview a couple of times to make sure all the coding works right.) If you’re still thinking through exactly what you want to say and how you want to say it, use the “preview” button like mad – there is no limit (that I’ve discovered, anyway) to the number of times or the amount of time that you can use it for. **hits “preview,” reads, notices a mistake, fixes it, hits “preview” again** ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/11 "2009-08-31T13:39:05Z")
I just chose 15 as a round number…1/4 hour. 7.5 is good too…that’s like an 1/8 hour. But, I guess that might upset the even number people. Why, do we always do what the 5’s people want all the time? Oh, wait I’m a 5’er, and a divider…guess i better hit preview more often. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/12 "2009-08-31T14:50:48Z")
I’m with Winston Smith. Any arbitrary number will be met by a need for that number’s successor. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/13 "2009-08-31T16:04:44Z")
> [@Jamicat](#): > > That is my humble opinion, that’s why it’s here. > > I don’t think I have made a post here and after a few min wanted to edit it, mostly for spell checking. > Other times wanted to add another related sentence to tag on, after a few min of overview. > Even when I really, really look at what I posted, I seem want to reword parts of it slightly pretty soon afterwords. > > Then it’s too late…:rolleyes: > [@Serenata67](#): > > I’m with the 15 min edit … or at least 10… You both may have been lurkers before but I notice your registery dates as being fairly recent (like in the last year). Post editing is actually a fairly new feature we were given. For a long time and many years we weren’t allowed to edit our posts **at all**. And so there would be scores and scores of topics in this forum asking “Can we please edit our posts?” 1, 2, 5..I lost count. 😛 Now it’s “Can the edit time span be extended?”. Well, put me in the group that says five minutes is a hell of a lot longer than we used to have. :dubious: I’m happy we have it at all as opposed to the 2 or 3 years I was posting here when we didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/14 "2009-08-31T20:39:34Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > Well, put me in the group that says five minutes is a hell of a lot longer than we used to have. :dubious: I’m happy we have it at all as opposed to the 2 or 3 years I was posting here when we didn’t. Back in _my_ day we could edit our message board posts all we wanted. We just pulled the thumbtacks out of the corkboard, took the posting down, made our changes, and put it back up (of course, everyone else could edit it, too). You damned kids and your electronics. Get off my lawn. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-vote-making-edits-15-min/508334/15 "2009-08-31T21:45:50Z")
I frequent a forum, a rather popular one I gather, where a preview is mandatory. It doesn’t seem to make much difference. Participants make a lot of mistakes they regret and go straight to suggestions to ask for an edit option.