Post editing

[ThePaganMafia]

I post from my phone frequently. Due to my phone typing skills(big fingers, small screen), an intrusive autocorrect, and a poor proofreading habit I commonly find myself having to return to edit my posts. However, the timer expires super quick leading me to just stare at my typos in abject despair.

Is there a way to remedy this?

[anunitu]

Re: Post editing

Best is to write off line,then copy/paste..if you have time and the inclination for that.(never having used a phone for such things,I might be off base)

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Post editing

Turn off autocorrect - it sux.

Take time to proofread.

Stick your fingers in a pencil sharpener and turn the crank. Or use a stylus.

[anunitu]

Re: Post editing

I am wondering about something. In the way back,going on bulletin boards,or even early Internet,when it cost by the minute to connect,there was a program that downloaded from message boards,and you could answer threads,and then upload your reply's.
Hmmm,going to search on it and get back yo you.

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Can not remember what they were called,but you logged on,downloaded the new messages,and then replied offline,and uploaded your reply's.

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Interesting thread on Vbulletin forum on this subject(offline reader and reply program)

[Jembru]

Re: Post editing

I have the same issue. Autocorrect on my new phone is terrible (samsung, but I use an input program that lets me easily switch between English and Japanese and I think that's even worse than the English-only one). For a few months I just stopped posting here from my phone. The site is harder to even read on here compared to the nice display of my own phone thar would resize the text to fit my screen. Everything is tiny and requires zooming to see on here. Thus editing is also a pain. In the end though I decided I either stop posting in a community I love being part of, or just stop caring about weird words I didn't intend to have in my posts. The owners have their own reasons for the restrictive time limit. If clarity bothered them, we'd have longer. So I just edit what I can using the 'preview' function and after that thank my stars that PF doesn't allow me to keep picking at a post that people will read once and mostly step over. After all, it usually takes a frustratingingly long time for me to write anything in the first place and I have more important things I can be doing with that precious time than worrying about a few 'abd's and 'im's.

[Rae'ya]

Re: Post editing

The current edit time is 10 minutes... are people needing to edit their posts that long after they've posted them?

Jem, my smartphone defaults to the internet version of the forum, which sounds a bit like what you're describing. But if you scroll all the way down, you should be able to find a button somewhere that says 'go to mobile version' or something similar. That will bring back the version that is adjusted for phones, drops out pictures and generally makes it a lot easier to read the forum.

[Jembru]

Re: Post editing

Yeah? Thanks so much Rae'ya. I'm going to check that out right away!

As for needing longer. I read at speaking speed. It's like I have a little voice in my head reading to me. No, not 'like' that, it's exactly that. So if I've written a long post, it could take me 5 minutes or more to read it over. I do check in the preview function but I have to read several times to pick up typos so I like to check one last time after posting. I also can't see the previous post on the preview screen, so it's often the case that I have to read that too to check I answered all points. So that takes me up to 7 or 8 minutes. I started writing this post at 7.11am and it is now 7.16, which shows you the speed I type on my phone. If we're discussing something deep or detailed like spiritual experiences, tagging on a paragraph I'd forgotten to include will probably take me closer to the 20 minute mark.

But I know the little trick! If you double post it will tag it onto the bottom of your previous post and then you have a further 10 minutes to edit your post. You have a much longer window (an hour or so I think) in which to do this so long as no one else has replied. In which case you're just gonna have to post some foot notes for your previous post.

(It's now 7.21btw.. gonna preview.. finally clicking submit at 7.26.)

[MaskedOne]

Re: Post editing

Alright, the actual edit time has been expanded but the expansion is modest at best. I raised it to fifteen minutes (provided that it isn't controlled in multiple places, I'm not firing up a test account to find out right now) this afternoon. I would advise taking most of Corbin's earlier advice (minus fingers in pencil sharpeners, blood spatter does not make for a reliable touchscreen) and exploiting the trick Jembru mentioned above.

A restrictive edit window is an intended feature not a bug. We may shift the time a few minutes one way or another but keeping edits on a time limit pre-empts certain kinds of trollishness that we don't have the patience for and we generally find putting up with typos to be a small price for that purpose. As such, the edit window is not likely to go away or become substantially larger.