Forums » Suggestions & Development Discussion » Edit PM

Hello! I was just wondering if there could possibly be an "edit" option for private messages. More often than not, I'll send a PM to someone with errors and such. Due to time, I usually don't have a chance to proofread messages; so when I send them, there's often mistakes. I don't like having to send another PM just to correct mistakes.

If it's possible to edit forum or RP posts, why not PMs? (I'm relatively new, so it there actually is a way to edit PMs, could you please let me know? I haven't seen one, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Thanks).

Also, if this has been brought up before, I apologize!

Thank you! Have a nice day.

I'm fairly certain it has, in part, to do with moderation. Right now, all conversations between members and mods (and other members) are solid - nobody can edit what's been said. So if someone broke the rules or did something illegal, it's always on a permanent sort of record that can't be modified. This is super useful. Even if, hypothetically speaking, I would harass you and delete a PM on my end, you'd still have your copy of the message and there's nothing I can do to alter it and pretend I didn't do it.

I recall there being mention of a 'grace period' in PMs to make spelling edits with a record of what was edited. Then after this grace period, the PM gets locked from editing any further. It would preserve the integrity of the system while allowing people who don't participate in rule breaking to fix their mistakes.

I've no idea what the plans on this are at this time however!

It has a little bit to do with moderation, but a lot to do with my mental model for PMs being akin to emails -- a format that is uneditable and unretrievable once sent. This might seem like a problem, but in many ways, it's a feature.

The interesting thing about an email or a letter is that once you send it, it is in the physical possession of the person who receives it. It is a literal gift of words. Which means they get to keep it, file it, save it, or discard it as they see fit. They get to decide if it's a memory they want to hold on to nostalgically, or contains information they want to reference later.

For forum posts (and even groups), one of the issues that we run into is complaints that someone wanted to save a RP, or reference a question later, but that the other person involved in the RP or conversation went through and blanked all their messages for no apparent reason. Or even deleted a whole group where a dozen people were actively RPing. I sort of like that there's at least one place on the site where this issue simply does not exist, and memories and information are safe.

That said, we have discussed the idea of a grace period to allow for error fixing, that I don't believe would impact the save-ability of conversations and RPs for everyone involved, and may even increase their quality as keepsakes by reducing typos.

Okay! I understand where both of you are coming from, and I really appreciate! Thank you for responding and letting me know!

Have a nice day