Is it permissable to insult somebody outside of the pit, if I then edit the insults out before the edit window closes?
I don’t believe it’s *permissible *so much as generally overlooked.
IANAM
Once could be understood as a mistake. Multiple times would be a nasty pattern.
It depends on who the moderator is at the time, it seems.
A year ago mshar253 was given an extended suspension for posting something in The Pit and editing it out. This caused Argent Towers to lose his effing mind and go into caveman-mode and start threatening with physical violence e-tough guy style (which was hilarious to read, btw). At the time Giraffe was a Pit mod and declined to warn either one of them. He was oveturned and **mshar253 **was suspended while our e-badass AT got nothing for threatening him.
Twickster chooses to ignore it in this thread even taking a little dig at those of us who quoted him before he edited, as if it is we overzealous animals who were in the wrong. She even closed his thread gone wrong for him (which some moderators refuse to do for you when you make yourself look foolish).
So, to answer the OP: it looks like it’s the luck of the draw.
I would imagine if you were not just correcting a genuine mistake i.e. you thought you were in the pit, it would be considered abuse of the editing feature.
Note that both the poster and (presumably) the moderators can look at the previous versions of edited posts, so be aware that an edit doesn’t make it disappear.
This is correct. Anything said and then “taken back” is detectable.
I can look at previous versions of my edited posts? How?
I suspect it’s only available to the poster during the edit window.
ETA: maybe not.
It appears to be no, couldn’t find an option.
Mods and admins can see the pre-edit versions of edited posts.
Why I did what I did: The thread had gone seriously off the rails. The OP asked that it be closed, so, rather than moving it to the Pit, I closed it. In the last dozen or so posts of what had become an incredibly acrimonious thread, the OP called someone an asshole, then, realizing almost immediately that that was not something he wanted to do, edited it out.
We all say stupid shit from time to time in moments of anger, and I see no reason to punish the guy, since he didn’t let the stupid shit stand.
I’m not going to second-guess or comment on what happened in the Pit a year ago.
I would like to remind folks of some history: you didn’t used to be able to edit your own posts at all. We enabled a five-minute window in which you can edit, some years ago. At that time, there was considerable trepidation about potential misuse. The concern (not just moderators, but many posters) was that someone would post something provocative (insult or whatever), let others react, and then edit their original post into something innocuous, so that those responding with outrage would look foolish.
We are therefore obliged to assume (as twickster did) that this was a harmless moment of anger rather than a deliberate attempt to circumvent the rules. If we found that this practice was occuring regularly, we would have to reconsider the self-edit feature. I know, this statement (and such re-consideration) would cause enormous uproar; I’d certainly prefer that it not be a situation that arises. Sadly, abuses by a small number can cause rules that inconvenience the vast majority; airport security regulations are like that, too 
The thread had gone seriously off the rails because the OP insisted on getting progressively snottier, more sarcastic, and ever-more jerkish with every response that disagreed with his idea that the cashier was in the wrong. If he hadn’t kept up his campaign of persecution and drama and just looked at another point of view, he wouldn’t have had to make fun of another person’s username or call them an asshole. Luckily he had you to come to his rescue to close it and imply the the rest of us were in the wrong as you so graciously did.
O I had no doubt in my mind that you wouldn’t. But thank you for pretending that the time of one year makes something irrelevant. Depends on which way the wind blows, huh? If you needed to cite an example of “this is how we’ve been doing it!” I’m sure you wouldn’t hesitate to link to a year old thread. Why look, Dex is talking about how it used to be done (over a year ago!) right above this comment.
One thing to keep in mind: Everyone who is subscribed to the thread and getting instant notifications will receive a copy of the first version of your post in email. Some or all of those members might never even see that you updated it.
Quoted for those who missed it the first time.
Please don’t get the edit feature taken away from us. luffs his edit feature