Do you edit your posts after you submit them?

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BWF89 Posted: Tue, Mar 25 2008 7:35 PM

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I tend to edit my posts quite a bit. I'll write a post, than read through it a few times, make corrections, than preview it, than go back and more corrections, and than post it. More so for longer posts than short replies or remarks. But than after I skim through the thread again and re-read my post I'll find all these things that I either didn't state, other ways of explaining what I'm saying, or sometimes completely redo my post. Usually I'll get all of this done in a timely matter before other people have a chance to quote my post and reply to my points. But sometimes they'll quote my previous statement a few minutes before I have a chance to make them better sounding.

Is this normal or do I have some kind of obsessive compulsive or perfectionist disorder? If I do it seems like internet forums is the only place where this tendency manifsts. I wish I took this much interest in my school work. I think this is because when you post something on the internet people can look up what you said at any point in the future and try to use it against you. So I'll want to make sure my posts can't be misread or misinterpreated. Whereas in when your talking with someone on the phone or face to face the person isn't going to remember every word of what you said or you can say something and than take part of it back to make a correction.

This really has nothing to do with forum policy. I was just curious as to whether other people share these concerns.

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Brainpolice replied on Tue, Mar 25 2008 10:22 PM

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You're not alone. I tend to do the exact same thing. Sometimes I'll find that people have responded to me when I was still editing the post. You just never know how quickly people are going to respond.

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Nitroadict replied on Thu, Mar 27 2008 4:18 PM

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I have always edited my posts (usually within a reasonable amount of time, depending on how fast it takes for people to respond) since when I realized that forum posting often mimic several people posting, essentially, mini-essays. 

I myself, being an aspiring writer before "living" on the internet, tend to see this as a good thing actually: it provides a snapshot of previous stated opinions, arguments, etc., but allows you to either mark you original post with an "edit:" timestamp, where you put in the additional remark to clarify your OP, or continue the conversation with a newer post. 

Usually, I do the later if a thread is hot (busy); I tend to do the earlier if a thread is either "cold" or "dead".  Of course, sometimes I forget about threads entirley; there is the whole "offline" world that can get in the way of internet activities.     

With the advent of Googling one's own internet alias', I find it amusing & sometimes informative, to go back and see what I've written.  I actually went back and did this with a few previous comments (in general, on the web) to help in an essay I was constructing.  I do not see this as perfectionist or obsessive-compulsive; but then again, when it comes to such diagnosis, I am naturally skeptical of labelling people (or myself) as such, especially when the said possible diagnosis is made on a person who isn't negativley affected by it. 

This also explains my extreme oppositon to the intellecutally pathetic attempts at marginalizing people who "use the Internet too much", by concocting an Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD).  That is another argument entirley, but I will say that it's absurd in it's vauge, general definition (MMORPG's, on the other hand...).

I see it as a naturally occuring behavior in response to the capabilities of forums, blogs, and even IM Away message's; or in general, a response to technology. 

I'd bet rates of insomnia stready increased with the advent of the light bulb, lol. 

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MacFall replied on Thu, Mar 27 2008 10:32 PM

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I probably edit my posts an average of twice. 

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macsnafu replied on Thu, Mar 27 2008 11:46 PM

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I tend to spend a lot of time working on the post before I submit it--I rarely edit it after submitting, and then it's usually for some obvious mistake I made.  I started posting on newsgroups way back when, where it was impossible to correct it after you submit it. Being able to edit a post after submission is a rare luxury.  Most online forums nowadays have preview functions, and I tend to rely on those a lot, too, going back and forth between edit and preview several times for long posts before submitting.