# User Support > Forum Software Support >  reason for edit

## JeffD

What is that reasoning behind that one - I guess if we wanted to we could say edited for spelling, or edited for content, or edited for relevance.


Almost all my edits are for spelling. Hey, is there a spell checker anywhere around here?  :Coffee:

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## Avi Ziv

> Hey, is there a spell checker anywhere around here?


I just use the built-in spell checker in Firefox

Avi

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## JEStanek

I use (and prefer) FireFox from home as it has a built in spell checker.  A solution at work, where I'm stuck with IE is to compose a response and cut and paste it into an e-mail or word doc and spell check there.  Then copy paste back into the Café form.  :Cool: 

Jamie

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## Avi Ziv

Jamie....do you actually post from work ?   :Wink: 

LOL

Avi

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## Jim Broyles

Jamie, that's too much work. I hear ya though. I hate posting  messages with English or factual errors.   :Smile:

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## JEStanek

JB,
That's why my work hour massages have tipe-ohs and the enos from home are prefect.

Jamie

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## MikeEdgerton

IE 7 has a built in spell checker, however you need to highlight the text you want to check and then click on the spell check button. I use Firefox at home and IE at work.

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## Avi Ziv

Doesn't' Google have a spell checker that works "everywhere" ?

Avi

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## MikeEdgerton

I think you'd have to have the Google toolbar loaded.

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## JeffD

My original question, however, is the feature itself, what is the reason for giving a reason for your edit?

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## MikeEdgerton

I guess you can say why you're editing. A record of sorts. I just edited a message and added another link, thus my choice of "adding content".

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## Martin Jonas

Hmmm... I find that I can't edit my own posts at all unless I do it in the same browser session as for the original post.  Once I change and/or restart computers, the edit button on my old posts is gone and they look just like somebody else's posts.  This seems to be a bug -- I can understand it for the messages that were migrated over from the old board, but the same is true for my new posts made under the new software.

Martin

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## JEStanek

As I understand the software, your allowable period to edit a post is based upon time (three hours).  After that, your post cannot be editied.  The Reason for editing is a feature to help you clarify what you did and why for folks.

Jamie

Edit: OK after I posted I closed my browser and re-opened this thread.  I can edit the post and won't include a reason for editing.  

Edit 2: Interesting, the post wasn't marked as edited by me when I didn't include the reason.

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## El Greco

why not download Firefox or Google Chrome in both home and work :Wink:  (unless IT dept. is policing the process)

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## Martin Jonas

Time limit would explain it -- I didn't actually want to edit any of my previous posts, I was just surprised that the "Edit" button had disappeared from them when I came home from work.

Martin

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## PaulD

Edit test.... out of curiosity. 

pd

EDIT: I was wondering if the timer for editing was stored in a cookie, but it must be server side. I posted the original from Chrome on my primary PC, but this is coming from an old Firefox v1.0 installation on my test workstation. I also tried IE... as long as I'm logged in the board will allow me to edit my posts.

Paul

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## Paul Hostetter

I find it irritating that a) you can't delete a post and b) even if you edit it, it has to show that it was edited, reason shown or not. This is a step down from the previous forum software. I prefer simplicity. What the current software does is insure unnecessary clutter.

Not being able to delete a post is definitely NOT "in the best interests of the community." If I could edit a post and not have it show, it wouldn't be so bad. Having a time limit on even that much is also a real blow to clarity and presentation.

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## Bobbie Dier

> I find it irritating that a) you can't delete a post and b) even if you edit it, it has to show that it was edited, reason shown or not. This is a step down from the previous forum software. I prefer simplicity. What the current software does is insure unnecessary clutter.
> 
> Not being able to delete a post is definitely NOT "in the best interests of the community." If I could edit a post and not have it show, it wouldn't be so bad. Having a time limit on even that much is also a real blow to clarity and presentation.



I agree with Mr Hostetter 100%. My posts sometimes need deleting  :Redface:

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## Scott Tichenor

You're all welcome to your opinions about how this forum is set up and run, and we'll even provide the place for you to complain in public about it  :Smile: , but we/I stand by this policy. 

Not singling anyone out here, but the fact is too many people shoot before thinking, use the forum as a sword with their words and then think it's OK to remove those comments after others have posted. And yes, people do post when under the influence of various products which also results in colorful language one later regrets. I think it can be easy to forget that this is a public forum, and you should act accordingly. Uncontrolled editing and deleting allows those that act outside of the posting guidelines to do so without being held accountable for their own words. If something seriously needs to be edited or removed and is within reason, the moderators are happy to assist. But the days of editing and removal free-for-all are over.

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## JEStanek

See my post #13 above.  I edited it twice and didn't enter a reason either time, no Edited comment appears on my post.

Like any good builder measure twice cut once or read twice, post once.

Jamie

Edit I seem to be cross posting with Scott (and not putting a reason for editing in)

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## Bill Snyder

[QUOTE=Paul Hostetter;580252]...b) even if you edit it, it has to show that it was edited, reason shown or not. This is a step down from the previous forum software....

Any time you edited in the old forum software it showed that it had been edited and showed a time stamp.
It looked like this:

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## MikeEdgerton

As Bill has pointed out the old software did show an edit and by whom. That part isn't new.

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## Jim Broyles

The only time I deleted a post was when I gave incorrect information. This is especially important to me  when trying to help someone with chords to a song, or theory  information.  Sometimes you just don't see an error before it's too late. I hope that if someone posts factual errors that this would be considered "deletable" or "editable" by the moderators. For the record, I'm not crazy about the new delete/edit features. One way to handle it would be to not allow editing or deletion once a post has been responded to.

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## JEStanek

> The only time I deleted a post was when I gave incorrect information. This is especially important to me  when trying to help someone with chords to a song, or theory  information.  Sometimes you just don't see an a error before it's too late. I hope that if someone posts factual errors that this would be considered "deletable" or "editable" by the moderators. ....





> ...If something seriously needs to be edited or removed and is within reason, the moderators are happy to assist. But the days of editing and removal free-for-all are over.


JB, I believe the moderators would be willing to intervene in cases like that.  

Since most posts aren't quoted by another user when they are replied to I don't know how we could code for that.  Even more onerous would be requiring someone to quote whomever they were replying to in order to lock down a previous post from editing. 

The new forum software is new and, we'll all have to adjust to the new environment.  I'm confident people will adjust how to post and utilize the moderators for legitimate concerns.  Believe me, this is no power play by Scott and Ted.  It creates more work for them to maintain the integrity of the board this way.

Jamie

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## JEStanek

It would seem our Admin has fixed the edit glitch where if no reason is given the not edited box is put in.  I'll edit this and not give a reason and it will just display who did it and at what time.

Jamie

I'll add this text and enter no reason...

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## Doug Hoople

I use edit all the time, mostly to correct typos and grammatical errors, which drive me nuts. 

I occasionally rework a section that, on re-reading, failed to make the point I was trying to make, or could, from an unexpected perspective, be misconstrued. I've been thanked more than once for the re-workings.

And twice I've deleted a post altogether that, upon re-reading, was either outright wrong or ridiculously and stupidly provocative. In both of these cases, I felt guilty and amazed that it was possible to simply make those posts go away. I actually felt bad on one of these two deletions because it was on a hot topic, and there was fast and furious cross-posting. When I returned to the thread after the deletion, there was already a heated reply to a post that no longer existed. 

For the record, I like the edit function. I can see, though, why it might be too much power in irresponsible hands.

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## JEStanek

Another possible means to clarify a comment later on or even apologize for it if you don't want to ask a moderator to remove it is to quote your previous post and reply directly to it.  

It's kind of like an open audit trail of the conversation.

Jamie

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## Bill Snyder

> why not download Firefox or Google Chrome in both home and work (unless IT dept. is policing the process)


I have tried Firefox and and I do not like it as well as IE7 and while I use Google for searches I do not want any of their software loaded on any of my computers.

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