Editing classified posts REVISED

[Rob Luter]

Hey Mods...

Do you suppose you might consider extending editing rights for posts in the classifieds? Editing the original post to show what's sold and what's not makes for the cleanest approach, but after a day the editing rights are gone. With many ads being posted a week or more that means an interested party needs to scroll though the whole thread to see what's left. We'd be able to close out our own ads then too. First world problem for sure, but it would smooth things out some.

Thanks for your consideration.

Admin Edit: You can now edit any post or thread you created in the classifieds forum at any time.
This new rule only applies to the Classified Forum.

[John K Jordan]

Rob,

I think everyone agrees that would be helpful. But I think when asked before this wasn't possible with the current forum software.

What you can do is ask a moderator to edit it for you after the window to edit is expired. I've done that for several people. Also, you can click the little "Report Post" button at the bottom of a the message and ask that the entire thread be deleted. I don't see why it couldn't be used to ask for editing as well if you can't contact a moderator directly. However, the thread still gets messy unless all the intermediate messages that are purged - but that could be an effort for the moderator to make sure exactly the right messages were deleted - I'd hate to do that in a long thread.

Another thing people do is add an updated post to the thread with just the items remaining, or copy the entire list with the word "Sold" in bold in front of each item that is gone.

It seems to me a cleaner way might be to put each item in a separate thread. That way, the thread doesn't get long and an "item sold" message is pretty clear, especially if you have that message title simply say "Sold". Follow that with a "report post" request to delete that thread and you're done with that item.

JKJ



Hey Mods...

Do you suppose you might consider extending editing rights for posts in the classifieds? Editing the original post to show what's sold and what's not makes for the cleanest approach, but after a day the editing rights are gone. With many ads being posted a week or more that means an interested party needs to scroll though the whole thread to see what's left. We'd be able to close out our own ads then too. First world problem for sure, but it would smooth things out some.

Thanks for your consideration.

[Mike Kreinhop]

It's been a while since I administered a vB site, but I remember it was fairly easy to set the permissions to allow or deny a usergroup to edit posts in a specific forum. This has to be done by an Administrator through the AdminCP, and changes made to one forum don't carry over to the rest of the site.

[Jim Becker]

The question was asked and answered by Keith recently. Unfortunately, the edit window permissions cannot differ in one forum area over other forum areas. Just ask a moderator to help with a major change to a listing (or to remove it) by using the "report post" button so that the first moderator who actually sees it will take care of it for you.

Jim
SMC Moderator

[Rob Luter]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I can’t understand why edit rights expire at all. Other forums I participate in have that feature available all the time with no apparent downside. No matter, I’m a team player. Thanks Mods.

[Keith Outten]

For many years the ability to edit threads and posts here never expired. Then we had a small group that decided they wanted to try to destroy every thread they had participated by editing their posts and removing pictures. This kind of behavior is disrespectful towards other people who also had posts in all of the threads that were targeted. Threads lose continuity when portions are removed and often cease to make sense.

Some public forums are not concerned about protecting the past. It has always been my opinion that our archives are important because they contain valuable information. People spend countless hours sharing their knowledge and pictures of projects here. We need to be responsible with the information we host and at least preserve it for all of the woodworkers to come, some of them may be your children and grandchildren.

You would be surprised how much woodworking information is available here including project pictures, drawings, pdf files and personal sketches. Most jump in and simply ask questions every day, some find out what a great resource our archives are.

[Timothy Robinson]

Sorry Keith, if this is an inappropriate place to ask this question but I couldn't figure out how to contact you directly otherwise. Is SC a forum where I might post pictures and get an ID on a thickness planer I have just acquired? It is going to need parts so I am looking for a way to get to a parts list instead of having to enlist a machinist. And by the way, totally agree about the preserve-for-posterity mindset.

[Timothy Robinson]

And by the way, Keith, the planer is part of a lot I bought to part out and sell. I attempted to put some powermatic bandsaw parts up in the "classifieds" but although I have permission here, I don't there. How is that gained?

[Lee Schierer]

Sorry Keith, if this is an inappropriate place to ask this question but I couldn't figure out how to contact you directly otherwise. Is SC a forum where I might post pictures and get an ID on a thickness planer I have just acquired? It is going to need parts so I am looking for a way to get to a parts list instead of having to enlist a machinist. And by the way, totally agree about the preserve-for-posterity mindset.

Yes you can post photos, look for the small picture frame at the top of each Quick Reply page.


And by the way, Keith, the planer is part of a lot I bought to part out and sell. I attempted to put some powermatic bandsaw parts up in the "classifieds" but although I have permission here, I don't there. How is that gained?

Only contributors can post items for sale in the classifieds section. You can become a contributor for a mere $6.00 per year.

[Timothy Robinson]

@Lee Schierer: Thanks Lee. Unfamiliar with the formatting. Which area in the forums would you suggest is the best for the tool identification?

[Rob Luter]

For many years the ability to edit threads and posts here never expired. Then we had a small group that decided they wanted to try to destroy every thread they had participated by editing their posts and removing pictures. This kind of behavior is disrespectful towards other people who also had posts in all of the threads that were targeted. Threads lose continuity when portions are removed and often cease to make sense.

Some public forums are not concerned about protecting the past. It has always been my opinion that our archives are important because they contain valuable information. People spend countless hours sharing their knowledge and pictures of projects here. We need to be responsible with the information we host and at least preserve it for all of the woodworkers to come, some of them may be your children and grandchildren.

You would be surprised how much woodworking information is available here including project pictures, drawings, pdf files and personal sketches. Most jump in and simply ask questions every day, some find out what a great resource our archives are.

Thanks for the detailed response Keith. I appreciate the historical perspective. I see where you're coming from.

[Lee Schierer]

@Lee Schierer: Thanks Lee. Unfamiliar with the formatting. Which area in the forums would you suggest is the best for the tool identification?

If they are power tools, then the General Woodworking and Power tools section would be best. Hand tools would go to the Neanderthal section..Lathes to turning. If it isn't right one of the moderators would likely move it to where it belongs.

[Timothy Robinson]

Thanks again, Lee. If anyone is interested, I am now a contributor and put the bandsaw parts up in the classifieds section.

[Mel Fulks]

Keith, thanks for that policy and explaining it.

[Mike Kreinhop]

For many years the ability to edit threads and posts here never expired. Then we had a small group that decided they wanted to try to destroy every thread they had participated by editing their posts and removing pictures. This kind of behavior is disrespectful towards other people who also had posts in all of the threads that were targeted. Threads lose continuity when portions are removed and often cease to make sense.

I experienced this on one of my vBulletin sites, and it is disruptive to the flow of information. By the time I discovered this, over 1,000 threads had been affected, so I permanently banned the members, deleted the threads, rebuilt the caches and search history, and normalized the database tables. This was four or five hours of my weekend shot while the well-behaved members were denied access to the site during the repairs. There were also a couple of members who would post an acerbic comment and edit it an hour or so later, after the intended recipient would have had time to read it, and then deny making the comments when the recipient complained. They never realized Moderators and Administrators could see the complete edit history of every post.

Despite this, it was still necessary to keep the unrestricted editing available for some areas, but the message about the consequences of slashing and burning was received and I never had another problem with it.

[Rob Luter]

For many years the ability to edit threads and posts here never expired. Then we had a small group that decided they wanted to try to destroy every thread they had participated by editing their posts and removing pictures.....

Just revisiting this. When I post photos they are links to a my photo host. I periodically maintain my photographs and it's probable that shots used in an old post might get moved or edited at the host level, thereby breaking the link and perhaps to some destroying the thread. What kind of limitations are placed on uploading photos directly to the SMC website so they'll live in perpetuity (or at least as long as the Mods want them around)? There may be a help note on this but I've been unable to find it.

[John K Jordan]

Just revisiting this. When I post photos they are links to a my photo host. I periodically maintain my photographs and it's probable that shots used in an old post might get moved or edited at the host level, thereby breaking the link and perhaps to some destroying the thread. What kind of limitations are placed on uploading photos directly to the SMC website so they'll live in perpetuity (or at least as long as the Mods want them around)? There may be a help note on this but I've been unable to find it.

Keith can give the definitive answer, but from what I've been told all photos and threads are saved permanently on the servers, never deleted except for "expired" classifieds posts. At the time of the Photo Bucket fiasco there was encouragement here to upload photos instead of hosting them elsewhere for the exact reason you mention - so the threads don't become useless.

There is one thing about linking to photos that some people may prefer for the impact: they are displayed full-size in the message instead of as thumbnails, so the user sees this:

https://sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=367169&d=1504445984

instead of having to click on this:

409210

Linking also lets you put a photo in a PM since it can't be uploaded there. There is a round-about way to make photos full size without linking to an off-site host. The disadvantage with the full-sized photos is that people who live in areas with slow internet connections or those who pay for service by the byte can suffer.

JKJ

[Keith Outten]

You can now edit any post or thread you created in the classifieds forum at any time.
This new rule only applies to the Classified Forum.

[Rob Luter]

Thanks Keith and John.

[Rob Luter]

Good morning Keith

That editing functionality doesn't seem to be working. I logged out and then back in but still no editing privileges. Ideas?

- Rob

[Keith Outten]

Rob,

Sorry about the problem I will ask Aaron to see if he can find a solution.

[Rob Luter]

Thanks Keith.

[Keith Outten]

Rob,
I spoke with Aaron and he has decided that he cannot change the editing privileges for just one forum. He tried and thought he had a configuration that worked but the only option is to allow editing by all Contributors in every forum which we don't want to do at this time. Possibly when we are able to convert to Xenforo we will be able to provide editing capability. Sorry!

[Rob Luter]

It's all good. Thanks for checking.

[James Spangler]

I see this thread is old, but I am having this same problem now.
I have a listing in the Classifieds section that I would like to edit (changing it to "free shipping") but I do not see any way to do that.
Please advise.

[Jackie Outten]

James

Send me a link to your post and I will edit it for you.

Jackie Outten

[Bruce Page]

James, you can PM your request to any moderator and we will take care of it for you.