The ability to edit or delete a comment

[Effervescent-Daydream]

Hi! (*・ω・)ﾉ

I think it would be immensely useful if we were able to edit or delete a comment after it has been made. Not being able to correct a comment can lead to numerous issues. For example, if someone posts an image and would like to credit its original creator, but forgets to do so in their original comment, they will now have to make an entire second comment to do so, which would then be merged with the first. Not only would it be less convenient then simply editing the original comment, but in the case that the comments do not merge, the second one might be missed by another user. If someone wanted to correct something in the original post as opposed to adding onto it, to correct a typo for example, this would be entirely impossible to do in the current state of the site. At worst this would cause a bit of an "oops" moment for the original commenter, and at worst it could cause misunderstandings and conflict among users should the typo be... unfortunate. Not only that, but because this feature is so common on other websites people who join here may find it a bit jarring to suddenly no longer have access to it, causing dissatisfaction among those who might otherwise enjoy the site. 

In short, not being able to edit or erase comments can be very inconvenient to some people and potentially cause some very undesirable changes. As such, I would very much appreciate if you would give some thought to making a change. Thank you for your consideration! (* ^ ω ^)

 

[Naia]

Hello,

Currently we do allow for the editing of comments, but it is time restricted to thirty minutes. This is to prevent malicious deletion of posts in ways that would negatively impact the continuity of a conversation. We would be interested in hearing commentary / discourse regarding if we should extend that time period or not, but we will not be allowing indefinite editing. I've seen far too many cases where a user "rage quits" a forum, and vandalizes their own posts, rendering entire threads unintelligible. A few of these occasions have occurred within otherkin and therian circles.

So, I put the ball in everyone's court on this one, what do you feel is a reasonable time frame for allowing post modification?

 

[Amber]

I understand the concerns mentioned by @Effervescent-Daydream, but agree to @Naia: indefinite editing could potentially do more harm. I'd feel most comfortable with something between 30..60 minutes post modification time.

 

[Jethero]

Honestly I'd be cool with like a day. If someone is going to ragequit, it's probably not gonna happen within a day, and even if it does, there probably won't be a huge impact on overall content.

 

[Cipher]

I would prefer at least several hours to a full 24 hours to edit posts, because that's about the time frame it can take to realize you either didn't like how you worded something or meant to add something and didn't remember it until way later, or to correct minor mistakes, some of which I don't catch until I come online later in the day, long after the edit time limit has passed.

 

[MariaTheFictionkin]

I'm also for at least several hours to a day.

 

[Effervescent-Daydream]

Oh, I'm sorry, I actually didn't realize you could edit posts... ^^; I never saw that option anywhere honestly. My bad I guess? 

I can see the potential harm that may arise from an infinite time limit on edits, though I do think it should be extended. A few hours to a day would likely be best imo. 

 

[eren]

Is there a reason why I can't seem to edit my own posts in the "grilling" forum section? I've been able to edit in other areas. 

(Sorry if this isn't the right place to ask!) 

 

[Amber]

@Eren: all posts in there are older than 30 minutes so they can't be edited. BTW I didn't yet find the time to read your latest post, but I'll come back to it... 

 

[Mika]

I would honestly push for a few days, a week? Oftentime I read my posts over the next day and realize I made a typo but can't go back and fix it, or (more often) I realized that I said more than I'm comfortable  leaving out in the open and want to reword my post to be a bit more guarded and private. The fact that I don't have an option to go back and remove content for privacy concerns has prevented me from posting more than I otherwise might. 

 

[eren]

@Amber Ah, that makes sense! Thank you for clarifying. And no worries, no pressure to read and/or reply. 

@Mika I have to agree with you. I didn't realize that we don't have the ability to edit past 30 mins, and I'm concerned as well. The only other forum that I've been part of where you can't edit/delete your own content kind of ended badly and resulted in some conflict. It takes away some autonomy over our privacy, which is important when you're disclosing things you may not be as free about "in real life". 

I understand that on a small site like this if someone decided to delete all their posts it would ruin some conversations. But I believe people overall might post more if they knew they had full control of their content? 

 

[Naia]

@Amber Ah, that makes sense! Thank you for clarifying. And no worries, no pressure to read and/or reply. 

@Mika I have to agree with you. I didn't realize that we don't have the ability to edit past 30 mins, and I'm concerned as well. The only other forum that I've been part of where you can't edit/delete your own content kind of ended badly and resulted in some conflict. It takes away some autonomy over our privacy, which is important when you're disclosing things you may not be as free about "in real life". 

I understand that on a small site like this if someone decided to delete all their posts it would ruin some conversations. But I believe people overall might post more if they knew they had full control of their content? 

On most large forums, there is an edit time restriction of some type to prevent loss of continuity. This doesn't include Facebook or social networking sites that prioritize profiles and timelines over content. However, we honor reasonable edit and deletion requests (i.e removing personally identifiable information from a post or thread) even after the edit timeline is up; just contact a staff member. With that said, I'm definitely hearing everyone out when it comes to longer timeframes and I propose the following options:

New Users - 24 hours. 

Auto-Confirmed Users - 48 hours. 

VIPs - 1 Week. 

What are everyone's thoughts on this? 

 

[eren]

Alright, that makes sense to me! I'm only active on two other forums right now (not large social media sites) so my perception of what is usual might be narrow. Thank you for explaining. 

And I'm supportive of those new options, they sound fair. 

 

[Naia]

Alright, that makes sense to me! I'm only active on two other forums right now (not large social media sites) so my perception of what is usual might be narrow. Thank you for explaining. 

And I'm supportive of those new options, they sound fair. 

Yes; my reasoning behind it is as follows:

• A new member has just joined the site and has very little reputation or attachment, they are more likely to be our "risk" of undesired mass deletions, so they'll have the shortest edit timeline.
  
• Auto-Confirmed users have put enough investment into the site content-wise that it is safe to assume they'll be staying; so they get a longer edit time limit.
  
• VIPs have put a lot of investment into the site. The only way to obtain a VIP Membership is to purchase it from the KinCash shop with bones. The only way to earn bones is by contributing to the site, you cannot currently buy bones (nor will the Gold Donors have a longer time limit, as financial donations do not correlate with user activity, sorry!)
  

These new settings have been implemented.

• New Users - Can edit new posts after 24 hours after their creation.
  
• Auto-Confirmed Users - Can edit new posts up to 48 hours after their creation.
  
• VIP Users - Can edit new posts up to 1 week after their creation.
  

If you wish to edit a post after your edit timeline has expired, simply report your own post (the same way you report a post that breaks the rules) and select the option that says: "This comment is okay, but I want to tell a moderator about it". You can then describe what you want changed and why in the report message field. Usually, we'll always approve edit requests involving:

• Removal of personal information
  
• Correction of inaccurate information / grammar errors
  
• Other reasonable requests, at the discretion of our staff team.
  

 

[Effervescent-Daydream]

Yes; my reasoning behind it is as follows:

• A new member has just joined the site and has very little reputation or attachment, they are more likely to be our "risk" of undesired mass deletions, so they'll have the shortest edit timeline.
  
• Auto-Confirmed users have put enough investment into the site content-wise that it is safe to assume they'll be staying; so they get a longer edit time limit.
  
• VIPs have put a lot of investment into the site. The only way to obtain a VIP Membership is to purchase it from the KinCash shop with bones. The only way to earn bones is by contributing to the site, you cannot currently buy bones (nor will the Gold Donors have a longer time limit, as financial donations do not correlate with user activity, sorry!)
  

These new settings have been implemented.

• New Users - Can edit new posts after 24 hours after their creation.
  
• Auto-Confirmed Users - Can edit new posts up to 48 hours after their creation.
  
• VIP Users - Can edit new posts up to 1 week after their creation.
  

If you wish to edit a post after your edit timeline has expired, simply report your own post (the same way you report a post that breaks the rules) and select the option that says: "This comment is okay, but I want to tell a moderator about it". You can then describe what you want changed and why in the report message field. Usually, we'll always approve edit requests involving:

• Removal of personal information
  
• Correction of inaccurate information / grammar errors
  
• Other reasonable requests, at the discretion of our staff team.
  

This sounds wonderful! Though if I may ask, you mentioned that someone could have a 48 hour time limit after they "have put enough investment into the site content-wise". How will this be determined? What is considered "enough"? 

 

[Naia]

This sounds wonderful! Though if I may ask, you mentioned that someone could have a 48 hour time limit after they "have put enough investment into the site content-wise". How will this be determined? What is considered "enough"? 

The criteria is automatic confirmation, I linked to the help document explaining its criteria above.

@Effervescent-Daydream - Your account is already auto-confirmed.

With that said, this suggestion has been implemented.