I agree that accountability is important. Perhaps even more important to me is communication so that people know that their node was editted, by who, why, and what to do it they have a problem with it.

But there are also a lot of practical details to deal with. If each edit is going to generate an automatic /msg and some DB entry recording the change so that it can be undone, then I think we'll have a real problem with 4 editors all changing the same <pre> to <code> at nearly the same time generating a very confusing situation for the author of the node (and probably for the database and site engine as well).

Don't get me wrong, I really like what neshura has proposed and I think it is important. I'm just trying to analyze it carefully enough so that we have a good chance of a workable implementation. I'm also trying to anticipate how hard different approaches will be for vroom to hack into place and then to get working reliably.

Then there is the fact that it can sometimes take me 14 rounds of edit and submit before I get my simple change right (not usually, but on rare occasions). I'd hate to be generating 14 "tye editted id 1234" /msg's to some poor monk's inbox and filling the DB with 14 copies of the node.

For everything but root nodes of unmoderated sections, the "petition for undo" seems nearly (though not completely) pointless since the author could simply edit the node (unless an editor editing a node changes the ownership of the node -- which I would be against since it leads to little problems like the node not showing up in that user's list of nodes, just like happens with Categorize Q+A nodes now]).

Perhaps much of this can be done, at least at first, with more human work and less automation. For example, I'd be fine with a policy that states that editors should:

• /msg the author when they change a node
• include an unobtrusive link (or even HTML comment) at the start of the editting process that just notes which editor is changing the node so that other editors are less likely to duplicate the effort and leave but update the link/comment when done, if nothing else, in case they introduced a typo

as long as this is augmented by at least a log of which editor changed which node and when. As the process matures and time passes, more automation can be introduced.

        - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")

---

---

• Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
• Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:

  <code> <a> <b> <big> <blockquote> <br /> <dd> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr /> <i> <li> <nbsp> <ol> <p> <small> <strike> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <th> <tr> <tt> <u> <ul>

• Snippets of code should be wrapped in <code> tags not <pre> tags. In fact, <pre> tags should generally be avoided. If they must be used, extreme care should be taken to ensure that their contents do not have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor intervention).
• Want more info? How to link or How to display code and escape characters are good places to start.