On Jan 24, 2008 1:44 PM, Uwe Brauer oub@mat.ucm.es wrote:
Well I see that boils down to a philosophical question then. I think individual post in a _discussion_ should not be edited, by other users just because it seems to be too messy to sort out, whether the change was appropriate or not. That is how mailing lists and newsgroups work successfully for decades.
Content generated by a small and closed group of users with high barriers to entry also worked for decades. Now we have wikis. In practice, people observe appropriate decorum when they can edit people's comments, or else they get blocked, like with any vandalism. There is no reason to add restrictions on editing that do not narrowly serve a demonstrated need, and there is no need here. Being able to edit other people's comments is not something that I think almost anyone who's used to it has a problem with -- even though, of course, the concept can be unsettling at first, as with the concept of a wiki generally.