Editing Posts: a Suggestion

Sorry. I didn't want to make a whole thread about it, but the 'Are we going to get the ability to edit our own posts?' thread is locked now, and there isn't a better place that General to post this...

Anyway, following on from the above mentioned thread, I agree that we shouldn't be allowed to edit our posts at will: there's always the risk of people backpedalling and covering their tracks if they've said something they shouldn't have. The old system was alright, in that we at least had the chance to correct mistakes within the couple of minutes after making a post. As Walrus has said, however, this forum doesn't have a timing function (which doesn't surprise me in the least. This software, as I've claimed numerous times, is not fit for a company as big as SOE).

He said they might implement a timer, at which point we'd be able to get our two minute limit (or whatever it was) back. But I've got a better idea: archives!

Keep a copy of every single version of a post! Every time a person edits their post, a copy of the old version is bunged in the database. Devs and moderators will be able to look at these past versions by simply clicking a link (next to, say, where the delete button is). Maybe they can go a step further and be able to revert to past versions at will, or even perform a Wiki-style 'diff' on them! Maybe even let players view past versions, but that might confuse some people.

This makes us happy as we'll be able to edit our posts at any time we like, and the Devs and mods will be happy because they won't have lost the ability to track naughtiness.

Being a Web developer myself, I've already got a database structure for this and a few fragments of code floating around in my head, but, well, you know the SOE Web Team. Don't expect miracles. :-/

I used to try that method too, but when you wind up with over a hundred million posts, the database gets way too bloated, and it winds up causing more problems than it solves. The "archive" system is great for forums that purge their old posts as the database never winds up too bloated. But these forums don't purge old posts. You can't stop archiving edits after a post is X old either as there's no timer from stopping someone editing a post they made a year ago.

And to be totally honest, we don't even need it. Ask yourself this question: When is a post against the rules? The actual answer is when it's reported. As until then, it'd never be seen by a moderator unless they happen to stumble upon it. Now, with that in mind, lets look at the current "Report to Moderator" system this forum uses. It's very simple actually (and not that good if you ask me as it too bloats the database).

When you report a post, all you actually do is fire off a PM to every single registered moderator on these forums. Check your sent PMs if you don't believe me.  The PM is in the following format:

Hello Moderator,

You have a newly reported post on Matrix Online forums. You can read it using the following link:
[link to message]

Reporter: [your name] (profile)
Reported Date: Aug 24, 2006 3:11:56 AM
Reported Comment:
[Whatever reason you typed]

Post Author:[name of poster] (profile)
Post Date: Aug 24, 2006 3:00:14 AM
Post Text:
[copy of post at the exact time you reported it]

The bolded part is very important. It keeps a record of the post at the time you reported. When we edit messages, we then get the "Edited by... on..." time stamp automagically added. So it's very darn obvious if someone edited out an infraction of the rules. Thus, there really is no need for a timer, or archives as the system already supplies enough "safety nets".

That's a brilliant plan. No really, it's superb.






There's just one slight flaw:

The SOE web team are the worst coders in the entire world.

I'm glad you agree, PBlade. That's why I said we shouldn't expect miracles.

But if what Chuui says is true, then archiving is a bit superfluous. (Then again, I like to archive anything that is submitted on my sites - barring non-persistent stuff like chat logs, of course!) H'mm, but if that's the case, then why can one argue that the ability to edit for all time is a bad thing?
But still, to get around the bloated database problem, I'd:
a) store the archived versions in a different, less frequently accessed database;
b) cache the archive pages, thereby reducing the number of database records by however many archived posts are on any one screen, say 15 or so.

Your idea is good proc, even i don't know wanna implement it

From my point of view a PREVIEW Button would reduce the use of edit.
At least I always preview my posts, reread them and then find most my errors in there.
I really can't understand why there is no preview option here

Ooh, I've got   avast list of very simple improvements to these forums, but that's for another topic.

I guess they didn't enable preview because they couldn't (be bothered to) implement the WYSIWYG editor in that manner. I would have thought they could just paste the code in - I don't recall the initial edit and the preview+edit pages being very different.

Gawd. A fine example right there. 'A vast', not 'avast'. Yargh, me hearties!

V. Good point Chuui, forgot about that!