Delete Preferred Over Edit
After running a web site that has forums as one of its main components, I have discovered that users are much more likely to delete threads and posts they are dissatisfied with rather than edit them. On the forum, all post revisions are saved, including deleted posts, so I can easily how many times a user actually tried to edit a post. When I post on the forum and do not like what I said, I edit the post, but I also have a very deep understanding of exactly how the forums work and the rest of the users are far less technically savvy than I. On the forums, there are 13,561 total posts, 236 of which are deleted and 854 have been edited at least once. That means out of the 8 percent total post that have been modified in some way, over 25 percent of them are deleted posts.
For the most part, deleting posts does not make sense. The edit and delete buttons are equally prominent and right next to each other in each post. When you edit your post, your original text is already included in the post, making it much easier to change the grammar or fix a typo instead of trying to remember what you wrote earlier before you deleted your post. And finally deleting posts results in more mouse clicks. So why are so many users more likely to delete their posts rather then edit?
Users on the forum are allowed to enter certain html tags in their posts, and the most likely cause of post deletions, is poorly written markup. If a user writes out a post with bad markup and submits it, the post will show up on that thread page for all to see. In order to prevent all other users from seeing this incomplete post, the easiest course of action is to delete the original post and start over.
So to save my users from the painful process of posting, deleting, revising, and reposting, I have added a live preview of new posts. As users type their posts, the preview will display exactly what will be seen when the post is finally submitted, markup included. Any errors will be instantly obvious, and there is no threat of embarrassment of submitting incomplete posts.
Jan 09