That's the thing (and I'm not sure if you meant this or not Jenna) but my posts weren't even edited this time. I watched it happen to others, and saw them react and feel downright terrible about it occurring. No mod should have god-like powers to alter what a person says. Give the person the right to change their own wording. They are they only person who truly knows the point they were getting across. Therefore, a mod changing those words adds a bias to the original statement. Not to mention it is downright rude to dictatorially decide that *usera* is not allowed to make *pointb*. What I find truly disconcerning about that is certain things are removed, while others are above the law consistently. Who do I pay so I can have this too?
Its really very simple. And no, it is not *more* time consuming than spending an hour cleaning a 10 page thread, and having Meat start a new thread because the first thread was locked, and then having to merge and clean both. And them re-moderate and clean again.
Gods, how many times has this happened? How many hours has it taken from our mods lives?
Give the people the power to make their own decision on the matter. Lets make a use case! :)
Use case 1:
There is a thread about Patti's dismissal from the band. Conversation spirals out of control, hurtful things are said. Its 5 pages long.
Solution: Lock the dismissal thread. PM those who said things in a hurtful way. Lets say there were 15 posts that need to be macheteed to death. Each of those users gets a chance to change their own post. They have a timeframe. Pick a number depending on the topic. If its HOT, give the person 5 hours to change it. PM's send an email to the inbox, so the person should receive a reminder email. No need to add new functionality. Next, wait for the time to elapse. If the time elapses and not all 15 users have edited their own post, DELETE THE POST. I REPEAT, NO ONES WORDS SHOULD EVER BE EDITED BY ANYONE. Immediately make a new thread with a shpiel similar to what Mouse did for this one, stating to please keep speculation to a minimum and that any further defamatory remarks will cause an immediate 5 hour user ban. Yes, it seems a bit extreme, but its honestly far LESS extreme than having someone alter a user's own words without consent. That is outright disgusting and rude.
Its that simple. Discuss and refine the process. What I said is just one idea from one brain and two eyes :P To state the most stupidly obvious thing. And we as a group can come up with better.