As a tack-on argument, might I suggest that threads that have not been updated in over [insert time frame] or so be deleted? Maybe three years or so?
I left PWOT because I couldn't edit what I said. There, like here, I tended to be quiet unless drunk because of an extreme dislike for myself and what I had to say. Because of that behavior, what I ended up writing was probably around 60% good and 40% insulting or banal or weird. I'm being generous. And because of aforementioned self-hatred, when sober, I despise each and every word I have ever spoken or written anywhere. It is a significant problem, and one I am trying to find a solution too. It takes up a great deal of energy. I probably obsess over it three to four hours a day, and that is just consciously. That is not intended as a justification, just a reasoning of a pattern of behavior that I don't think is uncommon, especially on this site. And of course it is ridiculous to care that much when it is unlikely that anyone else does, and not anyone's problem but mine. But it is there.
Having been warned twice now for my poor behavior on this site, I have decided to just stop for awhile, until I am in a better place mentally. I've mostly abandoned the Jack Road username throughout the internet, and I'm taking a break and have gone back to just reading. The temptation is always there to go through and delete my posts, and I have done so quite a bit over the years. It is immediately attractive to someone like me. However, when you do delete, what you said is still remembered by people, and just the fact that it is deleted leads a viewer to imagine that it was an inherently bad post.
But time is supposed to heal, I think, and that becomes challenging on the internet, where what you say is often for all intents and purposes, eternal.
To me it would be wonderful if, after a long period of time and inactivity, but less time than say, a decade, my posts might fade.
As for limiting edits on past posts. This is still a pretty small site. I don't think it would take any real wrangling of the code. Just a unified philosophy among moderators and admins. When someone is frequently editing posts to the extent of removing the content of the post, perhaps an intervention. Someone to ask why they are doing that, and what purpose they think it will serve? A gentle reminder that editing written words doesn't replace memories.
Or, another idea, perhaps an option to "delete your account" which will keep all posts where they are, but transfer the ownership to an account entitled "Inactive Account" or some such.
I know the philosophy is "if you put it on the internet, it is on the internet, so think twice before clicking submit"
But sometimes people are idiots, and they have a lot of regrets.*cough* I think they should be afforded some amount of grace. Some ability to eventually recover.
Technology is wonderful, and can solve all sorts of problems that we have. But you have to design in humanity, it doesn't come standard. It is very alluring to simply go for the simplest fits-all solution, such as limiting all past posts edits for everyone. But we aren't massive, and therefore I don't think we need such an encompassing corporate strategy.
I once posted a string of incredibly personal stories on Hidden Couch that I then deleted. It was always my intention to delete them. The point was to tell someone, to get it out, to be told by anyone that my pain was not invalid or unwarranted. But if anyone involved in those stories should chance upon them, they would immediately recognize themselves in the narrative, and they would be hurt and angry. They would also realize certain things about me that they were not previously aware of, and that could lead to my safety being jeopardized. If such a rule existed where I knew I would not be able to delete those posts, my choice would have been to not post them. And I think that would have limited a very innocent and fragile voice that is already too often not present on forums for that very reason.
That may be okay with most people here, I'm not saying me writing those stories was needed or even wanted. But me personally, if someone is hurting to the degree I was when I wrote those stories, I would want them to have an environment where they felt like they could speak and still protect themselves. Maybe that isn't appropriate for this forum. If so though, I think that needs to be an outspoken united philosophy of the admins and mods that they do not want that voice. Because a choice to limit editing says that, I think, even if it is unspoken.