Currently after making a post in the forum, the poster have 5 minutes to edit without the post shown as edited. It will be good to code it in to force a 5-minute wait before others can reply to the post.
This is good for both the poster and the readers who may want to reply. They don’t have to get into argument about what was originally posted and what was edited. It will also force a 5 minute cool down in heated debates.
There is an option to enable a “Slow Mode” on a topic to help defuse “heated” debates. I’ve used it a handful of times when needed.
Personally I don’t see a reason to change the 5 minute window for editing a post. The amount of complaints it would generate would far number any issues that it would solve. If there is an issue for some reason, I suggest taking a screenshot of the post or replying to the post once the 5 minute window has elapsed.
Especially if the reason for editing is trivial - such as clarification or splelling … if someone is being malicious and changing the context/content of the post, you’ll probably already know what they are like and screenshot it to trip them up when they try and play up.
It should also be noted when you “Quote” someone it displays the text that was present when the quote was generated. A change in the original message is not updated in the quote.
That said, the quote should be taken with a grain of salt because the text can be edited by the user posting the quote.
It’s not about gotcha. That only serves to intensify the situation. Someone could type up something, and then after reading it in real, realize that’s not what he/she wants to present, and does a quick edit before anyone could reply. That should be allowed. The edited version is what the poster wants to present.
That said, it could be true that pepple may complain if they are trying to reply and get a message that they have to wait. How about this: after posting, there will be a 5-minute count down to go live. Regardless if the user’s action (edit or not edit), it will go live when the count goes to zero.
You may ask: why not read twice while drafting? For many people, the post only becomes real when the publish button is pushed and post is about to go out.
Many forums have a rule prohibiting this. If you edit quoted text, your post will be hidden until it’s corrected. You can highlight with bold or color but you can’t add or remove words.
If the software doesn’t have the 5-minute count down, see if it has the Recall feature that some social media have.
Or better yet, customize it and provide even more options. For example, if the poster is still editing when the 5 minutes is up, give the poster a few options: more time to edit, or return the post as a draft, or discard it all together.