Administrative

An Edit Feature

15 Comments

Often, people post follow-up comments to fix problems with previous comments (such as here), and often, in doing so, they wish for an edit feature.

In order to have a comment feature that only allowed editing of your own comments (and surely, you wouldn’t want one that allowed anyone to edit anyone’s right…?), I’d have to set up a login of some kind, whether Google, or otherwise. I’ve never done that, and have always maintained a pretty open and freewheeling comments section here, and overall, it’s worked all right. I know that I don’t like to have to log in (or worse, set up an entire account) to comment elsewhere, and when I have to do so, it usually results in my not bothering.

So be careful what you wish for.

[Update late morning]

OK, it’s not exactly an edit feature, but I’ve added live preview.

15 thoughts on “An Edit Feature”

  2. Yeah, like this. Folks shouldn’t take themselves too seriously. For my part, I enjoy the freedom and avoid blog comment sections which require logins and other such tools akin to statist oppression.

  4. Yea, having to login often discourages me from making a comment. Though that might be seen as a feature more than a bug in my case. =p

  5. How does Pajamas Media allow editing of comments for a few minutes after a post without an account login? I know that I can edit my posts at Belmont Club.

  6. For the record, Open ID systems are pretty easy to use. Pretty much everyone has an account somewhere already – Google, Yahoo, MSN, LiveJournal, Facebook, whatever …

  7. Not so long ago, there was a preview function which did not require a login.
    I assume you’ve already looked into that as well, but if an edit feature is not in the cards, my carefully chosen wish would be for “preview”.

  8. How does Pajamas Media allow editing of comments for a few minutes after a post without an account login? I know that I can edit my posts at Belmont Club.

    Probably because they moderate, and don’t post them immediately. As long as you’re the only person who can see your post, you can still edit it.

    I don’t want to do that.

  10. I for one don’t mind logging in as long as the registration and login process works properly, but on my site it’s optional anyway. I dropped live preview but still have a “preview” button that goes to a second-chance page.

    I dislike having to fill in my information so much I have a Firefox add-on that gives me a context menu on web forms so I can enter my name, e-mail and URL with a few clicks. Logging in saves me that whole business, while cookies work only most of the time.

  11. Wow, I agree with Bob. Mark the date. The live preview is interesting, but not quite the bill. Definitely don’t need to edit. The only person I’ve read complain about lack of edit has their own blog, that I sorely wish they would spend more time editing.

  12. I agree right back at Leland that live preview doesn’t quite fit the bill. In my case, it seems to slow down my (admittedly aytpical) machine. I think it is great that you want to improve the experience for those who leave comments, so thank you, but live preview doesn’t seem like an improvement (in my case). As you say, be careful what you wish for! I wonder – do any readers prefer “live preview”?

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