Allowing author of a thread to edit topic, (at least at some extent)

I thin it would be good idea to allow author of a thread to edit the topic. At least in programming forums. Why?

Most of the threads in programming area consider some problem. So when author has solved the problem (or got answer) he could edit the topic so that ppl would instantly see that theres no more help needed. Ways to do it:

1. give author a full control over a topic.
2. add [topic solved] button for author, so that he could just press it which would add text [solved] at the end of the topic. (That should not be so big deal to do )

Good idea in thought, but in practice, how many of the actual thread authors would come back to do so ??

Also, there is always the idea of someone else posting in the thread to offer another solution to how to fix it that would be equally as effective and I think that for learning purposes, this is good as it's always good to have other options on how to solve a problem.

Yes. It's good to have other options. That's why the topic edit just edits topic, not closes the thread

And if original author hardly ever is back after solving his prob (as you said), then he will probably never spot the optional solution either...

Anyways, that was just an idea...

Yeah, but you can edit any posts you make, in any threads I believe.Very true, but then it gives anyone with the same problem the option of which solutions to use.

Just my opinions !

You can edit the title, but it won't change in the forum, only the thread's page, unless you are a mod. (IIRC)Right, but as he said, the thread would remain open anyway...

I know, all threads do remain open.

Maybe I'm getting confused here..........

no, they're suggesting that the only way like that at current is for authors to lock threads which frequently happens.

I believe this is called the `ticket hack` if the admins want to look into it.

A couple of mods discussed this here:
http://forums.devshed.com/t237745/s.html

Admins never responded though, so obvisouly they weren't too keen
on the idea.

One thing that really annoys me when users close their own threads after getting a response, is that sometimes that response is incorrect and there are better ways to do things. If the thread is locked, then no-one will ever find out.

Poll it, if it gets a mandate, then at least it'll be listened to before it gets shot down

I'm pretty sure it was dicussed in more detail with JC in the mod
forum, but I can't seem to find the thread to give you a summary.

IIRC, the general concencus was that it wasn't worth it.

Dumb question: If the OP wants the title changed, can't they just PM the mod?

Yup. Or just report the post, that way, an email will be sent to all
the mods of that forum, so action is likely to be taken quicker...

Even better. The point is that although the OP doesn't have the ability to change the title directly, a mechanism exists to get the title changed.

And so changing one title mobilizes the author + all mods who look at the reported post... I f I was nasty person, I would call that a great victory of bureaucracy (Long long time ago, in a huge abandonware forum far far away, I was a mod... And at least back then, modds had quite a workload even without changing titles )

Another thing is, that if only a few people would use "mark as solved" button, even fewer will write a PM to mod. Especially those users, who rarely use forums... Big visible button would perhaps be different...



Mechanism is lousy (IMO.) Improving it would not be too hard...
(With that kind of idealism, we would not have cars, since mechanism of moving already existed even before cars... If there is a way to do something, does it mean it should never be improved?)


Well, anyways, I have now babbled enough about this, if admins are not interested, then they aren't. I have done my duty, and told my opinion about how things could been improved.

(And sorry if I stepped on someones toes, I did not mean to offend anyone, especially when I have seen you doing your best to help others )