"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
- Pablo Picasso -
I can't EDIT my Steemit posts.
This is not only unfortunate and unacceptable, it is also totally unnecessary.
In this article I posit a set of unassailable reasons why we who write Steemit content ought to be able to edit any and all of our Steemit articles.
"Whisper words of wisdom, Edit be..."
Photo courtesy of Bruno Glätsch and http://pixabay.com
Reason #1: Content creators are the masters their own work.
Our posts don't write us; we write the posts. We create the value that is STEEM.
How do I know? It says so, right in the Steemit 2017 Roadmap
"Authors are the source of the content that drives the site and the platform, generating the attention that provides the ultimate value to the Steem Economy."
As creators, we need the ability to control and modify our output.
What is it that we do? We create content. This is as close to producing value out of thin air as you can possibly get. We are the ongoing, perpetual source of Steemit's value. The "new money" created day by day on this platform is the result of our "skull sweat."
Logically, therefore, we ought to be able to retain control of our output. We ought to be able to modify and improve it, according to our own artistic muse.
Give Erase A Chance...
Photo courtesy of blom3 and http://pixabay.com
Reason #2: Steemit's credibility is at stake.
Editability of all past posts was promised by the official account, @steemitblog, six months ago. Here is a reference to that article:
"Steem 0.17 Change Proposal Introduction"
Within that proposal for HF17, you can still read the following quote:
Allow Editing of any Past Post or Comment
"We propose removing the restriction on editing of past posts. It is a user-interface responsibility to show revision history and enable restoration of unintentional changes made by compromised accounts."
One of the fundamental principles of trust and credibility is "Do what you say you will do." If some unforeseeable circumstance prevents keeping your promises, explain what's going on. It is long past time for Steemit to live up to this promise.
When the Steemit oracle, @steemitblog, says one thing and does another, it loses credibility. It is time to restore credibility in this area.
Do you like pencils without erasers?
Photo courtesy of olaf and http://pixabay.com
Reason #3: Link addresses change and need updating.
All good resource articles should contain references to sources of data.
Many articles on the Steemit platform contain reference sources external to Steemit. These sources are subject to change at any time.
To maintain the integrity and value of Steemit articles containing links, they must remain editable. It must remain possible to update links as external reference locations change or as newer, improved references are discovered.
Give Erase A Chance...
Photo courtesy of Maciej Szewczyk and http://pixabay.com
Reason #4: Mistakes are discovered long after creation.
Although top notch authors check and recheck their work, perfection is an elusive goal.
Sometimes because of deep familiarity, errors are unknowingly overlooked. The longer you look at your writing, the blinder you become to flaws in the details. However, after being away from an article for a while, an author can more easily spot those errors.
Just as "absence makes the heart grow fonder," every author knows that taking a break and returning with "new eyes" makes improvement and error discovery more likely.
"There will be an answer, Edit be..."
Photo courtesy of Hans Braxmeier and http://pixabay.com
Reason #5: There is no practical reason to prevent editing.
Steemit already recognizes the need for editing. This can be proven by the simple observation that Steemit permits editing for a week.
Furthermore, content creators who are adamant about editing their work will do so one way or another. They will simply re-post an edited copy of a post, if necessary, rather than allow errors or changes to be perpetuated.
Consequently, no resources are saved by preventing perpetual editing.
"Whisper words of wisdom, Edit be..."
Photo courtesy of tigerlily713 and http://pixabay.com
Reason #6: There is no moral reason to prevent editing.
When a content creator edits her own article, there is no "hiding" or deception going on.
The Steemit blockchain is perpetual and immutable. There is a complete history of every article's development, preserved for all time on the blockchain. Anyone who cares to see earlier versions of an article can access that history, given appropriate tools.
The necessary change is trivial.
Photo courtesy of Lee Campbell and http://unsplash.com
Reason #7: The necessary change is trivial.
It is quite obvious that "EDIT-ABLE" is the default state of posts when they are created.
Action is required after seven days to REMOVE the "EDIT" button from the post.
How hard could it possibly be to disable that conditional action?
IF {post is more than seven days old}
THEN {disable EDIT}
Or, perhaps the logic is expressed inversely?
IF {post is less than seven days old}
THEN {enable EDIT}
Could it be slightly more complex? It's hard to see how. Any way you look at it, this has to be a simple fix.
Ten minutes? Fifteen? Plus a little testing? Why are we still waiting?
Please, join with me in pressing this issue.
Let's raise our voices in unison. Please comment, share, re-steem, and lobby far and wide.
Lords of Steemit, isn't it time to resolve this simple matter? Please, as you've long ago promised, give us perpetual editing.
Thank you in advance for remediating this oversight.
~FIN~
LOOK! Check out our amazing product:
>>CLICK HERE!<<
You are why I'm here on Steemit!
I have very eclectic interests and hope, over time, to write about them all.
⬇️To Check Out @creatr's World⬇️CLICK Each Image Below⬇️
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You might like an article I put up yesterday called steemit we have a problem, on my phone now and it's rough or I would give a link.
Anyway I don't talk about editing, but organization and further monetization and used your library as an example work around.
Would be interested in your thoughts on my organizational idea.
You're right. I like it. ;)
Thanks for sharing, and "Hail, friend well-met!" ;)
Thank you, glad you like!
Agreed on all points. Not quite as elegantly, I had posted some similar thoughts about a month ago:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@preparedwombat/one-drawback-of-the-steem-blockchain
Hi, friend, and thanks for sharing.
However, I believe that your article reflects a misunderstanding. I believe that all edits go on the blockchain permanently. In other words, that there is a sort of "version history" that takes place.
Edits used to be allowed up to 30 days. They were changed to seven days simultaneously with the change to the payout window.
As I best understand it, there is no impediment to perpetual editing other than the Steemit User Interface (UI).
All good reasons. I just started posting on Steemit and noticed that I made a grammatical error in the title! That's bad. I tried to edit and low and behold, no such function. I typically type things fairly fast and most of the time am in a hurry. That being said I am bound to make spelling or grammatical errors. I have caught numerous spelling errors on some Medium articles and always message the author to let them know. These types of errors don't shine a favorable light on the author and we need to be able to edit at any time after posting.
Greetings, @irishmayhem, and welcome to Steemit!
Actually, my friend, a peek at your blog tells me that you should be able to edit any or all of the articles you've posted thus far?
Simply open the article, scroll to the bottom, and you should see a small "Edit" link towards the right. Click on that, and you should be able to change almost anything about your article, apart from the main topical tag...
However, you'll want to be quick about it - the ability to edit expires a week after you post...
In any case, Thank you for visiting my blog, reading this article, and concurring! I hope that the Steemit "powers that be" will remedy the edit issue...
Please stop by and let me know if you succeed at editing? And if you have any questions I can assist with?
Beautiful I just remedied my post. I am a bit sporadic when it comes to technical solutions. Sometimes I see an article and don't investigate further. Always in a hurry. I am still getting used to this format and didn't see the minute edit icon :) Thank you for the direction.
You're more than welcome. Glad to help. ;)
I agree 100%, I'm a 'Newb' to Steemit and am actually SHOCKED to find out that I cannot edit posts after 7 days. I'm an experienced and successful internet content creator, and one way to get your content READ is to create posts that are 'placeholders' for all of your other content, sort of like an 'outline' or 'introduction' to all the topics on a particular subject that you will be expounding on, then as you add articles on that topic, you 'interlink' all of the content together.
Not only would this benefit content creators, but benefit Steemit because people would stay longer on Steemit, which is part of Google's algorithm.
It's silly for Steemit not to allow this feature that would not only benefit content creators, but benefit readers, and also be more beneficial for Steemit in the search engine algorithms.
With this method of interlinking my related articles, my visitors read, on average, 3 pages each time they visit, as opposed to one and, at most 2, for most sites.
Also, as mentioned in the OP, Steemit will become a site with HUGE amounts of dead links, which Google also dislikes. MANY people tend to make articles that point to authority sites, such as research studies. These sites change their site structure over time, making dead links a problem. The ability to change dead links is imperative to the making of a good website, and, again, Steemit is 'shooting themselves in the foot' by not allowing the updating of dead links, since Google frowns on such things.
Steemit is hurting themselves as well as us, by not allowing this feature. Who wants to read old, outdated information with dead links. By updating my site constantly to keep the content fresh and links updated, I have been able to keep pages #1 on google for years at a time. But if I allow my content to become outdated and allow links to become dead, I quickly lose my favored google position.
Steemit is INTENTIONALLY allowing this to happen? Seems dumb on their part.
GREETINGS, my new friend @kerriknox,
Thank you so much for your very comprehensive and supportive comment.
I really appreciate your added support, and hope that you will join in raising awareness of this issue.
Welcome to Steemit, and best wishes!
😄😇😄
There should at least be a footer section that you can edit, if they want to protect the article itself from being deleted.
There is no danger of the article ever being deleted from the blockchain, so that's not a problem!
As I best understand Steemit, edits don't change what's on the blockchain; they simply overlay revisions on what already exists. A complete history of the article and its changes is maintained.
That's actually pretty cool. Thank you for clarifying that.
The quality of the posts archived on SteemIt would be better if it was possible to post edits as needed. As a Minnow, it's super frustrating to search for information only to find an article that is a year old and no longer accurate (I guess there's always that possibility - since edits are up to the author). Thanks for bringing this issue to my attention.
I couldn't agree more. Quality would definitely improve, though (as you have observed) would continue to be dependent upon the interest and effort of each individual author.
Thanks so much for adding your voice to the mix. ;)
I agree completely. I don't get why editing has to be limited. If they're worried about people probably putting out offending statement and down the line changing it to make it seem like there's no reason why he/she's being avoided, isn't this blockchain open for everyone to see? One could simply just look at the person's activity and see whatever change was made -.- And really, you're spot on with the mistakes being discovered after a long time. Is it really too bad to be able to correct those mistakes and have your article improve? Wouldn't that be a good thing as it means better content for steemit to flaunt? And the external link ._. Don't even get me started :|
Thanks very much for your affirmation. It's great to be "preaching to the choir."
All we need now is a choir member who knows how to fix this... ;)
Or even a choir member who knows someone who can fix this :D Here's to more people joining the club. May our collective singing be loud enough to cause for a solution to happen.
:) :) :)
I'd also like to earn perpetual upvote reward for articles.
I must disagree with that comment... The rewards pool is of finite size, and therefore it is reasonable to limit rewards to the first seven days.
However, the intrinsic value of your writing remains. It will draw more readers to Steemit and to your blog. Therefore, being able to maintain it is very important.
Thanks for commenting! :D
In the first seven days you're rewarded with money and followers. After that, you're rewarded with followers.
Rewarding you with followers gives you momentum to capitalise on them by creating new content.
Thanks for chiming in, my friend.. :D
your all on point @creatr. Im really wondering of how a simple edit function cannot happen in steemit. I really do hope that with this post they would listen now
Hi, @randell,
Thanks for visiting, reading, and supporting my presentation here. ;)
ha ha... Have people remarked on your consistency? You have been after this, creatr, for as long as I can remember and I'm surprised, in a way, that it hasn't happened. You presented many cogent reasons but no one seems to have taken leadership in this matter. It's not that you've been refuted, but your initiative seems stalled. I think that merits as much attention as the fact that no one has picked and ran with your idea ( although, pre-hardfork 19, they intended to do this very thing. So, what's the real reason for the delay? That's the question
I think being ignored is worse than being refuted... :(
My inference is that very few, if any, who matter, are seeing my appeals.
Regarding consistency, I think friend @lydon-sipe had one of the most encouraging comments for me here.
Thanks, friend, for contemplating my distressing plight! :D
I hear you...at least lydon's comment was encouraging :)
Your comments are always encouraging. That you "show up" here and comment always blesses me. ;)
I know this is dear to your heart - it sucks that it's taking time, but I think it will ultimately happen...in out lifetime :)
In our lifetime? Hahahahaha! :D
Agree 100%!
TY
I strongly believe the edit feature should be permanent, thanks for this great content!
Thanks for your affirmation.
I'm still way too new to all this to completely understand it. I absolutely agree with what you state. Maybe it has to do with the blockchain? Something to do with the 7 day payout and the rules people thinking no one cares after that?
Steem On!
No, I am pretty sure that the only issue is the user interface (UI) code.
At least, up to this point, that is what I hear from any developers who have commented, and I have heard nothing to the contrary.
If anyone reading this has any actual knowledge to the contrary, please feel free to speak up. :D
I totally agree, and I've seen other good proposals today, we should be able to post them somewhere in a section and be able to vote on them.
Thanks for your visit and comment. I hope we can sway public opinion on this. ;)
Your points and valid and desired by many @creatr.
As a long time website/database developer and someone who has grown to despise most social media/blogging platforms, partly for the reason they CAN be edited which creates an environment of distrust, you said-no I didn't, post deleted, type situations.
I would like to add one condition to the perpetual edit (would should take only minutes to recode as you suggested), because I do feel we need it here on Steemit to ensure accurate quality content - a public change log within the post itself. Not hidden off in the blockchain where you need "computer skills" to find and figure out what was done and when. Perhaps in the icon set next to reply, etc. Click it, and it drops a div with the change log history in plain text. Simply transparency. This would take a bit more time to code into the platform, but it's well worth it for everyone.
That way there is trust all the way around between the platform provider (steemit), content creators, content curators, and casual readers.
I believe that would be valuable. I don't see it as "necessary," as long as anyone seeking such verification could readily find a utility offering that function.
Are you familiar with the old "Xanadu" vision for the internet? I believe it would have had such utilities as part of its native implementation.
Thanks very much for your affirmation and your added input! :D
@creatr, I'm with you 100% on this... it's a constantly nagging annoyance for me, and I always come back to the same issue: who exactly would be HURT by having this feature?
I know, there are a few "purists" who start spouting off about "dust on the blockchain" if everyone is allowed to go back and change a couple of punctuation marks on old posts and yadda yadda. But REALLY?
I appreciate you writing this... I have a something similar sitting in my "drafts" folder and I'm tempted to scrap it now that you have said this so well. Or maybe I should just sit on it for 2-3 weeks and send it through as another voice asking for editing for all!
We need to keep "beating the drum," and so, PLEASE do keep it, polish a little maybe, and then LAUNCH it! :D
This really must get changed
Hello, my new friend @derickj,
I couldn't agree more.
Welcome to Steemit, and the underlying realities thereof... ;)
Amazing post. This type post is very helpful for a newbie like. Good job.
TY
nice post, thanks for sharing!!
TY
Great info. Thanks for share..
Please upvote and follow me @tsteem
And i'll followed you
TY
Great post. Thanks for sharing
TY
Very, very valid points @creatr
I have been getting a lot of new traffic to my very old posts - the tutorials mostly - and I want to edit them, possibly remove some of the anecdotes and ahem strong language (LOL) to give it a better polish. I can't do that and it's frustrating! I don't want to keep spinning my own content!
Yes I think this is the key point. You are being forced to regurgitate content to fix minor but important parts of the blog.
If reposts are frowned on then make them less of a requirement?
Good work here @creatr !
agreed 100%!
In addition to being able to edit, we should be allotted a certain amount of posts that we get to select which can potentially earn way past the 7 day or 1 month mark. Thanks to google searches, some of my posts from nearly a year ago are getting traffic. That is potential income that I'm not earning from material that's probably bringing people to the site.
Yeah the earning thing is trickier to work out. Although it seems that this is a loss of earnings, hopefully these people will check out your latest stuff and vote on that. For now it may be an update of an old post with a few changes! :)
He has good points, we just need a public , plain text, change log to go with that. To preserve trust between content creators and readers. I posted a longer comment to that point as well. Thanks for resteeming this post - never would have found it without that.
Thanks for chiming in.
The blockchain itself is public. It is its own "change log." While I do not have one, I believe utilities exist to examine the history of any post. If not, they can most certainly be created, and so there is no possibility of deception, even now.
Thanks for the affirmation, dear. Yes, the frustration mounts... :O
Oh, I also echo @steempowerpics appreciation for bringing this to his attention! :D
Well stated @creatr. I am in agreement with your viewpoints.
By adding @steempowerpics idea of a perpetual edit log- a public change log within the post itself may be a good solution.
Thanks, @bilbop...
As I've responded to @steempowerpics, I would certainly not object to such a log... but the blockchain itself is a perpetual log of all changes. All I see really needed is access to a review utility.
What I would definitely want to avoid at all costs is any further delay in allowing edit access by piling on additional requirements at the outset. Such a log, or utility, is desirable, but should NOT delay giving us editability.
I had no idea they were supposed to implement this already. I can't imagine it's more insidious than oversight or other things taking priority, but it would be a good and very welcome change so we don't risk having a post up permanently with egregious errors or misinformation.
Thanks, @fungusmonk...
If I seem to have attributed bad motives, I apologize... I just find this extremely frustrating, and continue to desperately seek a remedy. For example, I have more Surfing articles to publish, but my Surfing Library Shelf just turned into a pumpkin... I will have to repost the entire thing in order to update it! :(
Please help spread the word that this is important. Perhaps it will reach the right ears if enough people start complaining? ;)
Oh, it's no skin off my back, your tone here is just very assertive. That's a good thing though, it's a change that needs to me made.
Hi, friend, and Thank You for your helpful comments.
Is this the post you're talking about?
And, would setting up a steem RPC node be a minimum requirement for sufficient database access to enable an independent "post edit" app that would work without the http://steemit.com UI?
Or, is it possible to access the database via some already existing public node?
Thanks for your help.