Am I missing something? There seems to be a fairly large amount of posts that are edited. Is it just spelling/typo's or something else?

I don't think there's anything sinister about it....just typos or additions. I edit about 1/4 of my messages.

Part of the problem is that there is no preview functionality so if you don't get the UBB code for quotes, etc. correct on the first shot there is no other choice.

Ditto--and I can never seem to see grotesque & embarrassing spelling errors until after I hit "submit reply".



[This message has been edited by j379pa (edited 11-23-2002).]

About half of my edits are for spelling (English is not my mother tongue), the rest mainly for mistakes in UBB codes or smilies. Some are to rephrase the original post in order to make myself more clear.

Me, too!

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Vasant

Yes, I have the same problem also.The typos always seem to sneak in.

We need to have a preview option so that we could edit after viewing the preview and before being posted.

I also wonder if people should have the right to edit after about 10 minutes or so - here's one where the author, a few days later, edited 5 or 6 of his posts. If you make a public statement, with the expectation people will respond, then your right to editing should have some limitations.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum39/HTML/000709.html

Editing posts? Nobody's editing anybody's posts.

[This message has been edited by ozstamps (edited 11-23-2002).]

When I edit a post, I usually add some kind of comment explaining the edit. I guess that might be kind of anal, but I think it adds credibility to the editing process. Of course, one could always lie about the edit, but I don't.

Examples:

edited for UBB coding error.

edited for typo's, not content.

edited because I shouldn't have said what I did.

You get the idea.

Right on. When one edits a post, if there is a "Reason for editing" field (in addition to "Message to Edit" field), people might be more inclined to type in why they are doing it.

[Oops... edited for spelling and quotes]

[This message has been edited by jrd (edited 11-23-2002).]

In the text entry field, my posts always seem to look fine to me.

Then, after I post, the thing needs major edits.

Must be the font difference.

1) There is no preview (as mentioned previously).
2) There is no spell check.
3) The editing window is tiny.
4) There is no test or scratch forum.

DSLReports incorporates all of the above in their forums. You can even play with their scratch forum you like:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/devnull

It took me some time to adjust to the clumsy FT entry page. Now I just accept that I will almost always have to edit, because there is just no way to catch all the errors in this tiny window where I'm typing right now. And I'll never catch all the spelling errors without a spell checker (not because I can't, but because it isn't worth my tyme!).

And for those who think their is something sinister about editing, perhaps you're being a bit paranoid. Personally, even if someone materially alters a post, I'm OK with that. If they've said something they regret it is their prerogative to retract it, and the best way to do that here is by deleting it.

These are, after all, DISCUSSSION forums, not courtroom testimony or parliamentary debates. And in day to day discussion, "Let me rephrase that" and "I take that back" are commonly used to "edit" or even "delete" regrettable turns of conversation. I think it is unforgiving and vindictive to attach someone to words they sincerely regret and wish to retract, just like it would be inappropriate in interpersonal social discourse to not offer someone the same courtesy.

That's not to say people shouldn't be held accountable for what they say. There are people that show up here deserving of our mistrust, and I've been impressed with how astute the FT community when it comes to smoking these people out. Likewise there are those persistently anti-social people that eventually get corrected, bored, or banned.

But we shouldn't allow these elements to breed such undue suspicion of each other that we shouldn't allow people rephrase things or retract things they've said.

At least not without a preview mode.

There's four or five typos in the above post that I want to edit. But, just this once, I won't.

content should matter more than spelling but more recently, I have found this bugs the *&%! out of some.

I am TRYING to go thru (ah-there's one!) the process of typing in Word and then pasting into here (but you never know if it will be a long one or not when you are writing, so is that all worth it?). I just say things as I see 'em. If it aint worth yer readin' pass it by. If it is, well, I'd rather get the truth spelt wrong than get a flowery lie any day! ...And what IS a Haiku anyway?


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If speed is not your thing, distance may as well be. Enjoy and embrace it all!