From a practical standpoint, I really don't like the idea of not being able to get back to my own words, for very innocent and valid reasons that have already been discussed.

From a philosophical point of view, this is more of a civil liberties sort of issue. We are talking about taking away the rights of the majority who don't abuse the edit capability to control the minority who abuse it. I believe Doc John threw out some random figures suggesting perhaps only 1% abuse the capability, but that 1% can really wreak havoc. Even if 5% abuse the capability, is it right to take the edit ability away from the rest? Perhaps those who repeatedly abuse this do deserve to be banned?

In terms of effectiveness, if the main goal is to catch people in the act of their words, then the limit should revert back to 15 minutes. Once increased to a day or two, or even 90 minutes, is it really effective? It seems that is plenty of time for the "hit and change" abuse to occur.

While I've already seen some benefit of the words cast in stone, and I believe it would train some people to think before they speak, I still have a a hard time coming down in favor of any limit.

Do we really want to bog our moderators down with the mundane task of correcting and changing others posts?

Here is a new question.

Is there the technical capability to change the limit of edit time per user?
(I want to say privilege, but really??? editing our own words is a privilege???)

Would it be possible to put individuals who abuse the indefinite edit capability on "probation" by limiting their editing capability back to 15 minutes? or is there a review capability, where the post has to "pass" by a moderator before being added out, for those who have abused the editing capability?

Even if some false accusations were being made, the innocent might accept and even welcome an "edit probation" while working out a flaming or other negative situation. We tend to be more willing to give up our personal freedoms when we've actually been the target or recipient of wrongdoing...which probably explains the differences of opinions expressed here.

Cara