Should Members Be Able To Edit/Delete Their Posts?

[SeanFace101]

Hey..
I have a xbox forum & im not sure weither i should allow my members to be able to edit and/or delete their posts.
What have you got set on your forum?
Whats your thought on allowing editing & deleting posts by members?

 

[Migi]

Yes, I allow them to edit and delete their posts. I can't really think why they shouldn't; it is someone privilege to be able to edit or delete their post.

They may want to add more content or insight to their posts, or maybe correction or further explanation. Rather than making double posts, giving them the ability to edit their post is just natural. Also, what if they make a spelling mistake which cause the message of the post to be different while it is not actually what they meant?

Deleting post might be a little bit more complicated, but more or less still like what I explained above.

I hope this helps a bit. 🙂

 

[Darthmaul]

Yes, I allow them to edit and delete their posts. I can't really think why they shouldn't; it is someone privilege to be able to edit or delete their post.

They may want to add more content or insight to their posts, or maybe correction or further explanation. Rather than making double posts, giving them the ability to edit their post is just natural. Also, what if they make a spelling mistake which cause the message of the post to be different while it is not actually what they meant?

Deleting post might be a little bit more complicated, but more or less still like what I explained above.

I hope this helps a bit. 🙂

You make a great point there 😉
Plus, it's the user's content(unless you say that when posted it's the forum's content), so they technically have the rights to do what they please with it. Therefore they should be able to edit, and at least SOFT-delete their posts.

 

[Migi]

Ah, right, soft delete. It might not be possible for every forum software, or not that I know of (I only know vBulletin who has this kind of feature for members) but that is a good alternative.

 

[SaintSinner]

Nah, users should just be allowed to edit their threads/posts. not entirely delete it. That is the job of moderators.

 

[Nitro]

I'm not sure about deleting it, but I think they should be able to edit it.

 

[XcapeX]

Editing, yes. Delete, no. That is a dumb thing to do in my opinion because it allows for not only trolling A LOT but for someone to mess up your forum if they get mad at an admin or something like that.

 

[SeanFace101]

Currently i have it so my members cant edit or delete their posts.
I have 2 groups on my forum "XLF Reviewers" & "Forum Welcomers". These members help out on the forum & they can edit & delete their posts. But im thinking about making it so no one can delete posts, but everything can edit them upto to 30 minutes after posting then no more.

As well as members being able to post allowed content, then go back a while later and change it to spam content.. I dont like the idea of a member posting a thread, then after getting replies to it, change it to say differant text to make it look as if the members replied on that instead of the thread which was there before the edit.

I also saw on a thread somewhere that its bad for your SEO if members can delete their posts. 😛

 

[kavin]

Edit - Should be available for a limited time period.
Delete - Should not be available, and should be done by mods/admins.

 

[SeanFace101]

Edit - Should be available for a limited time period.
Delete - Should not be available, and should be done by mods/admins.

Yes, Thats seems to be the general feedback im getting from people 😛
(Never delete) (Limited editing time period)

 

[kssite]

I would go with
Edit - Should be available for a limited time period.
Delete - Should not be available, and should be done by mods/admins.

 

[Migi]

Editing, yes. Delete, no. That is a dumb thing to do in my opinion because it allows for not only trolling A LOT but for someone to mess up your forum if they get mad at an admin or something like that.

I think that kind of situation is best solved by soft deletion. That way moderators and higher staff members can still see what was written before as a proof. To be honest I'm not sure how they can mess up the forum if they are mad at the staff members if all they can do is deleting their own posts.

As well as members being able to post allowed content, then go back a while later and change it to spam content.. I dont like the idea of a member posting a thread, then after getting replies to it, change it to say differant text to make it look as if the members replied on that instead of the thread which was there before the edit.

Why would members change the original content to spam one?

Also, why do you not like when members change the first post? In a forum I visited, I changed my first post very often and no one ever minded that. 😛

I dislike restricting what members can do with their own posts as I dislike being treated that way. This is subjective indeed, but have you tried thinking from the members point of view? As long as members do not abuse the power to edit and delete post by writing inappropriate content, I don't think you should worry. Based on experience too, all forums I visited have these two options available for members and none of these worries you have ever happened to an extent of putting the forum into an uncomfortable situation. Or perhaps I visited "good sites", LOL~

 

[IAAM Radio]

We allow edits but not deletes and given the genre of site we are, all post are stated to be property of the site, this said we are not Nazis about it. Editing gives freedom and many times members go back and update the posts to keep it current...

Deletes/Trash/Archives are done by the team. Drama is removed regardless we just do not put up with that and those type of members you don't want anyway.

 

[David]

There is no logic behind allowing edits and disallowing deletes, in a no time limit situation. Editing everything out is essentially the same as deleting, so you may as well have both, or restrict editing to a certain time frame.

Obviously whole thread delete shouldn't be allowed as not only 1 post will be deleted, 10,000 post threads can be removed at ease then.

 

[SeanFace101]

Why would members change the original content to spam one?

Well, for example..
Say you have a forum with doesnt allow posting of certain links to certains websites, lets say "adult sites". So i could make a thread on your forum posting something which you allow to be posted. Then after a while, i come back to your forum, go to that post, then change it completely to advertise the "adult site". If you have a busy forum, the post which has been edited could be pages back into your forum & less likely to be spotted of an admin or mod. This me getting my "adult site" advertised on your forum which i could have done if therewas No Editing or Editing Was Timed.

Also, why do you not like when members change the first post? In a forum I visited, I changed my first post very often and no one ever minded that. 😛

For example..
I could make a thread on your forum, after another member repling on that thread, i could change the text in my post that started the thread to make it look like that other member posted a reply on something else other than what that member was really posting on.

But, on the other hand, it depends on the forum i think, because..

I have 2 threads on this forum..
Post Exchange (10/10 - 50/50) - viewtopic.php?f=47&t=84911
Posts For Cash (£2.00 - £35.00) - viewtopic.php?f=116&t=86693

For both of those threads, i need to be able to edit the post after it has been replied on.
So in this case it would be a good thing. But i have a Xbox forum, so i can really think of any reason why they would need to edit their own posts other than for spelling mistakes, etc.. they notice after clicking post. So for that 30 mins to 1 hour should be enough i would say.

😛

 

[Migi]

I understand the situation, but I just couldn't imagine why a member would want to do that for any reason. Perhaps you have different experience with me, but so far, never for me. If a member want to spam or post strange advertising link, he would do so from the beginning, not in the middle like this. No normal member would do it unless he is hacked on something, maybe. The same goes if he wants to change the first post of each thread to make it looked like the replies are made to different post. Do you mean they would do that so they could report the post or bring troubles to the forum by any means? Again, it doesn't make sense for me, but perhaps it is just because I never found such a case. That's why the thought never crossed my mind. ^^

 

[Sam]

I personally think you should allow them to edit- up to a time limit, but not delete their posts. This avoids them editing it afterward and then claiming to have never said what they said.

 

[Migi]

This avoids them editing it afterward and then claiming to have never said what they said.

If that is the case then wouldn't it be better if we disallow edit from the beginning? No matter how short they can edit it, there is always a chance for that to happen.

I'm not sure with the other forum software as I never really tried this myself, but I noticed in vBulletin there is an option to see what members did with their posts, what they did during the edit? Moderators can see what was the original post and changes made there. I think that is very convenient.

 

[SeanFace101]

I understand the situation, but I just couldn't imagine why a member would want to do that for any reason. Perhaps you have different experience with me, but so far, never for me. If a member want to spam or post strange advertising link, he would do so from the beginning, not in the middle like this. No normal member would do it unless he is hacked on something, maybe. The same goes if he wants to change the first post of each thread to make it looked like the replies are made to different post. Do you mean they would do that so they could report the post or bring troubles to the forum by any means? Again, it doesn't make sense for me, but perhaps it is just because I never found such a case. That's why the thought never crossed my mind. ^^

Its not happened to me either, im just saying that any of the 2 things "Could" happen, just thinking about the differant things that could happen to think if its worth changing the setting for it. 😛 Call it wighting up the pros & cons of having editing and/or deleting on 😛

 

[GTANeXt]

On my forum, I allow my members to edit and delete their own posts. I can always keep track of troublesome posts (in the case of members deleting their posts before an Admin or Moderator can see them) because deleted posts are merely transferred to a private area on the forums, and we can deal with them accordingly.

If you can set up something like that on your forum, then by all means - go ahead and set the permissions to allow members to edit and delete their own posts.

If you can't do that - then at least allow members to edit their posts as it will prevent double posting on the forum.