# We need more than 5 minutes for edit!!!!!!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 11, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058 "2014-10-11T19:19:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/41 "2014-10-12T13:32:04Z")
Keep it at 5 minutes. **Chronos** and **Frank** , among others, give good reasons and I agree with them. You need to be careful, and think before you post, and deal with the performance lag. We all do. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/42 "2014-10-12T13:39:23Z")
Although I occasionally use my five minutes to fix a typo, I preferred the board with no edit capability at all. I find the editing option on other boards detracts from the discussion. No edits is much more like a conversation IRL - if you say something stupid, you have to own it. I think in the long run it makes people more thoughtful about what comes out of their mouth/keyboard. The 5-minute rule works as a compromise, but I wouldn’t want it to be any longer. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/43 "2014-10-12T16:37:44Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I don’t like to brag, but it takes me _much_ more than ten minutes when _I’m_ in the heat of passion. Slow to rise huh? 🙂 ---
**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 13, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/44 "2014-10-13T00:27:25Z")
Another vote for “ain’t broke even a little bit; don’t fix it.” I admit to using the edit window on many, many of my posts for typos or addenda. But still and all, Preview is your friend. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/45 "2014-10-13T00:55:34Z")
I too have no objection to 5 minutes. In my case, anything that I don’t catch and correct would almost always with very few exceptions would need an hour or more to reallize “_ **OOPS!!** _ I really screwed that one up, didn’t I?” (not suggesting a 1 hour limit, just that I would need that). I ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/46 "2014-10-13T11:22:23Z")
> [@btthegreat](#): > > I’d like ten minutes, especially when I am posting in the heat of passion. It gives me time to reconsider my tone as well as my typos and that process is definitely of value to the general tone of discourse here. If you need 10 minutes to reconsider your tone and typos, then take 10 minutes _before_ you hit “submit”. Seriously. That situation is exactly why the time limit is set to 5 minutes. If you’re posting in the heat of passion and saying things you shouldn’t, that is a reflection of you, not a failure of the board. > [@aceplace57](#): > > I understand the trolling concerns. I can’t see that happening with short edit periods. Maybe if it was 30 mins someone might post a nasty insult and then remove it 20 min later. Seems pretty immature too me and posters on the SDMB trend older and are more educated. I can’t imagine that kind of grade school trolling here. Regardless, that kind of trolling wouldn’t be practical in a 10 min edit window. The troll wouldn’t even know for sure if the person saw the insult in such a short time frame. And yet… I just had a situation last week (with an ATMB thread) where it looked like a moderator was abusing his power, and I reported it. A series of PMs cleared up what happened, the problem was caused by a poster making a typo in a comment that was derogatory to a moderator, that moderator fixed the typo and posted to the thread he fixed the post, the poster edited the post and added another derogatory remark. My reading the thread later made it look like the moderator quoted a post, deleted words, and said he fixed the post - in other words, he changed word in a quote box. Nope, editing crossfire. At the time, it sure seemed deliberate on the part of that poster, but it’s probable the poster was already editing his post when he saw his typo, and decided to add a little extra heat. It was just that moderator’s misfortune to be reading and take action in that 5 minute window. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2014, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/47 "2014-10-13T11:41:34Z")
Just to add: If you find a serious typo after the editing limit (like, say, “now” when you meant “not”), you can always email a mod and ask them to fix it. We’re happy to do that. If it’s a minor spelling mistake, well, that happens to all of us and should be a reminder to be more kindly to each other, and not so quick to leap on grammer or spelling. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/48 "2014-10-13T12:50:39Z")
Just chiming in to say I think 5 minutes is just about right. I’m at the point now where I can feel the window starting to close…a couple of times I’ve had to tell my wife “You cannot talk to me for the next 30 seconds!,” when I needed to finish a post-reworking before time was up. Feels a little like being on a TV game show. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/49 "2014-10-13T14:29:54Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Plus, the plethora of “nm” posts that appeared once editing was allowed is mildly annoying. I find that more than mildly annoying. Doing it once in a blue moon due to some weird circumstance? Yeah, okay, fine. But I have to wonder why certain posters have so many of them. Are they making snarky comments then deleting them? Posting without thinking over and over? Who even cares? I just wish the mods would tell him/them to knock it off. In a PM would be lovely. ETA: I wish more modding took pkace via PM. Not always feasible, of course, but it would reduce the appearance of over-moderating and save some folks some embarrassment. Probably sone is already done that way, but more would be nice. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/50 "2014-10-13T16:47:37Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > I find that more than mildly annoying. Doing it once in a blue moon due to some weird circumstance? Yeah, okay, fine. But I have to wonder why certain posters have so many of them. Are they making snarky comments then deleting them? Posting without thinking over and over? Who even cares? I just wish the mods would tell him/them to knock it off. In a PM would be lovely. I rarely do that, but when I do it is most often somebody beating me to the punch and typing something very similar to what I wanted to say before I got my two cents worth (rounded down up here to no cents) in. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/51 "2014-10-13T17:34:07Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > I rarely do that, but when I do it is most often somebody beating me to the punch and typing something very similar to what I wanted to say before I got my two cents worth (rounded down up here to no cents) in. See, that’s why it’s annoying! (Not you, but the practice) What you typed might have been similar, but it wouldn’t have been the same. I want to hear what you have to say too.\* We all know that people simulpost all the time. Just slip an ETA in there with “ninja’d” or some explanation if it would make you feel better. That’s a lot better than the gaping hole of an “nm” post. Okay, I totally didn’t know I felt so strongly about this until now. - Unless you’re a real tool and I just haven’t noticed. ---
**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 13, 2014, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/52 "2014-10-13T21:52:18Z")
I rarely use “nm”. But when I do it’s usually because I loaded the thread 45 minutes ago then wrote a reply to what was the last post when I’d loaded the thread. So I hit [Submit] and now see 10 intervening posts. My response now makes no sense in light of those. Yes, I could ETA a quote from the post I was aiming at to clarify for all who/what I was talking about. But more often than not the intervening posts cause me to realize I’d misinterpreted the post I was answering. So all my carefully wrought arguments & factoids are now so much irrelevant silliness. “nm” to the rescue. Besides it’s quick. So fairly few (ideally zero) folks will see my mistake. I suppose my habit of opening a forum’s table of contents then Ctrl-clicking all the interesting threads on the first page of 100, then reading & posting one by one from the accumulated pile of tabs contributes to sometimes being out of phase with the latest post. Sometimes I think to refresh a thread before reading, but often not. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/53 "2014-10-14T16:04:05Z")
> [@btthegreat](#): > > I’d like ten minutes, especially when I am posting in the heat of passion. It gives me time to reconsider my tone as well as my typos and that process is definitely of value to the general tone of discourse here. I believe that’s one of the reasons why we are limited to 5 minutes (and why originally there was no editing permitted at all). The idea is that you should not post anything “in the heat of passion” that you would later wish to ‘take back’; rather you should consider what you \*want \*to say, and whether or not you \*should \*say it, before you hit ‘Submit’. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/54 "2014-10-14T23:38:59Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I suppose my habit of opening a forum’s table of contents then Ctrl-clicking all the interesting threads on the first page of 100, then reading & posting one by one from the accumulated pile of tabs contributes to sometimes being out of phase with the latest post. Sometimes I think to refresh a thread before reading, but often not. When I preview before posting, I always glance down and see if anything new has been added. But I can see why “nm” would make sense in the case you describe. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/55 "2014-10-15T02:55:04Z")
Posting to see if I can get subscribed to this thread. EDIT: Worked this time. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/56 "2014-10-15T12:17:31Z")
> [@SiamSam222](#): > > Posting to see if I can get subscribed to this thread. 😕 Why not just subscribe? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/57 "2014-10-16T00:14:06Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > 😕 > > Why not just subscribe? I tried, but there was a glitch with this thread. I posted earlier, and it didn’t subscribe. Several times I tried clicking on Subscribe to This Thread under the Thread Tools dropdown box, but that would not work. Finally I posted once more to this thread, and it worked. This has happened only once or twice in the past, being unable to subscribe to a thread. I was told it was probably a browser issue, but I seem to have a lot of technical problems with this website that I have with no other website on the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/58 "2014-10-16T02:45:47Z")
I’ll mention this to Jerry. We may be overdue for the big version of Magic Mr. Reboot at the server farm. Sorry for your inconvenience. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/59 "2014-10-16T04:55:26Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I suppose my habit of opening a forum’s table of contents then Ctrl-clicking all the interesting threads on the first page of 100, then reading & posting one by one from the accumulated pile of tabs contributes to sometimes being out of phase with the latest post. Sometimes I think to refresh a thread before reading, but often not. There are a couple things that would help. 1. Refresh the tab when you get to the bottom of that thread, before you hit Reply. 2. Look down under the edit box on the Reply page - the posts are there in reverse order, so any new ones show up. 3. Hit Preview, review the post to look for mistakes and such, and incidentally check the thread under the edit box for updates. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058/60 "2014-10-16T14:45:27Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > I’ll mention this to Jerry. We may be overdue for the big version of Magic Mr. Reboot at the server farm. Sorry for your inconvenience. I think you are. At least for me SDMB is hanging or giving database errors more and more often (with occasional last visit date resets - since nothing appears to be being done I can’t be bothered reporting last visit date problems any more). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-more-than-5-minutes-for-edit/701058.md?page=4)