# Longer edit window, please **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Feedback\ **Created:** [October 24, 2020, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780 "2020-10-24T17:47:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/1 "2020-10-24T17:47:29Z")
A five minute allowance to change your post because you hit the wrong button and posted before you were finished, or noticed a typo, is not long enough. I’ve had to rush to fix things and got caught out anyway. Boo hoo! ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/2 "2020-10-24T18:01:09Z")
There’s a typo in one of my recent posts. It haunts me 😉 I think that’s a tertiary definition for the word, “[ignosecond](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ignosecond).” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/3 "2020-10-24T18:13:39Z")
We all do that. For an accidental early submit, just clean up the typos as best you can, scrape out the final half-finished paragraph and save that edit. Then make a second post immediately afterwards labeled “Late Add:”. Here’s one of those double-posts I had to do this very morning: > [@Should I get an HSA (Health Savings Account)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-an-hsa-health-savings-account/923700/13): > > You might want to look very closely at the rest of the details between both plans. e.g. both an HDHP and a regular plan will have a deductible up to which they pay zero. Then they’ll have another number up to which they’ll pay e.g. 80% and you pay 20%. Then there’s finally a number called out-of-pocket maximum above which they pick up 100%. Your true worst case exposure is the OOP max. For each of you. Plus some co-pays. And that’s true for both HDHP and non-HDHP plans. Compare those num… > [@Should I get an HSA (Health Savings Account)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-an-hsa-health-savings-account/923700/14): > > Late add: The bottom line being the true worst case isn’t that different between our plans. But for the medium-good case the HDHP may be the more expensive when your yearly total outlay ends up close to the deductible, either just over or just under. But that’s a smaller absolute number and may be easier to withstand if you have an unlucky year. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/4 "2020-10-24T18:30:53Z")
Seconding this request. Mobile users are disadvantaged. We’re more likely to make mistakes and it’s harder to fix them when we do. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/5 "2020-10-24T18:34:17Z")
Good point, but isn’t an addendum inherently different from an erratum ? [NB: I’m not actually a pretentious, Latin-wielding douche, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night] ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/6 "2020-10-24T19:32:48Z")
I wouldn’t mind doing a second, corrected post if I could count on an admin deleting the first version upon request. Otherwise, doing two versions of the same thing is annoying for the reader, and for me. ---
**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/codinghorror/32/4242_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/7 "2020-10-24T21:32:38Z")
I second this. The change in defaults here is a bit aggressive and has caught me off guard a few times as well. Out of the box Discourse is quite a bit more generous with allowed edit times on posts. (That said, we _have_ seen rare instances where spammers would come back weeks later and edit spam into their old posts. We tightened edit limits for new and low-trust users and added specific settings so new and low-trust users do have much shorter allowed edit grace periods than established users.) And for the sophisticated audience here at SD, another subtlety: we also added forced edit revisions if you change a lot of the post. We had some spammers come in, post, then completely change their post to something totally different _within the initial edit grace period_… which you could see a troll doing as well. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/8 "2020-10-24T22:25:42Z")
The SDMB is pretty hidebound when it comes to the edit window. Someday we might allow a 20 minutes window. But even when vBulletin was crapping out they wouldn’t extended the edit window. So don’t hold your breath waiting for agreement to change. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/9 "2020-10-24T22:47:44Z")
When you say the SDMB is hidebound, who do you mean? I understand the desirebility of limiting edit times, twenty minutes would be reasonable, and I’d settle for ten, but five minutes is barely any time at all. Who are these grizzled sticklers? I want names. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/10 "2020-10-24T23:03:20Z")
I’m not sure, but if you search through older ATMB threads, you’ll find them. I know there was a group against any editing. I suspect the SDMB has the shortest edit windows of any semi-major message board. ---
**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:** [October 24, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/11 "2020-10-24T23:28:23Z")
I’ve always attributed the super-short edit window to the SDMB culture’s obsession with accountability – “if you wrote it, you own it”. The idea of someone posting something stupid, getting called out on it, and then editing it later (and maybe even claiming “I never said that”) is absolutely anathema to this culture, even if an audit trail of edits does exist, visible only to the mods. Personally I think 5 minutes is a bit ridiculously short, because many posters (including myself on occasion) have failed to catch simple typos in time, or have sometimes missed a crucial negation like “not” that completely changes the intended meaning. But I understand the reason for it. I don’t think we would be ruined by a 10 or 15-minute edit window, but based on past history, I don’t see that happening any time soon. It’s not a huge issue, in my view, and if it causes people to proofread a bit more carefully, it’s not entirely a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/codinghorror/32/4242_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/12 "2020-10-24T23:29:42Z")
If it results in a lot of noisy double-oops-edit-posting, I’d view that as tangible evidence of a failed (just too aggressive) policy that should be toned down a tad. Anyway I’ll step back now. As you can see, I am somewhat obsessed with community software design, since building for how people actually work is the real “work” in software anyway. Algorithms got nothing on the human brain. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/13 "2020-10-24T23:32:48Z")
I thi k 5 mi utes is enuogb to edit yojr post kar delete it an start iver. 🙂 At least they did away with the post edited so and so minutes ago. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/14 "2020-10-24T23:48:54Z")
On the SDMB, the race is to the swift. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/15 "2020-10-24T23:55:24Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I don’t think we would be ruined by a 10 or 15-minute edit window, but based on past history, I don’t see that happening any time soon. Every so often, someone asks for it, and is denied. The reason given is that, the longer the edit window, the greater the possibility for confusion when someone quotes or refers to something that no longer exists thanks to an edit. From [this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-charter-members-get-a-longer-edit-window/739303): > [@Do charter members get a longer edit window?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-charter-members-get-a-longer-edit-window/739303/10): > > > [@Do charter members get a longer edit window?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-charter-members-get-a-longer-edit-window/739303/3): > > > > It’s not just trollery. I’ve seen threads on other message boards fall apart into complete nonsense because of the thread-starter editing the OP to “clarify” it every so often, leading to all of the posts before any given clarification referring to things that weren’t there. No ill will was intended, but it still ended up as a mess. > > Exactly. It’s hard to have a conversation when what was said previously can change. There’s also the problem of people quoting text that ends up being changed subsequently. > > The five-minute edit window was selected to try to give a balance between allowing people some time to fix mistakes in their post, while also giving the conversation some permanence. The longer an edit window that’s allowed, the greater the possibility for confusion. > > But when all is said and done, it’s only a message board post. Typos shouldn’t be a big deal unless they radically change the meaning of a post. And even if they are, and you miss the edit window, you can post a clarification subsequently. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/16 "2020-10-24T23:57:16Z")
Perhaps make the edit window longer but let the changes be visible to everyone? Right now, I think, they’re visible only to the moderators. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/17 "2020-10-25T03:58:24Z")
Brief post. Watch for an edit momentarily . . . ETA: What I notice is that when I posted the above, it immediately appears with a “1m” notation suggesting that it is already a minute old. What is wonder is, does it change from “4m” to “5m” when the post is really just four minutes old (that is, when its fifth minute of existence is just beginning)? It has seemed to me that editing becomes prevented sooner than with vBulletin, and I suspect that this happens because the 5-minute edit time-out, as implemented, really means you only have 4 minutes to edit. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/18 "2020-10-25T04:55:31Z")
Ah, good question. I will time it now, and do a follow- up. Editing now… 123… ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/19 "2020-10-25T05:03:07Z")
It did give me a full five minutes. ---
**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/codinghorror/32/4242_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780/20 "2020-10-25T05:07:03Z")
> [@codinghorror](#): > > we also added forced edit revisions if you change a lot of the post. This might be what you’re running into. Yes there is a 5 minute (default) grace period for editing a post after the post goes through, where edits aren’t tracked as revisions. But if you change “too much” of the post, we force a revision _even in the grace period_ because of potential shenanigans that can ensue. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longer-edit-window-please/923780.md?page=2)