# No Edit button
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [January 10, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471 "2015-01-10T14:15:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@sludge7051-x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sludge7051-x)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471/1 "2015-01-10T14:15:51Z")
I made a mistake in a post I did.
I don’t see the Edit button anywhere.
It says I can edit, in the bottom left.
Any idea what’s going on?
---
### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471/2 "2015-01-10T14:24:24Z")
You only have 5 minutes to edit a post. After that it’s carved in stone.
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471/3 "2015-01-10T14:24:45Z")
> [@sludge7051-x](#):
>
> I made a mistake in a post I did.
>
> I don’t see the Edit button anywhere.
>
> It says I can edit, in the bottom left.
>
> Any idea what’s going on?
You can only edit for 5 minutes after posting. You also cannot retract or delete posts after this time.
---
### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471/4 "2015-01-10T15:22:39Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, **sludge7051-x**.
As others have explained, the edit window is only five minutes – after that, you have to post any changes or corrections you want to make in a separate post. You can, however, use the “preview” function as many times as you want to before you hit “submit reply.”
I’m also moving your thread to ATMB (About This Message Board), which is where such queries go.
Again, welcome – enjoy your stay!
**twickster** , for the SDMB
---
### Author:  [@sludge7051-x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sludge7051-x)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471/5 "2015-01-12T19:15:11Z")
Thanks for the info
What’s the logic behind this, that you can’t edit, delete, or retract a post after 5 minutes?
Is it that you want people to be able to see how you thought you did a good job of editing, and later recognized where you made a mistake? Like this:
Original
It seems like there should be a spec for the cord as to how long it can handle high amps: sporadically vs. infrequently
Should be:
It seems like there should be a spec for the cord as to how long it can handle high amps: sporadically vs. constantly
---
### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471/6 "2015-01-12T19:35:24Z")
Originally the SDMB didn’t allow users to edit posts at all. The reason for this was to prevent someone from writing something, then changing it later and creating confusion. For example, this prevents someone who is losing an argument from going back and changing their post to make it look like they said something else entirely. You might also have someone who says something inflammatory with the intention of making someone angry, then going back and changing their post so that it looks like they didn’t say anything bad and the other person just overreacted. Not allowing edits prevents these and many other troublesome situations.
Later, this was changed to allow a 5 minute edit window, due to a lot of people hitting submit and then realizing that they made a typo or used the wrong word or something.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2015, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471/7 "2015-01-12T20:00:40Z")
Throwing a thread into confusion isn’t necessarily done maliciously. On other boards that allow unlimited editing, I’ve seen, for instance, an OP that consisted entirely of “Thanks, so-and-so, that’s a great answer”, which left it unclear just what everyone in the thread was talking about, and what question so-and-so (and the other dozen posters in the thread) were answering. Or if the OP contains the all-too-common not/now typo, or something of the like that completely changes the meaning, and the poster goes back and fixes it after there have been a few replies, it makes it look like the first few posters didn’t read the question.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471/8 "2015-01-12T20:21:58Z")
We burning your edit after 5 minutes.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471/9 "2015-01-12T20:37:59Z")
Around here we believe in getting things right the frist time.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471/10 "2015-01-12T20:50:37Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Around here we believe in getting things right the frist time.
Or laughing at unintentional typos in perpetuity.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471/11 "2015-01-12T21:51:31Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Around here we believe in getting things right the frist time.
For those who want to be more hands on …
Around here we believe in getting things right the frisk time.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471/12 "2015-01-13T00:35:53Z")
> [@Duckster](#):
>
> Around here we believe in getting things right the frisk time.
Stop that.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-edit-button/709471/13 "2015-01-13T00:54:28Z")
You go forst.