Justin,

I agree absolutely that unlimited editing of posts could wreak havoc and lead to disputes. But it's desirable for other reasons that are pretty mundane: People make mistakes.

My proposed solution to the problem would be to allow people to edit their own posts (depedent on a membership system for ID), but the system keeps the previous version(s) available and appends a link to it(them) at the bottom of the edited message . That way changes are documented so that disputes over what a message originally said are virtually impossible.

Another spin on the problem is that some boards allow you to edit or recall (delete) your post within five minutes or so. That seems pretty reasonable--is there anybody who hasn't experienced a sinking feeling and panic just after pressing Send to make ill-considered words a matter of public record? (No? Surely I'm not the only one?)

--Robert