Should Members Be Able To Edit/Delete Their Posts?

Hey.. I have a xbox forum & im not sure weither i should allow my members to be able to edit and/or delete their posts. What have you got set on your forum? Whats your thought on allowing editing & deleting posts by members?

 

Editing should be allowed,and not delete,let the staff delete the post.

 

Currently i have it so my members can not edit or delete their posts. I have 2 groups on my forum "XLF Reviewers" & "Forum Welcomers". These members help out on the forum & they can edit & delete their posts. But im thinking about making it so no one can delete posts, but everything can edit them upto to 30 minutes after posting then no more. As well as members being able to post allowed content, then go back a while later and change it to spam content.. I dont like the idea of a member posting a thread, then after getting replies to it, change it to say differant text to make it look as if the members replied on that instead of the thread which was there before the edit.

 

On previous forums I used to manage, I had it set up so that members can edit their own posts after a certain time limit, and can also perform a soft delete of their posts. Even with soft delete, I noticed that this gave complications after a while. Editing seemed to work fine however.

 

Yes, Thats seems to be the general feedback im getting from people. (Never let members delete) & (Limited editing time period for members). What is Soft Delete?

 

Instead of being permanently deleted, the posts are still there. The contents of the post are not visible and a message saying that the post has been deleted is displayed instead.

 

Ok, i never knew what you mnt when you said soft delete. Would it not be ok to create like a "Old Stuff" or "Trash/Bin" forum and move all the post there which i would be wanting to delete?

 

I would think that's fine and I have done the same thing in the past. Soft delete is just from the member's end.

 

Ok. Cool. Do you think i should make the "Trash"/"SPAM" folder visible to my members? or make it Read Only? or what you think?

 

That's totally up to you. I've seen it done on some forums. I haven't done it myself since I didn't really see the need to. But I guess it can show your members examples of what they should not do.

 

Depends on what your trying to accomplish. As a general rule, I'd allow editing posts within a certain amount of time, but I would never allow normal members to delete posts.

 

I would be fine allowing members to edit their posts, in fact, I believe this to be a necessity for most forums but I would never allow "Non Premium" members to delete their own posts/threads (if they're the starter), that sounds like it could cause more trouble than it's worth.

 

Yes, you can edit the thread but you can't delete, and make sure edit only within certain moment.

 

So far, thinking.. Reason For Not Allowing Editing After Certain Time Limit: For example.. Say you have a forum with doesnt allow posting of certain links to certains websites, lets say "adult sites". So i could make a thread on your forum posting something which you allow to be posted. Then after a while, i come back to your forum, go to that post, then change it completely to advertise the "adult site". If you have a busy forum, the post which has been edited could be pages back into your forum & less likely to be spotted of an admin or mod. This me getting my "adult site" advertised on your forum which i could have done if there was No Editing or Editing Was Timed. I could also make a thread on your forum, after another member repling on that thread, i could change the text in my post that started the thread to make it look like that other member posted a reply on something else other than what that member was really posting on. ---- Reason For Not Allowing Editing After Certain Time Limit: You could also lose any good SEO that page gives your website/forum, If that page has good Rank, etc.. A member could ruin that with deleting their post. Also.. if a member decides for some reason or another, they could delete every post they have in proberly not alot of time. These posts could be popular topics on your forum & they will be all gone.

 

I say yes on both with a short time limit. There have been times where I've lost my temper and posted. Then after about 30 minutes or so cooled down and thought better of it,and either edited or deleted outright.
Without these options hotheads like me would be banned in short order with monotonous regularity.

 

Editing should be allowed, however deleting is completely depending on your site. For example, if it's a market and the user posts a scam post and a victim becomes a member. Getting proof will be a challenge.