Edit Message Option

[RayFarmer]

Hi Molly,

It would be nice if you could add maybe a short message why you had to make the Edit to the Messsage
so that when its seen on the seen by others you would have. this could be purely optional.


Edit by Ray Farmer ... - spelling mistaken of users name.


Regards
Ray Farmer

[Molly K]

Ray Farmer -

I like this suggestion. I think it's helpful when people clarify what they have changed. I will add this to the list of things for the forum developers to consider in future releases.

Thanks for the suggestion, and have a great weekend!

[Scott_Richardson]

Molly -
Currently there appears to be a time limit as to when you can edit an existing message that has a mistake. As a developer, you may realize that you made a mistake and it would be better to edit the existing message later, but the time limit poses a problem. In my case, I was in the middle of editing the message and the time limit occurred. What is the time limit?

[Scott_Richardson]

Molly -
Maybe allow the time limit to be extended or no limit if the rating of the member is high?

[tst]

Scott, Molly has said in the past that there is a problem with extending the timeout because of the need for synchronization with the newsgroups, but it seems that if you're still editing when it expired, your edit should still be posted, even if some time has passed and even though it says it has expired.
I agree that it would be nice to have a longer timeout.

[Molly K]

Scott -

There are two scenarios I can think of that describe the timing associated with editing posts. Should the timeout be restricting how long you have the option to edit a post? Or, should the timeout be restricting how long you have to complete the edit of a post?

The timeout for allowing edit to posts is 5 minutes. How we would like for that to work would be that the option would be available for 5 minutes and then you had as much time as you needed to actually edit your message and resubmit it.

The reason we keep the edit time period short is partly because of the synchronization with NNTP and also to keep an actual record of the conversation rather than allowing users to change messages after others have replied to them and cause confusion.

The way it works right now, the timeout for editing posts is set to 5 minutes. What the product is supposed to do is not only limit the time period that the edit option is available but to also require that all edits be submitted and completed in that time period. The caveat here is that this is how the product is designed, but not how it is actually working.

Now, you have 5 minutes where the option to edit the message is available. If you submit your edit after the 5 minute timeout expires you are given an error message saying your edit timeout expired, but the edit is actually submitted to the system. This is a known issue in the system and it is on the list to fix in a future release. An example demonstrating this is your message that you posted at 31 minutes past the hour, but edited at 39 minutes past the hour.

http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=330&message.id=6699#M6699

Hope I didn't confuse things more!

Which way do you prefer the design to work? Limit how long the option is available or how long it actually takes to submit it?

Thanks!

[Scott_Richardson]

Molly -
Yes, I was confused about the error message. I then posted to your list. When I returned I saw that my post actually went through.

I would prefer that the time limit only apply to the chance to request a edit, and to not impose the limit on the time to compose the edit. This leaves no confusion on the part of the editor and leaves enough time to fix a mistake.

[Edit1: Can an edit of an existing message allow a user to remove attachement(s)]?
[Edit2: I just tried this and it was allowed. Now that I know this is possible, my approach will be to edit the posting and "withdraw" the attachement or mistake and repost later the fix or correction.]

Message Edited by Scott Richardson (NI) on 05-05-2005 09:29 AM

[Scott_Richardson]

Molly -
One suggestion is that the error message could be ok if the text is change to say that the edit post was successful, but further edits are not allowed because of the 5 minute time limit expired. This way a user learns that there is a time limit and what the time limit is.

[Molly K]

Thanks for the suggestion. I have modified the "error message" to clarify that your edit has been successfully submitted. The user experience is still not natural because you remain on the Edit Message page instead of returning to the board or thread view, but hopefully it will help clear up some of the confusion.

Thanks!