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Editing posts.

So, I've noticed that sometimes I can edit my posts, and yet sometimes I can't. Just wondering, what's the deal with that?

I find it a bit frustrating, since I tend to treat my posts as first drafts and will often go back to change things after posting them.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
I think there is a one hour window when you can edit and then your post is locked.
It has something to do with preventing spamming I believe.
 

Black Dragon

Staff
Administrator
Yes, Cup of Joe has it right. There's a one hour window to edit posts. This became necessary due to an invasion of spammers who were abusing the editing feature. They would make normal looking posts, and then come back days or weeks later to insert links to virus-infested spam sites. It was a very serious security issue, and this was the only viable solution.
 
Yes, Cup of Joe has it right. There's a one hour window to edit posts. This became necessary due to an invasion of spammers who were abusing the editing feature. They would make normal looking posts, and then come back days or weeks later to insert links to virus-infested spam sites. It was a very serious security issue, and this was the only viable solution.

Yeah, some spambots do that. The sollution is pretty much to spot them right away and get rid of them before they can do any harm.

I recommend using the "preview post" feature to help alleviate your editing concerns.

I do that as well, but I percieve mistakes better after making the actual post.
 

Black Dragon

Staff
Administrator
The solution is pretty much to spot them right away and get rid of them before they can do any harm.

Actually, we have the bots pretty well under control. They come at us in hordes, but their stuff rarely makes it through the filters.

The spammers who were doing this were real people, leaving seemingly on-topic posts. Those are the hardest ones to catch.
 
The spammers who were doing this were real people, leaving seemingly on-topic posts. Those are the hardest ones to catch.

Are you sure? Because I've been a forumite around the web for quite some time now and while I may have mistaken regular posters for spambots on occasion, I honestly don't think I've ever encountered a real, living spammer. I've always presumed hiring actual people to do it probably isn't worth it, since spam tends to work best on a shutgun-type principle. Some bots are very good immitations, though.

Things to look for are posters with very generic names, who make very generic and vague posts. Naturally, bots can't actually communicate so often it's enough to just check their previous posts, and if non of them seem to adress anyone else directly it's probably just a cleverly designed program. There's a particular sub-type that seems to exclusively target long threads and will actually copy earlier posts and re-post them to give the impression of being on topic. Though, I usually see them in RPG threads, which is kind of a dead give-away.

Oh well. Either way, hope you can deal with the spam. I suppose I'll just have to keep the one-hour limit in mind from now on.
 

Black Dragon

Staff
Administrator
Are you sure? Because I've been a forumite around the web for quite some time now and while I may have mistaken regular posters for spambots on occasion, I honestly don't think I've ever encountered a real, living spammer.

While they are the minority, we've had quite a few living, human spammers on here. You can tell because they leave posts that respond to the thread topic in a coherent, relevant manner. They then try to cleverly sneak links into their posts in an unobtrusive, nearly invisible way.

Thankfully our moderators are good at spotting these folks, and we always catch them in the end. The "edit post" feature was the one loophole that they exploited with any success, so closing it was important.
 

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
Black Dragon,

I totally get what you did and why you did it. I was wondering, however, if there is any way to give "established" users the ability to edit at any time. Maybe once someone reaches a certain reputation or post count?

I just posted a reply to a thread in the Showcase Forum that I started a long time ago. In order to reduce the chances of someone trying to post a comment to the original post, I'd love to be able to edit the start of it telling them to please go to the new post.

Thanks.

Brian
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
I just posted a reply to a thread in the Showcase Forum that I started a long time ago. In order to reduce the chances of someone trying to post a comment to the original post, I'd love to be able to edit the start of it telling them to please go to the new post.
Brian,

If you still want to edit your Showcase post, just PM me to let me know what you want to say and I'll copy-paste your words and link to the "new post."

-John
 
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