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Edit time out

3K views 26 replies 10 participants last post by  tinyliny 
#1 ·
The "Ten minute Rule" on editing needs modified.

I can live with the dumb rule, if ten minutes have passed and I decide I want to make changes.

However, it is about as dumb as it gets if I am already in edit mode, typing away and the d**n software times me out anyway --- causing me to lose everything I added.

I am not going back in to re-type in a separate post -- that is equally as dumb and inefficient.
 
#4 ·
The inability to edit posts actually caused me to walk away from this forum for a few months but I missed it and came back (but I am much more reserved about what I post now). Sometimes I get in an oversharing mood and later want to come back to delete pictures, specific info, etc. on old posts and I hate that I cannot do that. I also hate when I am re-reading a post of mine and it has a typo that I can't fix. But, the forum is free, and I can take it or leave it. I know the mods do a lot of work here.
 
#5 ·
I hear you guys!

The problem is that setting keeps everybody "honest" in a way - sometimes it's tempting to go back and edit a post when the post doesn't get the response you were hoping for! I know that's not why most people are editing, but some people would be inclined to do that and eliminating that sort of behavior is the idea behind the ten minute edit window.

I do know that people in the past have written their posts in a word document, then copied and pasted the document to the forum in order to get that extra second of editing/fail-safe against the internet deciding not to work that day. I don't personally do that as it seems like a huge hassle. I guess I've chosen to live with the embarrassment of horrific typos. :lol:

I don't know what the options are for the editing window, but I'll report this thread to the other mods and we can see if there might be a better solution. I can say with some certainty that the window for editing will always be limited, but maybe it doesn't have to be SO limited...
 
#6 ·
The 10 minute edit isn't something that the moderators can change but I can pass it on to the techie team - I don't think they check this part of the forum much now
If I want to post anything lengthy or something that needs to be really accurate I type it out (as per Wallaby's suggestion) on a word doc and then copy and paste. It doesn't take much more time to do that than to type directly into the forum text box
If you do want something editing you can always report your own post and one of the Mods will do it as soon as they pick it up - just let us know what you need it changed too
 
#7 ·
OMG, had just read this thread yesterday about edits timing out and suddenly this morning it happened to me. That needs to give you AT LEAST 30 minutes! Wrote my answer to someone's response, hit send, thought of something to make it better, did an edit, hit send, then thought of a way to make it even more interesting, got it almost typed in there when Whammie! — here pops up this crazy little window saying I've taken too long and sure enough, no way now for me to get my more interesting edited response in there. Why would they ever think that 10 minutes would be enough when people are always hitting send before their thoughts are even totally crystallized, and as said, sometimes even realized they shouldn't have said what they did (I've seen some of those and now hope people had had 2nd thoughts, but weren't able to quickly enough get their mean or crabby comments off....) Please, please ask those tech people to make it longer. Thank you!!!
 
#8 ·
If you suddenly think of something extra to say you can always make another post - or several other posts!!!
If your mind isn't totally clear on what you want to say then that's a good time to type it on to a word doc first
Re. the 'crabby' remarks - if you post something you regret then report it and we'll edit it out - if it that's nasty and personal you can bet someone else will report it too
I don't know how the forum is set up as far as editing time goes but we can ask - I will say though that I doubt I ever even spend 10 minutes typing anything out here - one of the reasons being that the majority of members don't want to read 'lots of words'!!!
 
#9 ·
I have been frustrated MANY times by the ten minute edit time out. I'm a member of many forums on many topics and I've never been at a forum before with this rule. It's generally accepted that the forum members keep each other honest. If an inflammatory post goes up people can report it to the moderators and/or quote the post so even if someone does try to edit it later the original is there.

Often times I will go back and want to add information or fix misspellings or something and you can't. It seems so silly to require additional posts with what could easily be done in an edit.
 
#10 ·
It really depends on what you edit as to whether or not a significantly longer time would be OK
If several people post responses to something that you then edit out or change the context of it could result in a real nonsense
I looked at one of the biggest UK horse forums and they allow members 15 minutes to edit, I couldn't find any info at all on the one US forum I looked at
Editing is fine if it's done fairly soon after a post is submitted but as I said already - if people start going back to edit things hours or even days afterwards its just not going to work at all so there has to be some cut off point
 
#11 ·
Seems like at least 20 minutes would be an improvement. Maybe that could be tried. Probably not too many people jumping on in the first 20 minutes to comment on something? (Maybe there is a counter that the tech people can set up to find what the average time of response is and if it is generally very fast, that would be a good reason for not allowing longer edit.) I completely understand the reasons being stated for not allowing edits, but apparently some of us do like to type too many words (others don't have to read it, if they don't wish) or our 2nd thoughts take longer to put done correctly, as we've realized the first time it wasn't explained quite right. Mostly edits are just to correct typos, but in those other instances, is quite frustrating to be suddenly cut off in the middle of a thought. It's a good idea to put it on word first, but not real practical. Another thing I'm learning to do is copy what I've added in case it gets cut off and seems like enough of a whole thought to use a new post, but using a new post right after the first just seems a little strange, so I'm voting that it be changed to 20 minutes! Thanks to Super Moderators and Tech People for the courtesy of listening and explaining! --LP
 
#12 ·
Keep in mind that no tech people have looked at this yet - it might not even be possible
I did do a google search and found a similar question on another forum where the answer from their techie team was ' its what you have or its nothing'
You'd be surprised at how fast members do reply on a thread that's popular!!!
 
#14 ·
They do - but here's a potential downside to allowing too much edit time - imagine that someone has posted a question or a comment and then you've spent maybe half an hour writing out a reply, maybe done a bit of research to check if your thinking is right or found some pics or videos to support your post and then when you finally click send you see that the post you've responded to you has all but gone or changed so your reply no longer means anything
How would you feel then?
Pretty annoyed I guess because you've wasted valuable time - and if edit times were lengthened by much more that situation could happen a lot
 
#16 ·
This could still happen with an edit time limit.

You spend your half hour writing your reply with research and links and hit post only to find out the OP has added another post to the thread adding the additional information that invalidates your reply. That particular scenario does not depend on an edit function to happen.

I'd venture to say we're all here for the social aspect of talking about horses (or else we'd just use search engines) so being annoyed that you've wasted your time replying wouldn't happen too often. Besides, I've often found really helpful posts inside threads that I wouldn't have expected to. So just because the aforementioned reply doesn't help the original poster it isn't useless and will probably help someone else.
 
#15 ·
Or maybe your post could then start a new thread with those thoughts and that person or someone else with the same question could benefit??? Just an idea.

But, while I've got your attention, what's with the big rainbow ball that always wants to go around forever when I have your site up. Have you heard that that's a problem for other people and probably just what we have to put up with due to so many ads coming up on your site? Have you heard anyone say they've found solutions, such as Adblocker, maybe would help? Making me frustrated, sometimes I have to restart the computer, so just wondering if you've heard that and know of any good solutions. Thanks in advance for any help you can give!
 
#18 ·
Or maybe your post could then start a new thread with those thoughts and that person or someone else with the same question could benefit??? Just an idea.

But, while I've got your attention, what's with the big rainbow ball that always wants to go around forever when I have your site up. Have you heard that that's a problem for other people and probably just what we have to put up with due to so many ads coming up on your site? Have you heard anyone say they've found solutions, such as Adblocker, maybe would help? Making me frustrated, sometimes I have to restart the computer, so just wondering if you've heard that and know of any good solutions. Thanks in advance for any help you can give!
If a post that becomes unrelated to the one it was in response to in this hypothetical world where editing gets out of control could become a new thread then one of the Mods would have to move it to a standalone thread - better if a member actually did that themselves!!!
I know nothing about your 'rainbow'
Could you start a new thread in this section of the forum so others having the same issue will hopefully see it - it can then be passed on to the techie team
 
#21 ·
UPDATE
After some fairly deep discussion where we've tried to see things from both sides the Admin/Tech Team have extended the edit time to 20 minutes.
Hopefully this will go some way to help members who have editing woes without creating too many problems for other members who could potentially find themselves with the frustration of replying to things that have suddenly disappeared or been changed too much.
We will be monitoring this and if it does produce a lot of reports complaining about the latter happening the edit time will be put back to 10 minutes so please be thoughtful about what you edit out of or add too a post.
 
#24 ·
Yes, I'll echo THANK YOU, too, and agree that if causing problems it can go back. Sure hope it does not result in problems or too much time spent by moderators.

Maybe one of these days there can be a short New Member Guide sticky, like a list of FAQs, to tell us about that cut-off so we aren't surprised, could also tell about the Full and Classic feature that can be accessed at the bottom and difference between Quick Reply and Reply (think it's just that you can add pictures on Reply). Anything else I've been wondering ... although, realize, probably not too many new users read things thoroughly anymore, so maybe just be a waste of time. Nevermind.
 
#26 · (Edited by Moderator)
Yay! On the 20 minutes, although that still wouldn't have helped me in an earlier post.

I have simmered down some since I typed it but if it makes the Mods feel any better, I got taken to the woodshed by the equine vet this morning and it was not anything I did wrong with my foundered horse but something someone else said that I relayed to him.

It's been a rough day------------
 
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