Editing posts

[stitchdup]

Just a quick note to say editing posts will be time limited again. Unfortunately scammers are using it to come back later to add dodgy external links. We don't want anybody getting caught out so this is the best prevention at the moment. Sorry folks

[meechum68]

Sounds good @stitchdup do what ya have to keep the site clean! 

[Ace-Garageguy]

19 hours ago, stitchdup said:

Just a quick note to say editing posts will be time limited again. Unfortunately scammers are using it to come back later to add dodgy external links. We don't want anybody getting caught out so this is the best prevention at the moment. Sorry folks

Well, no big deal.

Unfortunately, the last time old threads were allowed to be edited, editing text had the unfortunate side-effect glitch of deleting all the photos in the post that was text-edited...which made them useless...and can't be back-edited to restore the photos.

Pretty special, doncha think?

[peteski]

@stitchdup

For quite some time editing capability has already been limited to just few days. Are you shortening it to even less time?  How much time?  I often come  back to my post next day and see something that needs to be corrected (I'm far from perfect and spell checker also doe not work very well).

[TECHMAN]

The loss of the photos makes a thread sorta "lame", but,  having some type of spyware/virus take over the forum, seems to me, to be far worse.......  Only my humble opinion.....

If the changes are done for the sake of the safety of the forum, then, carry on.

DJ

[Ace-Garageguy]

6 hours ago, peteski said:

@stitchdup

... and spell checker also doe not work very well).

Yup.  

Edited Wednesday at 09:48 PM by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

26 minutes ago, TECHMAN said:

The loss of the photos makes a thread sorta "lame", but,  having some type of spyware/virus take over the forum, seems to me, to be far worse.......  Only my humble opinion.....

If the changes are done for the sake of the safety of the forum, then, carry on.

DJ

For a while, IIRC, there was an option that could negotiated through the mods for a specific user to be granted editing access to older posts, which is great if you have time to sift through thousands of photos on your drive to find the ones once used to illustrate text.

I personally detest redoing work that I got wrong in the first place, but I'll do it; its MY responsibility.

But redoing work that just flat isn't my own fault? Most likely not.

Edited Wednesday at 04:11 PM by Ace-Garageguy

[iamsuperdan]

5 hours ago, peteski said:

@stitchdup

For quite some time editing capability has already been limited to just few days. Are you shortening it to even less time?  How much time?  I often come  back to my post next day and see something that needs to be corrected (I'm far from perfect and spell checker also doe not work very well).

 

The editing window has been set at 30 days for some time now. At one point, it was much shorter...only a day or two at most, but there were a ton of complaints, so we lengthened it.

Lately though, the scammers have discovered this. So they post something innocuous in a thread. "Beautiful build! I really like that!"

And then two weeks later, they edit the thread to include a link to some scammy service or product. 

So we've decided to shorten the editing window to one week, hopefully this will help.

Right now, it's an all or none thing. The current forum software prevents us from differentiating edits between long time users and new users. 

We have a software upgrade coming in the near future, so the possibility exists that we will be able to limit editing for newer users while allowing forum veterans to edit whenever they want.

 

We shall keep you all posted.

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

25 minutes ago, iamsuperdan said:

...We have a software upgrade coming in the near future, so the possibility exists that we will be able to limit editing for newer users while allowing forum veterans to edit whenever they want.

 

We shall keep you all posted.

 

We live in hope...but I won't hold my breatf. (there's that pesky spllellchick aginge)

[peteski]

15 hours ago, iamsuperdan said:

 

The editing window has been set at 30 days for some time now. At one point, it was much shorter...only a day or two at most, but there were a ton of complaints, so we lengthened it.

Lately though, the scammers have discovered this. So they post something innocuous in a thread. "Beautiful build! I really like that!"

And then two weeks later, they edit the thread to include a link to some scammy service or product. 

So we've decided to shorten the editing window to one week, hopefully this will help.

Right now, it's an all or none thing. The current forum software prevents us from differentiating edits between long time users and new users. 

We have a software upgrade coming in the near future, so the possibility exists that we will be able to limit editing for newer users while allowing forum veterans to edit whenever they want.

 

We shall keep you all posted.

 

One week works for me.

I'm also surprised that with all the precautions moderators take there are still scammers getting through as legit users. Between all the scammers trying to scam people and general population seeming to get more and more gullible, we sure live is in crappy times.

Edited yesterday at 01:11 PM by peteski

[Dave Ambrose]

12 hours ago, peteski said:

One week works for me.

I'm also surprised that with all the precautions moderators take there are still scammers getting through as legit users. Between all the scammers trying to scam people and general population seeming to get more and more gullible, we sure live is in crappy times.

The spammers are getting more sophisticated and willing to invest more time in establishing themselves. Forums seem to be their new favorite target. We have prescreening in place, but that doesn't get all of them. We implemented the initial moderation requirement, and they're now working through that, and finding ways to bypass those protections too. 

As much as I might like to send them 450kg of HMX (gift-wrapped of course), that option isn't open to us. 

[iamsuperdan]

10 minutes ago, Dave Ambrose said:

As much as I might like to send them 450kg of HMX (gift-wrapped of course), that option isn't open to us. 

But possibly will be in the next update?

🤪

[peteski]

22 hours ago, Dave Ambrose said:

The spammers are getting more sophisticated and willing to invest more time in establishing themselves. Forums seem to be their new favorite target.

Interesting. As I understood, the old-school online forums were a dying breed of social media. I'm surprised that scammers put in so much effort to infiltrate the old-school forums, when all most action is on Facebooks, Instagrams, YouTubes, TikTocks and all the other more modern communication venues.