Jump to content

Post Edit History - REALLY NEED THIS


connorhawke

Recommended Posts

I can't find this in the marketplace. This is a very useful potential feature that would prevent many board issues (loss of incriminating evidence e.g. due to staff members gone astray, irrecoverable important information, etc.). I'm sure if someone created a mod for this they would get paid handsomely for it.

Ideal features include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • capability for unlimited number of history entries of any size (obviously within external limits) recorded in raw BB&HTML.
  • accessible regardless of whether the "edited by" line is displayed (e.g. could be a simple link on the bar at the top of the post).
  • records all edits, regardless of whether the "edited by" line is displayed.
  • editor username, IP, and edit date/time are recorded for each entry.
  • ability to restrict groups/users that are able to view the history.
  • ability to restrict forums and groups/users that the history is used on.
  • can be enabled/disabled (but simply disabling it will not clear entries).
  • the capability to clear entries both individually and by bulk (ideally using manually-defined parameters) in order to conserve space.
  • ability to revert post content to that of a previous entry, and have the reversion recorded as a new entry - not crucial since this can easily be done with Copy&Paste.
  • a post comparison feature (see vBulletin or Wikipedia for examples) - again, this is not crucial since comparisons can easily be done externally e.g. via Notepad++.

If anyone has any further ideas for features please chip in.

It would be great to see this feature implemented ASAP, if not as a stock feature then at least as a mod.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 154
  • Created
  • Last Reply

My opinion is that it sounds like a nice feature, but could cause large databases to grow in size greatly. This (database size) can be a real problem for very large boards.




I think that problem could be solved by putting it as a option, or maybe as a custom hook /mod.
Link to comment
Share on other sites


My opinion is that it sounds like a nice feature, but could cause large databases to grow in size greatly. This (database size) can be a real problem for very large boards.



Maybe there could be a size limit option, where if the maximum is reached, older entries are automatically removed in favor of newer entries, or simply unrecorded. The admin could gauge the total space used if there were a bar like there is in the "Manage Attachments" section.

To reduce the possibility of recording unnecessary edits, maybe include the option to only record edits after a defined amount of time has passed since the original post. Generally, destructive edits aren't likely to be made very early in a post's history.

In any case, leaving post edit history as an option that is disabled by default, with a clear note of caution next to it, should be sufficient as a preemptive measure, and perhaps the option to prune older entries and/or limit the total size allocated to archiving a post history (as just described) would prevent too many issues after it's switched on.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Space used would be greatly reduced by only keeping the relevant changed information. If a post is modified to make a spelling correction then it is not necessary to store to nearly identical copies of the post, just the original post and the information needed to know what modifications were made to it (position & what text was removed, position & what text was added).

Link to comment
Share on other sites


I use it too and so far has worked very well.



Hm. based on the screenshots and comments it looks like it might be a viable option. My main concern atm is that it's being offered on a Polish site, so support etc. is likely to be in Polish. However, the mod itself seems to be in English (based on the screenshots) and the Translate function built into Google Chrome seems to do a reasonable job translating Polish text to English. Here's my attempt at communicating with the developer: http://forum.invisio...2-post-history/.

To those here who have said they are using it (DawPi, Dmacleo), have you ever had any database issues? What have you set "Remove history after" to? If it is set to 0, does that disable automatic removal? And in that case, I assume it is still possible to easily bulk-remove edits manually via phpMyAdmin to conserve space?
Link to comment
Share on other sites


My opinion is that it sounds like a nice feature, but could cause large databases to grow in size greatly. This (database size) can be a real problem for very large boards.



Lots of very large boards use vBulletin, and that has a very effective post revisioning system built in. Also, several suggestions have already been made on how the revision logs could be stored and pruned to keep database size in check. As a last resort, the functionality could simply be turned off, much like spider visit logging can (which creates a whole lot more data than post revisions ever will).

On one vB forum I used to administer, a member posted a suicide note, then later "blanked" the post before I came online and saw it. Had we been running IP.Board (which I really tried to convince the owner of the site to switch to, by the way), dealing with that situation might have been a lot more difficult.

I've asked for this feature before, and I'm sure others have, too. I had been keeping my eye on Pavulon's mod and am planning to purchase it now that it has been updated for 3.2, but I'll gladly wait for an official implementation instead if I knew it was coming.
Link to comment
Share on other sites


Hm. based on the screenshots and comments it looks like it might be a viable option. My main concern atm is that it's being offered on a Polish site, so support etc. is likely to be in Polish. However, the mod itself seems to be in English (based on the screenshots) and the Translate function built into Google Chrome seems to do a reasonable job translating Polish text to English. Here's my attempt at communicating with the developer:

http://forum.invisio...2-post-history/

.



To those here who have said they are using it (DawPi, Dmacleo), have you ever had any database issues? What have you set "Remove history after" to? If it is set to 0, does that disable automatic removal? And in that case, I assume it is still possible to easily bulk-remove edits manually via phpMyAdmin to conserve space?



there is english section on the forum and other day dev responded within hour to my post. I had used for months on 3.14 with 0 issues just now installed on 3.2.2 so my testing is limited.I never thought to look at what 0 (I always ran 5 edits-30 days) does there and have not tried using phpadmin to do it so I can't really say.

Have you guys tested it on 3.2.1?



running on 3.2.2 for last few days no issues
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Useful but I personally wouldn't have much use for it. Especially if it took up more database space. It should have a database size limit so it will overwrite old data. I don't see much use for old topics, never mind their version history to be honest. It should also be a per forum setting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


My opinion is that it sounds like a nice feature, but could cause large databases to grow in size greatly. This (database size) can be a real problem for very large boards.



That depends. If it's a feature we can enable, disable, prune, etc, then the admin has control over the impact.

This feature is in some other boards (who I shall not mention!) and it proved it's worth time and time again.
Link to comment
Share on other sites


there is english section on the forum and other day dev responded within hour to my post. I had used for months on 3.14 with 0 issues just now installed on 3.2.2 so my testing is limited.I never thought to look at what 0 (I always ran 5 edits-30 days) does there and have not tried using phpadmin to do it so I can't really say.



running on 3.2.2 for last few days no issues



Cool. I guess this should be a feasible option for the time being. :)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do like the idea but has already been said there's potential to store a huge amount of data. Regarding pruning older saved revisions this could work although those who are aware of it could repeatedly edit their post to 'prune' it. My thought about this is it should *always* save the first initial post (if not say the first three) then the last couple too. I think if it was ever implemented it would have to be both forum and group selectable too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The database space issue isn't as big a deal as you might think - it will only be edited posts that will require the extra info storing, and that's only going to be a small percentage.

Just look at how many posts you've made here, then think about how many you've edited. It will only be a small portion of the total. :smile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites


The database space issue isn't as big a deal as you might think - it will only be edited posts that will require the extra info storing, and that's only going to be a small percentage.



Just look at how many posts you've made here, then think about how many you've edited. It will only be a small portion of the total. :smile:


If IPS didn't put a 5 minute limit on editing then I'd edit posts all the time.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...