@Macker said:

One idea I'm liking at present: at the very least let us delete a post that needs editing, such that a new edit can be posted without having to leave the old post behind.

And even if editing is not our aim, why can't we delete any of our posts without having to ask a moderator to do it for us? What's that all about?

Because we had some users who ruined entire threads by deleting their posts months or even years later. During the transition I had to delete many of such threads simply because they were no longer readable / made any sense. And that was the reason why we disabled deletion of posts.

Still, we kept editing open until this option was also being abused to unacceptable levels. Sometimes you can't have nice things because some people that will ruin it for everyone, sorry.

My opinion: Editing Posts is not meant to be used to revise the content your post, change your opinion etc. It's there to fix typos, formatting, etc. Some users have legitimate reasons to edit posts much later (for example edit links or add updated information), but most of these users are moderators and can do so anyways, and for the others I can only offer contacting a moderator by mentioning or sending a PM.
If you changed your mind a year later you simply write a new post. If the old one is really problematic for some reason you can always contact a moderator as well.

One suggestion I have is that if you want to write long posts which are essentially blog posts..then open an actual blog...and of course you would always post a link here or to any other forum you like that reference to your blog posts and discuss it at will. But these days there are literally dozens of ways to write short or lengthy blogs and post them online, completely for free, and you will have complete editing and deleting control, in some cases also the ability to format better, provide images liberally, etc.

Basically, it is so easy.

Think before you talk. Think before you write.

You do this in real life, too, so please do it also in forums.

And if it turns out that previously you said something incorrect or inappropriate, then create another post and state what the real content should have been.

I don't know why common sense rules of living and communicating should all of a sudden change just because we say words not by mouth but by a keyboard.

Compared to the old VSL forum, it's true we now have a few helpful new facilities in this version. But at the same time, the new restrictions appear to be totally unrelated to - even at odds with - not only those helpful new facilities, but also the old forum as a whole. At first sight it's bizarre (but my general waffle below may hold a key clue).

Furthermore, our expression of some of our most natural, common and harmless human freedoms is very obviously impinged upon here by these new restrictions, with hardly more than casuistic explanations given as to why 'it must be thus'.

It's not so much the forum itself that's important; it's the ethos that its structure, methods and rules tend to portray to its users. Are we to understand it's the ethos of VSL? (A purely rhetorical question.)

...

(More broadly, I'm very curious about what lies ahead in the current battle of a certain software-oriented minority (present company excepted of course!) who in recent years seems to have become obviously hell-bent on trying to turn back the clock by regenerating the grandiose, 'vertical', top-down mass communications of the past several centuries; versus the vast overwhelming majority of us who rightly enjoy the unprecedented, colossal, 'horizontal' peer-to-peer communications networks of today. Well maybe because I'm ex armed forces and then a weapon systems designer, cold-wars fascinate me; this one looks like it has legs and could be a whopper - even though it's hugely asymmetric.)

I do not even have an "Edit" option on my posts - I wish I did because I posted an Imgur link to a screenshot and only after posting did I realize there was an option to actually attach the photo within the post itself

I agree with Macker's request and suggest a time window of 7 days to subsequently change posts.

If misuse occurs, the time window could be shortened again.

@rajucu said:

I agree with Macker's request and suggest a time window of 7 days to subsequently change posts.

If misuse occurs, the time window could be shortened again.

Sorry, 7 days will not work.
Right now I have to delete 1-2 bots every 2-3 days. Without edit limit it was around 2 bots a day, many with GPT posts that are sometimes not easy to distinguish from real posts.
Currently the first post of every user has to be manually checked and approved by a VSL team-member, and this way I catch the majority of spam bots. If I increase the edit time-frame more bots will slip through the manual check and edit in their spam links a few hours after being approved.

@Ben said:

@rajucu said:

I agree with Macker's request and suggest a time window of 7 days to subsequently change posts.

If misuse occurs, the time window could be shortened again.

Sorry, 7 days will not work.
Right now I have to delete 1-2 bots every 2-3 days. Without edit limit it was around 2 bots a day, many with GPT posts that are sometimes not easy to distinguish from real posts.
Currently the first post of every user has to be manually checked and approved by a VSL team-member, and this way I catch the majority of spam bots. If I increase the edit time-frame more bots will slip through the manual check and edit in their spam links a few hours after being approved.

Very unfortunate, but thank you for your message.

For my better understanding: What is the purpose of bot posts in a forum like this?

@rajucu said:
For my better understanding: What is the purpose of bot posts in a forum like this?

I have no idea. Most links go to scam mobile/browser games, online casinos, Get-Rich-Quick sites and so on.
My best guess: Besides Users clicking on these links they try to increase their SEO scoring (the forum is regularely being scanned by all kind of AI and search engine bots).

Ben, if that's the scenario you're confronted with, then in your position I'd want to implement 2 ideas for dealing with it that wouldn't need to do away with the two important old forum user-facilities of unlimited time for editing or deleting a post, for use by time-tested legit members and especially customers:–

[1] Assuming the typical bandit creates a new bogus forum account each time they have a go; then it's easy to deal with. I'd automatically place your new restrictions on all new non-customer accounts only, but lift the restrictions after, say, 6 legit posts have been made here or, say, 6 months have elapsed, or a purchase is made, whichever comes first.

[2] To detect bandits positively I'd set a thief to catch a thief - more specifically: set an impostor to catch an impostor, a phoney to catch a phoney. Yep, I'm talking about using AI to do the detective work. I'd equip myself with both GPT4 and the superb Claude (both, because apparently an AI isn't very good at recognising its own work), teach them what the forum looks like normally and what bandit posts look like; then sit back, supervise, and enjoy the fun.