[r-man]

Hey, what's happened to the modify button? Can't we edit posts anymore?

[Bubba]

Yes and no.

You can only modify posts for half an hour after they were posted.

This is to maintain topic integrity (how's that for a geek phrase ).

If people edit old posts then it can make nonsense of what has been said following it. I figured that half an hour was enough to get the post right.

[r-man]

Yeah, I can see why you did it, though I did think ukbers generally resisted the urge to delete old stuff. Have you been having problems with serial erasers recently?

Personally I miss the feature - I often came back to posts and added/updated photos or links - always preferred to have everything in one place, especially as some threads contain a lot of useful info. Like when I was researching foreign bouldering for my hols I used the ukb threads as a place to keep everything. Or Palomides' summer festivals thread, for example: http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,5347.0.html

So for me the ability to modify long after posting was a good way to maintain topic integrity, rather than having info scattered in bits and pieces amidst the banter, and was one big advantage ukb had over ukc.

[Bubba]

Have you been having problems with serial erasers recently?

I don't know Thing is, people could be editing posts all over the shop, but because they won't get flagged up as a new post, nobody would be any the wiser.

I often came back to posts and added/updated photos or links - always preferred to have everything in one place, especially as some threads contain a lot of useful info.

That's fair enough, but it would only be of any benefit to you because nobody else would realise that the post had changed. If the posts were sticky/announcements then it would be different.

Surely it's better that if you change some information in a topic such as the summer festys one then the forum as a whole is notified?

A forum needs to maintain historical accuracy - once something is posted then it should be archived in it's original form. The 1/2 hour edit time is just to allow people who post something stupid when pissed (for example) the oppurtunity to change it.

[r-man]

That's fair enough, but it would only be of any benefit to you

Not so! If someone does a search, they'll only find the latest information, rather than out lots of out of date stuff.

But hey. Just saying my piece. I'm not upset enough to cancel my subscription.   

- Oh, and I suspect half an hour may not be enough for drunkards to become less drunk... But this a good reason for keeping it at half an hour... 

[Bubba]

If the search picks up the topic (which it will) then they get an accurate view of the original topic, and then can read the rest of the topic to get the new stuff. It doesn't all need to be sitting in the first post.

Also, in an events style topic it wouldn't take long before the first post was cluttered with lots of out of date information....unless it was deleted...which would then make the rest of the topic worthless.

For example, you post about "summer festival x" and five people reply as to whether they are going, asking for more info, etc.  Later on down the line you remove the "summer festival x" listing and add "summer festival z" - now those five replies don't relate to anything at all - after a while the topic would just be one big mess.

Yes, it could be tidied up by a moderator, but how would they know what to tidy if they didn't know the post had been edited?

[r-man]

Ok, fair do's.

I'm sure it will all work fine, and I'm just panicking as my safety blanket is whipped away. But that's ok, I've still got my bottle.