20 Minute Time Limit for Editing Messages Forum Integrity and Personal Accountability
In order to protect our forum members, preserve the integrity of a thread and to bring a level of personal accountability and responsibility to personal actions, we have adjusted the time limit to edit your post to 20 minutes.
While most of us use the editing feature to change an honest mistake, for example a spelling mistake, or a corrupted image or link code, there are some that will edit a post and by so doing
change the context of a thread, or do so for reasons of
damage control.
The problem with editing a thread for damage control is it's usually too late and the damage has been done, which can mean someone has been hurt. A better approach is to never post something your instincts tell you shouldn't be posted to a public forum in the first place and would be better left either unsaid or better shared in a Private Message out of the view of the rest of our community.
Here's some tips...
Before clicking on the [Submit New Thread] button,
First - Spell Check your post for spelling errors. If you're using Internet Explorer, you can download and install a free Spelling Check Application from I.E. Spell. I have used this personally for years and it works great.
Download I.E. Spell for Internet Explorer
Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera all come with built-in spell checking.
Second - Click on the [Preview Post] button and preview your post. In the preview mode you can see if your pictures and/or links or any other formatting works and looks the way you want it to look, that's what the Preview Post button is for.
Third - This is very important, before clicking on the [Submit New Thread] button, take a moment to read through your message and make sure you really want to post to a public forum what you have written.
If you're talking about your new car and the coat of wax you just wiped off, no big deal, post away. If you're taking issue with another forum member, then p-a-u-s-e for a few minutes and carefully read what you wrote and make sure it complies with our Forum Rules and make sure you want the entire world to read it for the next one hundred years.
Personal Accountability and Responsibility
It is not the job of our Moderators to play clean-up anytime a member posts something they regret a few hours or a few days later, so self-police yourself by re-reading what you've written and make double sure it's something you really want to share with the entire world.
A good practice if you have any doubts at all about anything you've written is to save a copy of your words in a program like Notepad or MS Word and
DON'T post it until you've
pushed away from the keyboard and taken a break from the forum to clear your thoughts and perhaps just take in a breath of fresh air.
The fact that you are posting to a detailing discussion forum means you probably have more in common than not with the other members of the forum. It's all to easy to say something with a keyboard that you would never say verbally to another person if you were standing in
nose-punching distance away from them.
If you have a sincere and real reason or purpose to change a message after the 20 minute editing time limit has passed, then simply contact a forum Admin or Moderator via e-mail, phone call or Private Message and let them know of the change you want to make and the thread in which you want to make the change and they will either make it for you or make it so you can make the change yourself.
The 20 minute time limit to edit your messages is a meant to protect the forum community and to bring a new level of accountability and responsibility to everyone that participates on the forum.
Think... before you post... Thank you for complying... Further Resources Forum Rules What to do when you see a problem on the forum 
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