What's the deal with not being able to edit posts any more?

[cjard]

So, I come along today, to update some of the posts in my signature, the advice ones I've written, stick some more info in them for, e.g. the hapless MySQL users out there...

..and I find there is no edit button. Heck, I cant even delete it and start again.. What should I do? Post a brand new one with the same info, plus the additions, update my sig and them PM a mod to delete the old one.. Or maybe just PM a mod and ask him to update my post?

Its not even posts that have been replied to/quoted.. It seems to be any post over a certain age (probably about 5 minutes)

 

[JuggaloBrotha]

could you take a screenshot

also to edit your sig, have you tried clicking 'Quick Links' -> 'Edit Signature' ?

 

[Administrator]

We had an issue not too long ago where a person was coming back and completely removing the body of their posts once it was answered. It left quite a mess as obviously there was a question asked, but when others came in to see the discussion, to learn from it, it was gone. It was odd in that the person didn't use a name or anything, it was nothing short of moronic! Hence, the edit feature times out after a specified amount of time, significant enough for anyone to make changes within the days work.

 

[cjard]

We had an issue not too long ago where a person was coming back and completely removing the body of their posts once it was answered. It left quite a mess as obviously there was a question asked, but when others came in to see the discussion, to learn from it, it was gone. It was odd in that the person didn't use a name or anything, it was nothing short of moronic! Hence, the edit feature times out after a specified amount of time, significant enough for anyone to make changes within the days work.

Pity the forum cant only prevent the editing of posts that have been quoted.. Personally, I'd have just warned/banned the user rather than remove Edit feature. Additionally, removing the ability to reply to posts more than X months old would be more useful than preventing the editing of them

 

[Paszt]

I can't see why it's a bad thing to respond to unanswered posts. It can only help the image of the forum and helps spread knowledge.
I've personally answered really old posts; I didn't know the answer when it was posted but read something that answered the question and reminded me of the post.

Lot's of new users start their experience here by answering old posts. Probably because they were searching for an answer to something else and knew the answer to some other posts. That's well within the spirit of the forum. Could be because they want to raise their reputation, either way they are helping.

 

[cjard]

Thing is, In computing, stuff moves so fast that answering a 2 year old thread is usually not a good idea, as it only starts people talking over some dead donkey that should be dropped Maybe just a warning if replying to a post over 3 months old and leave it to user discretion

 

[Administrator]

answering a 2 year old thread is usually not a good idea

It depends on the information. People do post here, posts will go unanswered, posts are spidered by search engines so someone else, other than the original author, may need this answered. I think it is a good idea for any unanswered post, written recent or old, to have an answer. Kudos to whoever is going back to answer unanswered questions.