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Rumor · Oct 10, 2007, 03:17 PM

Supposedly there is a timer in which a thread title can change. It either is under 30 seconds or doesn't exist. To fix a thread title, I had to actually report the post. That is a waste of my time and a mods time.

Can we get this feature enabled? I'm trying, but I cannot come up with any significant reason why it is disabled.

Kevin · Oct 10, 2007, 03:19 PM

Well one time I made a thread that got waaay off topic. So I went back after 15 pages and changed the threads name to more fit the derail. And ever since then you've not been able to do it.

So you can blame .. er..

n.m.

Rumor · Oct 10, 2007, 03:27 PM

If something like that happens, then it could result in an infraction or a ban.

brassplayersrock² · Oct 10, 2007, 03:31 PM

i've been able to change the title of my threads here (typos whatnot) under say a few minutes after i posted the thread. anything after though i couldn't. maybe it's before someone responds that you are able to?

alex

turtle777 · Oct 10, 2007, 03:35 PM

Pff, how would I know, I'm a chocobo

-t

peeb · Oct 10, 2007, 03:49 PM

No, it's so open to abuse.

Rumor · Oct 10, 2007, 03:54 PM

Originally Posted by peeb

No, it's so open to abuse.

That's why we have mods. If someone abuses it, then they could get an infraction, temp banned, whatever.

Laminar · Oct 10, 2007, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by Rumor

That's why we have mods. If someone abuses it, then they could get an infraction, temp banned, whatever.

That's an awful solution though. People would get pissed that they received an infraction for editing their own thread's title. It would end up causing about 50,000 more feedback threads complaining about unfair modding blah blah blah. It's easier just to leave it as is.

adamfishercox · Oct 10, 2007, 04:51 PM

How would it be abused? And why would you abuse it?

Rumor · Oct 10, 2007, 06:47 PM

As of this post, my other thread title is still screwed up.

peeb · Oct 10, 2007, 06:58 PM

Originally Posted by Rumor

That's why we have mods. If someone abuses it, then they could get an infraction, temp banned, whatever.

Mods are already too busy.

Rumor · Oct 10, 2007, 07:25 PM

We shouldn't have to worry about people abusing it. If they do, boot them. It's that damn simple. They should be behaving, if they can't, that is their fault.

Chuckit · Oct 10, 2007, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by peeb

No, it's so open to abuse.

More so than editing the actual post body?

ghporter · Oct 10, 2007, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by Rumor

That's why we have mods. If someone abuses it, then they could get an infraction, temp banned, whatever.

Or you could just PM one of us and we can fix your title for you. No possibility of abuse there.

From my perspective, giving users the ability to edit titles is a bad idea. Some of our users could decide to use this ability to make other users look bad, simply by changing the thread's title-it could be very simple to change a thread from "collecting stamps" to "who collects used undies?", and I think everyone can see the incredibly bad course this sort of thing could take from there.

peeb · Oct 10, 2007, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by Chuckit

More so than editing the actual post body?

Yes, much more.

adamfishercox · Oct 10, 2007, 09:34 PM

I am a member of a forum where changing the title is allowed. It has never been abused and it actually seldom used. If it was introduced without fanfare, I think this would be useful for typos in titles, etc. The small stuff that you shouldn't need to bug a mod with.

Rumor · Oct 10, 2007, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Or you could just PM one of us and we can fix your title for you. No possibility of abuse there.

From my perspective, giving users the ability to edit titles is a bad idea. Some of our users could decide to use this ability to make other users look bad, simply by changing the thread's title-it could be very simple to change a thread from "collecting stamps" to "who collects used undies?", and I think everyone can see the incredibly bad course this sort of thing could take from there.

Hmm, perhaps I should clarify. It doesn't allow any user to edit any users title, just to edit their own thread title. Huge difference.

Kevin · Oct 11, 2007, 04:38 AM

Say you start a thread about .. I don't know, SUVs. And a bunch of anti-SUV zealots come in and flame it and act all trollish like. You could then change the topic to "Anti-SUV trolls that are idiots post here"

Before they blocked the ability to do such a thing, such things WERE happening.

ghporter · Oct 11, 2007, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by Rumor

Hmm, perhaps I should clarify. It doesn't allow any user to edit any users title, just to edit their own thread title. Huge difference.

And that still provides the OP the opportunity to cause problems... In my example above, it's the OP that's the troublemaker.

Chuckit · Oct 11, 2007, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Or you could just PM one of us and we can fix your title for you. No possibility of abuse there.

From my perspective, giving users the ability to edit titles is a bad idea. Some of our users could decide to use this ability to make other users look bad, simply by changing the thread's title-it could be very simple to change a thread from "collecting stamps" to "who collects used undies?", and I think everyone can see the incredibly bad course this sort of thing could take from there.

Again, it's possible right now for somebody to make a thread whose title is "A poll for all you MacNNers" whose contents are "Do you collect stamps?" He can then go back and change his post to say "used underwear" at any point. The idea that this is somehow a bigger risk in the title than in the body is just weird.

Rumor · Oct 11, 2007, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by Kevin

Say you start a thread about .. I don't know, SUVs. And a bunch of anti-SUV zealots come in and flame it and act all trollish like. You could then change the topic to "Anti-SUV trolls that are idiots post here"

Before they blocked the ability to do such a thing, such things WERE happening.

Then those people should have received infractions or been banned.

Originally Posted by ghporter

And that still provides the OP the opportunity to cause problems... In my example above, it's the OP that's the troublemaker.

Again, infractions or banned. I find it hard to believe that it would be that large of a problem. Hell, a new usergroup can be made and those that "abuse" this could be demoted. That would actually work for a lot of problems.

Originally Posted by Chuckit

Again, it's possible right now for somebody to make a thread whose title is "A poll for all you MacNNers" whose contents are "Do you collect stamps?" He can then go back and change his post to say "used underwear" at any point. The idea that this is somehow a bigger risk in the title than in the body is just weird.

You have a very valid point.

Demonhood · Oct 11, 2007, 12:37 PM

the current time limit for a user to edit his/her own thread title is 20 minutes, btw.

Kevin · Oct 11, 2007, 02:56 PM

Right. After 20 minutes there should be no reason that you'd need to change the topic. Grammatical errors? who cares.

adamfishercox · Oct 11, 2007, 03:23 PM

I change the price on something in the Marketplace and realize that I have the old price in the title, which might scare away buyers. I start a topic about my computer's unknown issue, and then in the course of the thread I figure out what the problem is and want to change the thread title to ask a new question: How much will said repair cost?... I can do more.

Rumor · Oct 11, 2007, 03:33 PM

Originally Posted by Demonhood

the current time limit for a user to edit his/her own thread title is 20 minutes, btw.

No way.

Check the time I created the thread, then check when I reported my own post. Less than 10 minutes. Actually, just check the time I created that thread and this thread.

shifuimam · Oct 11, 2007, 03:44 PM

If you want to keep the idiots and immature trolls out, maybe just allow title editing on the actual Mac-related subforums? I don't know if this kind of granular control is possible with vBulletin, but it would be nice to change thread titles for techie posts in the techie subforums...

Kevin · Oct 12, 2007, 04:27 AM

Originally Posted by shifuimam

If you want to keep the idiots and immature trolls out, maybe just allow title editing

Then ban them for abusing it?

Rumor · Oct 12, 2007, 12:35 PM

Originally Posted by Kevin

Originally Posted by shifuimam

If you want to keep the idiots and immature trolls out, maybe just allow title editing

Then ban them for abusing it?

Brilliant!

Demonhood · Oct 12, 2007, 01:11 PM

title editing is sitewide. it can't be edited on a forum by forum basis.

brassplayersrock² · Oct 12, 2007, 01:59 PM

how about a test of this and see if it backfires and if it doesn't, then we keep it. like a weekend long test

Kevin · Oct 12, 2007, 04:59 PM

Yeah if no one abuses it in one weekend, they wont EVER.

brassplayersrock² · Oct 12, 2007, 05:03 PM

aww shudup yous

adamfishercox · Oct 12, 2007, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by Kevin

Yeah if no one abuses it in one weekend, they wont EVER.

No, if no one abuses it over the weekend, it's likely that there will be few instances of abuse in general.

red rocket · Oct 13, 2007, 05:27 AM

I think editing should be disabled altogether.

A few days ago, I saw this thread where the OP asked a question, got an answer, then deleted his original post and replaced it with ‘Thanks, problem solved!’. Pissed me off to no end.

Kevin · Oct 13, 2007, 05:28 AM

Originally Posted by adamfishercox

No, if no one abuses it over the weekend, it's likely that there will be few instances of abuse in general.

Hmm see I simply don't see how that correlates. If people KNOW they are being watched for that weekend, they simply wont abuse it then.

Kevin · Oct 13, 2007, 05:29 AM

Originally Posted by red rocket

I think editing should be disabled altogether.

A few days ago, I saw this thread where the OP asked a question, got an answer, then deleted his original post and replaced it with ‘Thanks, problem solved!’. Pissed me off to no end.

Yeah that is a bit annoying. I think that would be better served with a mod requesting said user to not do that. Rather than taking editing powers of posts away.

adamfishercox · Oct 13, 2007, 10:33 AM

I agree, but turning off editing altogether would mean a whole bunch of double posts by people who had forgotten to add something, and especially in the marketplace, we could see quintuple posts from adding new items...

brassplayersrock² · Oct 13, 2007, 11:53 AM

how about the mods turn it on and not tell anyone? whoever figures it out, figures it out. very simple

Kevin · Oct 13, 2007, 11:57 AM

Yeah and no one would tell anyone. And everyone would keep the secret to themselves.

I see where you are coming from. Brilliant idea.

brassplayersrock² · 07:22 AM

Big darn image

(Edited because the resizer just ain't up to the task...)

Kevin · Oct 13, 2007, 12:52 PM

Don't mind the image... but cheese and rice... I think you need to make it bigger.

ghporter · Oct 13, 2007, 03:14 PM

I think you gave the auto sizer a hernia there, brassplayersrock²! Please don't give him so much work to do!

Seriously, if you post an image of immense proportions, sizing it will be the second problem for users. The first will be that the whole freakin' original-sized picture has to be downloaded before it can be sized, and that really hurts.

brassplayersrock² · Oct 13, 2007, 09:37 PM

alright, i'll try and make sure to check the org. image size before hotlinking from the site.

still say that we should atleast try the thread title editing beyond the 20 minute rule. maybe expanding it to 24hrs?

Alex

ghporter · Oct 16, 2007, 07:16 AM

20 minutes helps promote proofreading one's new threads, and avoids (though it can't really prevent) the heinous activities I've described above. It's safer, and if there's a typo that really needs addressing, there are enough mods around that it'll get fixed if you just ask.

Kevin · Oct 16, 2007, 08:18 AM

I wonder why this is being made such a big deal of. Unless there are changes to topics that someone wants to make that they don't think an op would approve of, everything should be taken care of.

adamfishercox · Oct 16, 2007, 02:23 PM

I really don't think anyone is going to use the title editing for evil, but w/e...

Kevin · Oct 16, 2007, 02:27 PM

Then if you can edit a title just by msg'ing an op, what should be the problem? That was my question. If no evil was intended, msging an admin would in the end, do the same thing.

Rumor · Oct 17, 2007, 11:28 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

20 minutes helps promote proofreading one's new threads, and avoids (though it can't really prevent) the heinous activities I've described above. It's safer, and if there's a typo that really needs addressing, there are enough mods around that it'll get fixed if you just ask.

As I pointed out before, I don't think the 20 minute thing is working. From the time I posted the original thread and posted this thread (less than 20 minutes), I couldn't edit the title on the original thread.

shifuimam · 01:04 PM

I PMed a mod once to change the title of my iBook mod thread, and nobody responded...

+1 for title editing.

ghporter · Oct 22, 2007, 07:20 AM

Originally Posted by shifuimam

I PMed a mod once to change the title of my iBook mod thread, and nobody responded...

+1 for title editing.

Sometimes we have these things called "lives" where we don't get a chance to do something we're asked to do. Without knowing what thread and in what forum you're talking about, I can point out that sometimes we do things like go away for a weekend, for a week or more at a time on business, and so on. I've taken weeks off at a time for school work. PMing one mod one time and not following up is not realistic. And ONE "oops" may take away all of one's "attaboys", but that doesn't mean you should give up.