I’ve sent this concern via Contact Mail few days ago. But no one answers.
The concern is I can no longer edit the 1st post of my journaling thread. I believe it is necessary for Thread Starter to be able editing it continuously so we could include future revisions, updates, etc. in it.
For example, I now cannot revise my 1st post to input the change of my SL method. In only ten or so posts from now, viewers would be confused to see why in my 1st post I state using the ATR/Chandelier Trailing Stop Method, but in the daily journal I use the rrr-based one?
If by next week, I see no response or Babypips can’t accommodate the query. I would have to move my journal elsewhere. I sincerely wish a Moderator reads this post and DM me for further discussion.
I agree with you 100% on this point. It is an extremely important and practical facility to be able to edit the 1st post at any time, especially in threads which are journals or trading methods.
It is the most obvious place to update rules, criteria, purpose or add links, etc. - and where readers go to look for the rules, etc! It is even somewhat dangerous for other readers if they miss such updates, improvements, etc.
I have also asked about this in the past. But i believe this function is in the hands of the platform producers and not the Babypips team and would therefore have to be requested for inclusion in a platform update.
I believe it is possible to set threads as entirely open to editing by anyone anytime, like a Wikipedia style, but that is not a desirable state for anyone running a personal thread.
I hope that @pipstradamus might comment on this?
Agree here, it would be great. Especially if the first post is used as a rolling updated summary of the thread.
I do remember being told it’s just not possible though unless you make the post “Wiki” in which case it’s also open to continued public editing by others which really doesn’t help.
This is a Wiki post and you can edit It too, even though it’s my post.
Here the original post in case someone trys to screw me over
Making the post a wiki post (allowing anybody to edit a post indefinitely, like Wikipedia) is the only option/workaround to allowing the OP unlimited editing of the first post. That’s not a limitation we’ve set ourselves, as @anon46773462 mentioned, but it’s by design from the platform developers. We’ve been exploring this feature request, but don’t have a timeline for releasing anything. It would require a ton of custom programming at the moment to get this out live. But we’ve got it on our to-do list to tackle once some more pressing tasks already being worked on are completed.
So please let me know if you’d like us to make your journal’s first post a wiki, even if just temporarily. PM me or any other moderator for assistance. Thanks!
Firstly, thank you for elaborating the expectation and giving the temporary work-around on the issue. However, making the 1st Post as a Wiki Post–as per your definition–in a Personal Thread is a bit too much to give for the respective OP.
If now the Admins & Mods could give Temporary Permission for OPs to edit their 1st Posts, then why don’t we make it as a Permanent Solution?
For example, in my case, I would ask an Admin via PM for the Editing Access of that 1st Post for the next, say, 1 hour. Afterward, you’ll make it uneditable again until my next query. That’ll be much less efforts and resources consumed than the re-programming solution, right?
In the longer-term, may be the Coders could make it semi-automatic. Like, when I asked for the 1-hour Window, After Admin gives permission, no need for he/she to manually close it again after the time has passed. The system ought to automatically close the access right away. Hence, less manual effort for you guys.
I agree, and turning a post into a Wiki is the wrong tool for the job in most cases.
I don’t know what forum library BP uses, but I am sure they can adjust the length of time a post is editable, but just don’t want to.
This is probably one of the most complained about things I see here. Considering posts used to have unlimited editability, I hope someone makes the decision to bring that back.
The wiki post feature is an all or nothing permission granted to all users at once, not specific users. If we could grant it to you and only you, we would, but the platform doesn’t allow us to do that at such a granular level.
Again, we can still work with your request, but as I mentioned, once we make a post a wiki post, anybody can edit it. Unfortunately, that’s how the platform works.
That’s a wonderful suggestion, but again, one that we can’t focus on right now because of existing projects.
We use a platform called Discourse, which we covered publicly since we launched in June of 2017. As I mentioned, this isn’t us trying to be strong handed in moderation or limited your right to edit when you want. This is a limitation in the platform itself, as far as granting unlimited edit access to the OP on specific posts. The platform doesn’t offer it, and we would need custom programming to bring this back. In the past, on the old platform called vBulletin, a plugin was offered by the broader vBulletin community that we used for this very feature. Unfortunately, Discourse is nowhere near as old as vBulletin, and as such, the developer community isn’t as established and plugin offerings are limited.
We’d love to bring this back yesterday. But there isn’t a plugin in existence that does it, and we can’t commit to working on it ourselves right now. The wiki post is the closest thing to a compromise at this time; it’s not efficient by any means, but it gets the job done. Any changes will be saved by the platform, so if there was an issue with an unintended edit, we could restore that change back quite quickly.
Hopefully that gives you a better understanding of our situation. If you have any more comments or questions, let us know.
For all users for any post, always. Please continue reading on why most administrator or moderator recommend not removing that setting for all users. The edit time window has several purposes, two important ones to us being
Aiding in moderation, where spammers could come in and bomb the forums with spam links, imagery, etc, if they could edit at will.
Making members think about the information they’re about to share, rather than giving them unlimited ability to say one thing, and then come back and change those words at a later date. This becomes especially important in heated discussions that often result in flags, hurt egos, and members having remorse for what they’ve said. We had instances in the past where members deleted 100s of posts in protest over a discussion or action by the mod team or other members. That’s not beneficial to anybody.
I was referring specifically to granular permissions being applied to a single user and single post. That’s what we had in vBulletin in the form of an add-on plugin.
The existing 10 day window, for the majority of situations, has worked for us for almost 2 years. The specific use-case we’re bringing up, regarding the wiki post, while a hassle, is a different discussion as to why we have an editing time window in the first place, but yes, related.
Wow, if you put it like that, sounds more like a Pandora Box this Wiki post thing. Not just to my thread but to the whole forum. I don’t want to be the one responsible for that kind of Weapon of Mass Destruction.
Since my query is a technical impossibility for the platform to fullfil in indefinite time, I would have to discontinue my journaling here then, and start looking elsewhere. Yesterday’s trade will likely be my last post today before announcing the discontinuation there.
Thank you all Babypips Admins, Moderators and Members for everything.
If it’s a once a month job to edit the first post for Journals only, is this a valid work around @Pipstradamus?
Is that possible? I’m sure you understand why we feel it’s important to not only update monthly performance but also adjustments to rules etc?
It would be by request only until it’s patched into the chatroom?
The likelihood is that you’re not going to get many people asking for this?
Edit: When I say a once a month edit, I was suggesting we send you the update, and you add it to the first post since you have unlimited editing rights.
That’s a shame our features are pushing you away, @Wibie_G. Again, the temporary or permanent wiki post status is there for you to request from a moderator if you think you can work with it. We have a few members using the wiki post without issue on their own posts, but again, to use it has to be a decision you make. We (and you) can easily track changes made to your first post, and if needed, we can reprimand or ban other members that make changes to your post that aren’t authorized.
If you change your mind and plan to stay, please let us know if you’d also like to at least try out the wiki post feature.
Sure, we can do this monthly or weekly. Even daily, but at that point, why not just give the wiki post feature a try by leaving the post “open”. Abuse of the feature will be met with moderator action, so I don’t think members will knowingly want to mess with you and your content.
Your idea is much better than mine, @BaconSandwich . I prefer this kind of close-loop policy.
Dear @Pipstradamus, the wiki-post solution that you offer needs to come with in-site and email notifications which alert the respective OP & Mods that someone has changed his/her 1st post. Without that, OPs would have to routinely examine the 1st post in details just to know if someone has played around with the post or not. That would be unnecessary hassle for us.
The question is: “Would Babypips system be able to provide such notifications now? Or do we have to put that in the projects waiting list too?”
If they can be provided now, then I’ll reconsider migrating my journal to another site.
A website notification to the original poster (OP) is already in place. If an edit is made to the wiki post by another member, you, as the topic author/OP will get a notification in your activity stream/drop-down, accessible by clicking your avatar in the top-right corner of the website. You do not get an email notification, however, of the edit.
Email notifications are sent for the following:
When someone messages you,
When someone quotes you,
When someone replies to your post,
Mentions your @username, or
Invites you to a topic
(you must have Send me email notifications even when I am active on the site enabled under Preferences | Notifications | Email.)
If you’re not routinely checking/editing your first post, then I would suggest you request the wiki post feature be removed and then you contact us to have it reinstated when you need it again.
I’ll go with this option then since I expect my revisions will not be too frequent.
Most likely, I’ll update it during Asian Session, between 00:00 to 04:00 am GMT. And will do it pretty quickly, as I would have prepared the revision before hand.
So, if you could name 2-3 Moderators who would be available in those hours for me to message? Having them in my list hopefully will prevent prolonged Waiting Time between us.
. I prefer this kind of close-loop policy.
then since I expect my revisions will not be too frequent.