Doc John,

I am certainly aware of that happening. In the past, BT members have been pretty savvy about documenting those sorts of things and reporting them before they disappear, but that can also escalate to a ridiculous level in short order. I agree with you that this is a situation in favor of an edit limit. A limit probably helps people to think before they speak if they know they can't go back and change it.

On the other hand, sometimes someone might realize on their own that perhaps they could have said something in a little better or gentler way, to increase diplomacy or sensitivity. I'm not at all talking about things that were originally said with hostile or ill intent, but things one later realizes might, for example, be a trigger for somebody else that they hadn't thought about originally. If people realize there is a better way to say things on their own, it might circumvent potential problems if they can change it. I think the 90 minute window is probably generous enough here, unless of course someone made a post, ran out to run and errand or got a phone call, and then reread or reconsidered their post.

Another example is that we kept a recipe file on OBT for gluten free recipes, GF/CF recipes, etc. It was really hard to find and sift through many long posts to find recipes scattered among many different threads with chit chat weaved throughout. So, one of our members (a couple others helped) set about the painstaking task of creating an index of recipes, categorized by type, and linked directly to the exact post that held the recipe. This was continuously updated. We maintained a few different lists that way. The Gluten File (linked in my signature) used to be on BT1 as a series of posts within threads that I had made and linked altogether. While people continued to add comments and discussion to the bottom of the thread, I continously added hard data (links to new studies or articles) to the posts at the top, keeping the hard data up and together, with discussion following. It's a little hard to explain it. When BT crashed, I decided to make The Gluten File a website, so I guess...this is a lesser concern for me now that I've created my website. We are also kicking the idea around of someone creating a website for recipes.

And last but not least~ I'm personally very wordy. Sometimes I just don't realize how wordy I've been till I pass by my big long post days later while reading other responses. I sometimes go back and delete entire paragraphs just to spare other people the boredom of reading it, or because I realize...hey, I could say that a lot more directly in one sentence.

So, those are a couple benefits I see for an extended edit capability, but I realize there is a downside, and will work within whatever limits are set here.

Cara