# Is it possible for us ordinary users to see earlier versions of a post that has been changed by the poster? **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Feedback\ **Created:** [November 25, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-us-ordinary-users-to-see-earlier-versions-of-a-post-that-has-been-changed-by-the-poster/1025129 "2025-11-25T20:20:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-us-ordinary-users-to-see-earlier-versions-of-a-post-that-has-been-changed-by-the-poster/1025129/1 "2025-11-25T20:20:45Z")
Just curious. I seem to remember it was possible, but maybe that was under the old system? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-us-ordinary-users-to-see-earlier-versions-of-a-post-that-has-been-changed-by-the-poster/1025129/2 "2025-11-25T20:39:02Z")
Not as I remember, it was never possible, neither on vBulletin nor Discourse. And that’s a good thing on my part, because the 15 minutes edit window is a good time frame to correct typos and other errors, and also gives you time to rethink and delete impulsive angry posts you regret after a few minutes. Nobody else but the mods should be able to see them. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-us-ordinary-users-to-see-earlier-versions-of-a-post-that-has-been-changed-by-the-poster/1025129/3 "2025-11-25T20:41:55Z")
I’m almost positive we could. It was only for a few minutes though. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-us-ordinary-users-to-see-earlier-versions-of-a-post-that-has-been-changed-by-the-poster/1025129/4 "2025-11-25T20:43:19Z")
And the changes you make in the first 5 minutes (prior to when edits cause the little orange pencil edit mark to appear) aren’t recorded at all, so mods can’t see them either. But I was very happy to see the edit window extended to 15 minutes after some initial opposition to the change. It’s been very useful to correct all kinds of silly errors or add afterthoughts. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-us-ordinary-users-to-see-earlier-versions-of-a-post-that-has-been-changed-by-the-poster/1025129/5 "2025-11-25T20:43:30Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m almost positive we could. It was only for a few minutes though. Yeah, like it was also possible to give likes to posts for the first few days after changing to Discourse. But those were just early configuration glitches. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-us-ordinary-users-to-see-earlier-versions-of-a-post-that-has-been-changed-by-the-poster/1025129/6 "2025-11-25T21:02:00Z")
For newer posters, for the board’s 1st 10-12 years we couldn’t edit _diddly-squat_. I for one was forced to compose in the composition window, compose again, and then compose once more, and me being the absent-minded pooter that I am would invariably _still_ miss or forget something and get _very_ frustrated that I couldn’t fix it after I hit the Post button, esp. if it was a simple typo or format error or such. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-us-ordinary-users-to-see-earlier-versions-of-a-post-that-has-been-changed-by-the-poster/1025129/7 "2025-11-25T21:15:38Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > For newer posters, for the board’s 1st 10-12 years we couldn’t edit _diddly-squat_. I wasn’t around here until 2014, but that would have sucked bigly. There is rather a difference, for instance, in saying something like “they should have done that” when you meant to say “they should **not** have done that”, and blocking the ability to make that edit is just unacceptable policy. I think it arose from the basic philosophy here that posters must be accountable for what they post, which is fine, but earlier policies were taking it to silly extremes. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-us-ordinary-users-to-see-earlier-versions-of-a-post-that-has-been-changed-by-the-poster/1025129/8 "2025-11-25T21:18:28Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Not as I remember, it was never possible, neither on vBulletin nor Discourse. It was for a brief bit after the board moved to Discourse. I recall being in a discussion and made an edit and someone replied making fun of my original mistake or thought I had changed because they could see the original version. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-us-ordinary-users-to-see-earlier-versions-of-a-post-that-has-been-changed-by-the-poster/1025129/9 "2025-11-25T21:34:49Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > > [@Joey\_P](#): > > > > I’m almost positive we could. It was only for a few minutes though. > > Yeah, like it was also possible to give likes to posts for the first few days after changing to Discourse. But those were just early configuration glitches. Ah, that must be what I was sort of remembering. It’s just as well I suppose, for me at any rate, not to be able to see previous versions, I’m sure I would not have used the power wisely. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-us-ordinary-users-to-see-earlier-versions-of-a-post-that-has-been-changed-by-the-poster/1025129/10 "2025-11-26T05:05:48Z")
With vBulletin, wouldn’t email reply notifications have the original text? I seem to remember clicking on email links and sometimes the poster would have fixed up their post. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-us-ordinary-users-to-see-earlier-versions-of-a-post-that-has-been-changed-by-the-poster/1025129/11 "2025-11-26T14:44:47Z")
**Moderating** Since this is about Discourse’s software, let’s move this to Site Feedback (from ATMB). ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-us-ordinary-users-to-see-earlier-versions-of-a-post-that-has-been-changed-by-the-poster/1025129/12 "2025-11-26T14:45:06Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > With vBulletin, wouldn’t email reply notifications have the original text? That’s the way I remember it, yes.