Should Members Be Able To Edite/Delete Their Posts?

Hey..
I have a xbox forum & im not sure weither i should allow my members to be able to edit and/or delete their posts.
What have you got set on your forum?
Whats your thought on allowing editing & deleting posts by members?

I've generally always allowed members to delete and edit their posts. Members (myself included) can often make typos or errors, or even miss-post. Not allowing them to edit or delete can often make cleanup for yourself/forum staff harder. It will also force users to make new posts to fix any errors in posting, instead of just editing their current posts.

Currently i have it so my members cant edit or delete their posts.
I have 2 groups on my forum "XLF Reviewers" & "Forum Welcomers". These members help out on the forum & they can edit & delete their posts. But im thinking about making it so no one can delete posts, but everything can edit them upto to 30 minutes after posting then no more.

As well as members being able to post allowed content, then go back a while later and change it to spam content.. I dont like the idea of a member posting a thread, then after getting replies to it, change it to say differant text to make it look as if the members replied on that instead of the thread which was there before the edit.

Thanks!
Soz

I don't think it is a good idea to make posts uneditable...a lot of problems can be avoided by having members allowing to edit posts. For example, they may realize they said something offensive and may want to change it, they may have made a spelling mistake, or they may have forgotten to write something.

Yes i think im going to go for..
- Members can edit their posts upto 30 mins after posting it.
- Members can not delete their posts at all.

Always believed to have the members of my forums the ability to edit their posts. Mistakes happen and to not be able to correct them is very annoying.

They can edit the posts for 15-30 minutes. Then I edit them. members cannot delete posts, not even mods. They can only move posts to a 'hidden' category so that I can make the final call. Easier like this and you don't have the 'chance' of anyone messing up your content

So far, thinking

Reason For Not Allowing Editing After Certain Time Limit:
For example.. Say you have a forum with doesnt allow posting of certain links to certains websites, lets say "adult sites". So i could make a thread on your forum posting something which you allow to be posted. Then after a while, i come back to your forum, go to that post, then change it completely to advertise the "adult site". If you have a busy forum, the post which has been edited could be pages back into your forum & less likely to be spotted of an admin or mod. This me getting my "adult site" advertised on your forum which i could have done if there was No Editing or Editing Was Timed.

I could also make a thread on your forum, after another member repling on that thread, i could change the text in my post that started the thread to make it look like that other member posted a reply on something else other than what that member was really posting on.

Reason For Not Allowing Editing After Certain Time Limit:
You could also lose any good SEO that page gives your website/forum.
If that page has good Rank, etc.. A member could ruin that with deleting their post.
Also, if a member decides for some reason or another, they could delete every post they have in proberly not alot of time. These posts could be popular topics on your forum & they will be all gone.

i have set it so posts are uneditable after a few hours, so a member has enough time to fix a spelling mistake or delete something they posted and regretted...but not enough time to cause much damage if they decide to leave and delete all of their posts.

Do you use phpBB ?
If you do, can you help with this..
To have the board-wide editing setting in the ACP to work properly, do i..
1).. Set all user permissions to Edit? then change limiting time to 30mins - 1 hour.
or
2).. Set all user permissions to No Edit? then change limiting time to 30mins - 1 hour.

Which will work?

On my forum, members are allowed to edit their posts anytime. But they are not allow to delete them. We never delete posts, rather we move unwanted posts to a garbage forum.

I believe that your should set a time limit on editing or deleting a post- but you should allow them to do it...

I let members edit their posts (no time limit), but don't allow them to delete their own posts.

I think edit, but not delete.

I think once they reach a specific post count or user group the option should become available. However I think it should be moderated like 5-10 minutes then you can't.

Editing, I don't see much of a problem but deleting is where the problem comes in. Like Austin said, I think they should maybe have a time limit for when they can delete them and when they can't.

I myself believe that all members should have the option to delete and edit their threads/posts however the only difference I make is that when the member deletes their thread or post that it is only soft deleted so we can check it to make sure nothing was out of sorts with the thread or post in question.

I have been in situations before where members have had the option to delete their posts/threads only they where getting hard deleted when they did it and some members where deleting rude and abusive posts that they had posted before a member of staff could see, in which case despite the fact a member had complained there was no evidence to back up what had been said and our hands where tied.

I let members edit their posts (no time limit), but don't allow them to delete their own posts.

because people makes mistakes and for example if you want to create your own tutorial there would be a lot of errors.