There are fairly frequent complaints here about the inability of readers to preview their comments before they’re posted. I sympathize with this (I’m exempt, of course, because I can edit my own posts and comments), but I’m sorry to say that this stricture is not my own: WordPress simply doesn’t allow readers the option of previews or post-comment editing.
That said, I can edit readers’ comments. if you’ve made some egregious error, forgotten to close your italics using HTML tags, or wish to make an important change in something you’ve said, just shoot me an email (you can find my work email simply by Googling my name and the name of my university) and ask me to make the change. I’ll be glad to accommodate, and have done so a fair number of times.
I haven’t worked much with wordpress, but couldn’t you install a plugin (e.g. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-ajax-edit-comments/ ) to do it?
Here are “33 WordPress Plugins To Power Up Your Comment Section”
WP plugins work only on self-hosted WP sites, not on WP.com sites
Thanks mc I think I get it now ~ it’s the User Roles :- Administrator, Editor, Author & Contributor ~ the latter being unable to edit their submitted posts, but I note an Author can edit, publish and delete their own posts, as well as upload files/images
Is it possible to make everyone an Author ?
Jerry Coyne, the copy editor. Be careful what you ask for.
I confess – twice I have screwed up the italics, that is why I never use them now! I simply cannot be trusted! 🙁
Okay, I see that one addressed at me ;-). I try not to bother the popular writers too much with petty requests for correcting my typos, since I figure you have enough mail already.
Ditto the plugin – there’s a million of them. I’m using jQuery and I barely even get comments. Most plugins are pretty painless to install.
Oh, wait – they’re intended for blogs. Nevermind.
😉
Oh, pity the petty of the putty that is “blogs”!
That said, I had the exact same reaction. If the grocery doesn’t sell gas, go to the gas station.
While you’re making changes, may I suggest that we don’t need to know that you’ve made a [New post], because we get an email with [New post] and the name of the [New post] included in the subject line, along with [New post]. Now I like to hear you’ve made a [New post] as they’re always interesting, but do we need to know it’s a [New post] by seeing [New post] in the subject or could we just figure it out be we have an email regarding a [New post] from you.
I don’t follow your complaint. It says [New post] just once, which usefully serves to distinguish new posts from new comments on existing posts. I like this feature and would not want to see it changed.
Exactly.
Ditto.
These are not comments! These are “blog remarks”!
aka “blarks”
How about “blemarks” for the not-so-nice comments? Blem=blemished.
It is a website, not a blog! 😉
Or, you could go here, http://htmledit.squarefree.com/,
type in your comment, then copy/paste into the comment window?
(Sure hope that worked.)
That’s cool! Thanks for posting the link.
Almost none of the sites I comment on have a preview function, so I don’t see what the big deal is. I guess I can’t miss something I’ve hardly ever had. Granted, if you’re in the habit of using tons of html in your comments, a preview function is helpful.
I would suggest people stick to the easy html stuff like italics, and leave off on trying to build a webpage within their comments. I’ve seen some of the most awful html messes in comments, all because somebody thought it would be cute to try different fonts/spacing/formatting, etc. If you wanna play around with that, get your own webpage.
I don’t use a lot of html but often desire italics; I can’t count the number of times I’ve forgotten to carefully check the closing tag till after I’ve reflexively hit “Post Comment,” then sweated bullets till my comment appeared…So I appreciate this post! Thanks, Jerry!
Unfortunately there are good reasons for blog and forum platforms to disallow comment editing, usually having to do with less civil commenters than are generally the norm here; which civility we also need to be grateful to JAC for maintaining.
Not to sound like a tone troll…(aack!)