it would be really handy to be able to edit your posts

February 25, 2004 8:41 AM

Linking to my own post as an example, it would be really handy to be able to edit your posts at times. Would this pony ever grow legs and run around the field chasing butterflies and scaring children?
posted by twine42 to feature requests at 8:41 AM (14 comments total)

Would this pony ever grow legs and run around the field chasing butterflies and scaring children?

What. the. hell. ?
posted by xmutex at 8:47 AM on February 25, 2004

It's been brought up before. I think it's a good idea, and my iteration of it would limit it to a five-minute "oh shit" period where you can edit quick mistakes. The post would be marked somehow to indicate it had been edited.

But Matt probably doesn't like the idea. I don't remember what's been said in the past. Probably something to the effect of making use of the Preview window.
posted by Hildago at 9:00 AM on February 25, 2004

Editing begets the desire to go back and alter things you later regret having said. There's a few comments I'd like to go back to and get rid of myself, but since you can't, I think in the long run it makes you think (and click due to Preview) twice before being really sure you want what you're writing to be enshrined in the archive forever.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 9:34 AM on February 25, 2004

Preview unlimited times until your message is clear, as posting is forever.
posted by mathowie at 10:26 AM on February 25, 2004

posting is forever.

How else can two months' salary last forever?
posted by PrinceValium at 10:29 AM on February 25, 2004

I agree - preview, preview, preview. In fact, there's a mandatory preview when you're posting something.

Even a five-minute editing window could get sticky if people are posting to a thread pretty frequently. "Well, I was responding to something that someone else had written, but now that person's changed what he wrote, so my response doesn't make sense." And so on.

When in doubt, preview.
posted by Tin Man at 10:30 AM on February 25, 2004

The preview *is* your five-minute "oh shit". And frankly I like the odd "oh shit". Let's not mess with the shit. Leave the shit as is.
posted by y6y6y6 at 12:02 PM on February 25, 2004

bring on the shit
posted by angry modem at 12:50 PM on February 25, 2004

I'm not touching anybody's shit... not even my own...
It's a good rule for MetaFilter (which in spite of its 'self-policing' creed, has to have some solid rules). But for my own blog, I reserve the right to edit, delete and screw around with my past content to my heart's content.
posted by wendell at 12:52 PM on February 25, 2004

Metafilter: Leave the shit as is.
posted by rhapsodie at 12:56 PM on February 25, 2004

If people could edit their posts after going "oh shit, did I really say that?", the signal/noise ration would go through the roof with people posting (even more) thoughtlessly and then editing their comments out completely. Ensure brain is in gear before engaging the post button and all will be well. Sort of. Maybe.
posted by dg at 2:56 PM on February 25, 2004

Oh man, I would love an edit button, I would love and cherish and nurture it, and clean its cage every day, but I don't think I am ever going to get one, so preview is my best friend, even though we sometimes fall out.
posted by Fat Buddha at 3:39 PM on February 25, 2004

As long as we're adding buttons, can I have one to edit other peoples posts?

Just me, of course.
posted by cedar at 6:26 PM on February 25, 2004

How else can two months' salary last forever?

I'm not sure, but I have this funny feeling that using brutal methods to get native africans to mine some particular form of crystalized carbon might do it.

Weird, huh?
posted by namespan at 7:35 PM on February 25, 2004