What does this new feature entail?
One that is in a similar vein to how COG handles edits; when someone edits their initial post, the initial post is still viewable in its original form, and if someone edits the edited post further, the first edit is still viewable in its original form, and so and so forth.
How will this benefit the site?
Several situations/ways:
- Any situation where person A claims that person B said something, but person B has edited their previous post and deleted that something in the process, thus inciting confusion. An edit history would quickly clear up that confusion.
- To prevent situations where person A is formulating a reply to a post person B made, but person B edits the post to such a degree that when person A posts the reply, it no longer makes sense, thus inciting confusion. An edit history would quickly clear up that confusion. This also applies to admin edits for after the reply is posted.
- Indirectly leading to more careful and higher-quality posting. As soon as person A hits the “post message” button, every single word is documented and preserved with anybody having easy access to every single iteration of a post, including any deleted unsavory parts. This will make people think twice before hitting that button.
Alternative ways to implement the feature:
- Similar to how Reddit/Youtube handles edits, an asterisk or any other indicator will show up when someone edits a comment, doing away with the edit history.
