Edit History

[Amaury]

I've previously made suggestions on this:

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/last-edited-by.53149/
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/last-edited-by-suggestion-2.55033/
However, I figured this time I would start a general discussion on it.

Anyway, I now agree that viewing the edit history should be a thing only staff members can do, but I think that the last edited by notes could be improved.

Currently, it's one of these two:
- Last edited: [Date] / [Time]
- Last edited by a moderator: [Date] / [Time]

Personally, I think those should be combined into one thing that says this:
- Last edited by [User]: [Date] / [Time]

In the present state, there is no way to tell who edited the message, so if you have a question, you're left in the dark as to who to contact. You could contact a random staff member, but if it's not their section, what if they don't know the answer?

As an example, there are two forums: Games and Technology. Games in managed by Moderator A and Technology is managed by Moderator B. Moderator A knows only about games, but Moderator B knows about both games and technology. If a post by User A is edited by Moderator B in Technology because there was, say, broken BB code, all the note would say is "Last edited by a moderator." User A, not knowing who edited the message, randomly contacts Moderator A, who knows nothing about Technology. Moderator A informs User A that they're forwarding the message to Moderator B and to wait for Moderator B to respond, but had there been "Last edited by Moderator B," the extra steps of Moderator A forwarding the message to Moderator B and then waiting for Moderator B to respond could have been avoided.

What do you guys think? Do you agree or disagree with me?

 

[Jeremy]

Its hidden for the same reasons as warning histories. Nobody really needs to know who performed an action, just that an action was performed. In the case of edit histories, a conversation can be created. I feel contacting a moderator and including someone who performed the action isn't the largest issue.

 

[Shelley]

I'd like to see an option to disable the edit history altogether. Couldn't find the option and had to display:none the text.

 

[Amaury]

Its hidden for the same reasons as warning histories. Nobody really needs to know who performed an action, just that an action was performed. In the case of edit histories, a conversation can be created. I feel contacting a moderator and including someone who performed the action isn't the largest issue.

But if you're wondering why your post was edited, even for something as small as broken BB code you didn't notice, then you should know who to contact.

Another example: A user on here bypasses the word filter because they made a typo on something without even realizing it. You come along and see it and figure out it's a typo, but edit it, anyway, and leave "Last edited by a moderator." The user, when coming back to the thread because a new reply was made, sees that and doesn't know why it was edited. They contact Brogan randomly because they don't know who edited it, who tells them it's because they bypassed the word filter. However, if it had been "Last edited by Jeremy," then they would have contacted you and you could have told them they unintentionally bypassed the word filter because of a typo.

I know a lot places say don't question staff's actions to begin with, but some places encourage you to contact a staff when something like a post is edited, especially if you feel the staff member's action was unreasonable, which, of course, may not be the case.