power to the people

[mouse]

I see much use in some information threads but it seems the current structure of HEF will not allow it to be workable.

A sticky thread for particualr subsets of machinery can be very useful, i envisage that this may be a list of useful attachments, of known fixes to common problems etc.

it takes a lot of work to create these sort of lists and to keep them current, it is next to useless though if you cannot go back and edit your posts which appears to be the case here once 60 minutes has ticked over...

i therefore request/would like to see the ability to edit old posts by the original author enabled. it would also be useful if an author could delete a post as well - usually the way these sticky threads have worked in my experience is that someone will contribute a link or thread and once the owner of the list has added it to the master list then the post should be deleted.

a few examples of what i mean can be found on advrider here (http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137838) and here (http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=366046). in the second example they have gone further and made a sticky of the link threads which i something i could see of use here in time. in that example have a look at the 640 thread to see how far these link threads can go if peopel look after them and contribute to them.

on advrider everyone has the ability to eidt their own posts and/or delete them at any time, in my few years of experience with them it is a feature that is used well but not abused, the only deletes tend to be for posts that should've never been there in the first place, instead of waiting for a mod to delete it usually the author develops some sense. whatever engine advrider uses i know the mods do get the ability to review deleted posts as well.

face it, we are all here for much the same reason - to share our interest and pool our ideas, howbout we get a bit more organised about it.



comments??

[Lashlander]

I'm not a hundred percent sure I understand exactly what your talking about but I don't like the ability to delete posts after a bunch of people have added to it. You get to reading a thread and all of a sudden its out in left field because there are answers to something that has been deleted. It also lets people stir the pot then act all innocent when the trouble starts. On one forum I read now and then people go around looking for these kind of posts and then quote them to lock them in. It clutters up the board but does keep the original posters from being able to delete the post entirely.

[curly]

Usually only moderators can delete a post after it has received a response, but say your completely knackered and make some idiot post and realize it a few minutes later, well why not just get rid of it?

[BrianHay]

I would like to be able to edit my post as well. Sometimes things change and the info is not relevant or up to date any more but new people reading it don't know that. For example in the thread were we are talking about our rates. I have taken a different approach and don't give an hourly rate any more. I find it better to give a flat rate as it doesn't sound as scary as the hourly rate. The hourly rate scares people away. If I could I would edit my rate to say $$$/hour. Post would still be relevant and not damage me.

I had a guy leave my forum disgruntled and take down hundreds of posts/threads. I caught him in the act and took away his ability to delete posts but forgot to take away his ability to edit them so he went through deleting the content and replacing it with 'removed' until I noticed and stopped him. The deleted post were no big deal, I have a hidden board they go to so nothing really gets deleted. It only took me a few minutes to restore them. But the 'removed' posts are rather annoying.

[OCR]

Usually only moderators can delete a post after it has received a response, but say your completely knackered and make some idiot post and realize it a few minutes later, well why not just get rid of it?

Hello curly,

If you still have edit time left... you can go back and delete the text in your
post... and then just type in... delete post.

I've knackered ( good description ) a few, and that seems to work for me.
Once in a while I'll do the double post thing... usually because I'm previewing
again... and forgot that I'd already clicked... submit reply... :confused:

I not sure, but if you really mess up... I think you can PM or e-mail Steve...
or one of the other Moderators... and they'll remove it.

Might cause a trip to the wood shed for you though...:laugh

Take care,

OCR

[digger242j]

We have gone back and edited or deleted content at the request of the poster, but only if it didn't destroy the continuity of the thread, and only if a good reason was given for the request.

Honestly, I think not having the option of editing or deleting your posts after a certain amont of time encourages you to put a little more thought into them before you hit the "submit reply" button. Or at least it should.

[OCR]

Don't know about others, but I agree with you on this digger242j.

Was the Forum down far awhile today? I kept getting a TCP error,
then a DNS error.

Thanks,

OCR

[Steve Frazier]

It is not the policy of this Board to delete posts, we will edit them or remove them if we find they are offensive but that's about it. A member has a short time period to edit his own post after making it to make corrections, but then it becomes permanent record. I feel the integrity of the Board remains at a higher level with this policy.

As digger242j mentioned this policy encourages members to put thought in their posts and I believe reduces problem posts. At present I have no intention of changing this policy

[RollOver Pete]

A member has a short time period to edit his own post

How much time are we talking about Steve?
:cool:

[Lashlander]

I would like to be able to edit my post as well.

I had a guy leave my forum disgruntled and take down hundreds of posts/threads. I caught him in the act and took away his ability to delete posts but forgot to take away his ability to edit them so he went through deleting the content and replacing it with 'removed' until I noticed and stopped him. The deleted post were no big deal, I have a hidden board they go to so nothing really gets deleted. It only took me a few minutes to restore them. But the 'removed' posts are rather annoying.

You want the ability to edit your posts on this forum but don't let someone edit his posts on your forum?:confused: This is exactly what I was talking about.
I've read forums where your going along and it just gets lost because someone deleted a post that several people replied to. It gets irritating real quick.

[BrianHay]

No, you misunderstood Lashlander. Members are able to edit their posts on mine any time. I only took away the one mebers ability to edit/delete his posts. I was online when he started deleting ALL off his posts and along with them the entire thread if his was the first in it got deleted with it. That's when I took away his ability to delete/edit post. There are still threads floating around that don't make sense because some of the content is missing.
I don't mind not being able to edit my posts here. I have that one post with an hourly rate in it that I would like to edit the numbers and replace them with $$$, but otherwise it doesn't matter.

[Squizzy246B]

I really can't see the point...what was then was then - and what is now is now. If you have a problem with a past post contact a Mod. Allowing editing or deleting of past posts ruins threads and also destroys the evidence of the behaviour of an individual. If you screwed up a post then quote it and post anew making your mends. I reckon there is a few politicians around that would like to go back and edit or delete a few things they said!.

[Grader4me]

If everyone had the ability to edit their old posts then could you just imagine what problems it would cause? Remember back when the board went down and we lost some posts? Affected threads didn't make sense anymore. To go back and change a word or two on old posts wouldn't be to bad, but it wouldn't stop there.
I've put up posts and have had second thoughts, and would have liked to go back and delete it. I would just contact one of the staff with my concern. They would look it over and get right back to me with a decision. How could you get it any easier than that? :my2c

[Steve Frazier]

Anyone who wants to make an amendment to something they have posted in the past is welcome to make a new post in the thread. This way the amendment is logged as a "New Post" and subscribed members will get a notification of such. The information will reach more members this way than if we go in and edit the original post, when we do that there is no notification other than the small print at the bottom of the post that it has been edited.

There are far more reasons to leave things as they are than there are to change the policy. We allow up to one hour for members to make corrections to their posts, I feel this is more than adequate.

[BrianHay]

As I said before I do not mind that we can't edit posts. Amending the one I mentioned with another post would do no good though, the numbers would still be there and adding another post would just bring them up to the top again.
For some forums like mine, Contractor Talk and most others I frequent it works well letting members edit and other then the one time I have never seen any problems with it. But there always has to be one that abuses things eh.
The way I see it with all these forums is they each have their own separate rules/codes of conduct and if you don't like em don't post.

[Orchard Ex]

I think that 60mins is enough to fix what you posted. After that you have to pay Digger the usual fee and be done with it. :notworthy It's worked well enough so far.

As for sticky's and keeping information current... I don't want to be married to everything I post and get called out for keeping it current. Read the date it was posted, if it's old it's then it's old. (Although the date stamp hasn't seemed to keep a lot of old threads from being dredged up anyway.) The search function has worked well for me in the past, and there will always be folks that won't search or use a sticky thread anyway so...:beatsme

[mouse]

hey all good fun fellas.

i'm not sure where the delete tangent came from but here goes - i am not really aware of the need to protect the forum from deletion, in my experience the only people who delete stuff like what brian refers to probably shouldn't have posted in the first place.

and please don't confuse deleting posts with deleting threads.

a question - did you actually bother to examine the thread links i referred to? to create something like that is impossible if you cannot edit an existing post. my point in example to be found herein is the excavator attachment thread.

hey, its your sand box, i'm happy to play by your rules, i guess i just don't understand the paranoia about editing and deleting posts, maybe the earthmoving game i do not understand ;)

[AtlasRob]

PLEASE dont change things, I have enough trouble trying to remember where I left the duck last night, or was it this morning, :D system seems to work fine as it is but I dont have a lot of other Forum experience to know if it would be better or not :Banghead.

As for olde threads getting brought up again I think that is brilliant as no way have I got time to go back and read everything that has been posted, and as long as we members highlight things that are being repeated and link back to the original post I think that is a good thing.

From a personal point of view I would like more posters to add onto threads that THEY started if the context is similar rather than starting new posts each time as it quickly pushes threads down a few pages and as a result can easily get missed if a person doesn't visit for a few days, but that is a minor point.

Great board, thanks to Steve the Mods and all the member. :drinkup

[bear]

Steve, all I'm gonna say is I'm a guest in your house (so to speak :D ) and I think the forum is fine. I try to excersise my self control and it usually works. Most of the time if I've written something about something that get;s me P.O'd (Equipment destroying treehuggers for one :mad: ) I have gotten the mad out and lookat what I have written then delete it. then post something at least moderatley intelligent. So yeah it works the way it is so there's nuthin to fix.


One hour is plenty of time to edit a post too.

[Deas Plant]

Hi, Folks.
I for one am pretty happy with the current situation. If you need to edit a post, you have one hour to do it. If it takes longer than that to realise that you need to correct something in your post, simply make a new post with the corrected information in it.

Just my 0.02.

[RocksnRoses]

G'day Steve,
I would just like to echo Deas's comments. I haven't had much experience with other forums, but this one works fine for me and it seems to be a lot faster than some forums I have visited. It's got me stuffed how you and the mods keep up with everything that happens here and run your own businesses as well. I lose enough time just reading the posts.

Well done,

Rn'R.