~ Should users be allowed to edit their comments?
Should commenters on blogs be allowed to edit their own comments, or maybe even delete it?
On one hand, allowing the commenters to have control over their comments and the ability to edit or delete them might disrupt the whole line of conversation going on on a blog post, and would give people the ability to distort the truth or mislead by removing a controversial comment for example or deleting it. And so, since a person knows and realizes he/she is publishing is comment in public for the world to see he should be accountable for his own words, its like if you insult someone in real life, you can’t take back the insult, you can only apologies for it, Self-discipline and personal responsibility is they key on the internet and when you leave a comment on someone;s page you should think good and take into account, If you lack that discipline and responsibility when you post a comment, then you should bear the consequences, especially if you make stupid comments.
But on the other hand, The comment a person writes and the content of the comment is the intellectual property of the commenter, and therefor technically he/she should have power and control over it, but what happens is that when the commenter leaves a comment on a blog it becomes the property of the blog’s owner and he alone can edit or delete it at his willing. and since a persons views of five years or five minutes ago may not necessarily reflect his/her views right now. his/her thoughts, opinions and viewpoints might change as they learn more and develop their understanding of the things they are commenting about, so why should the blog owner hold the comment hostage forever and freezing their opinion on the matter forevermore?
What do you think?
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:59 am
I like it this way. No edits for the comments. If a commentator wants to change his view, he always can do that in another comment.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:11 am
I actually, vote against it.
Users have the tendency of changing their minds (I know I do) and once they do change their mind and alter their comment, the subsequent comments lose context!
Even registered users (people you actually trust) tend to go out on tantrums at times and decide they hate you and want everything deleted. (It happened to one of the people I have as an admin on my blog, and that person decided to delete all their comment) luckily, I had a backup!
You need to have a policy that covers the intellectual property part. So if someone posts something, although the idea is theirs the content is not. And they relinquish that right the minute they hit the submit button! From that point onward, it becomes the property of the blog owner
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:55 am
Actually I’m with being able to edit it.
Coz sometimes after publishing your comment u find out that it doesn’t deliver what you had in your mind, or there was a typo which diverted some meaning..etc.
And the extra comment may not work here, ya3ny one has to understand what was wrong in your first comment, then understand the correction in the next one. Too much work!
About changing your mind or view point, you should have the courage and courtesy to post that in a separate comment.. Simple as this.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:21 pm
I think there s no general rule here…being a blogger you can edit your comments on other blogger’s blogs….and I think it is ok as long as that doesn’t effect the content or the direction of the conversation “if any”.
So again…it is an ethical issue…just like everything else in this life.
September 23rd, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Bakkouz, I think the answer is yes but only for 5 minutes after the original post simply to edit typographic errors. People are too lazy to use preview !
I found a wordpress plugin that would allow that. It displays a timer that counts down 5 minutes as soon as you post, and the user can edit it inline (on the same page without refresh). The problem is to edit a comment you just click on it, and since the admin can edit the comments indefinately if you click on a comment to copy text for a block-quote, it will take you to the edit screen which gets annoying.
September 23rd, 2007 at 4:17 pm
I think a visitor has every right to comment, however, once they get out of line, the owner of the website has every right to delete it. Editing it is a no no because of the intellectual property.. but deleting it is like removing bad spam off your site. You have the right to do that.
Also, if the visitor had the guts to come to your site to insult you, why delete it? Sometimes if you can publicly use it against them; they wanted the attention, give it to them!
September 23rd, 2007 at 6:19 pm
I prefer no edit nor delete privileges for commenters, they can change what they want in another comment.