The ability to modify other’s posts in any capacity is something that could easily be abused. If someone didn’t like what they were being told, if someone felt like the comment was an attack or rude, or if someone didn’t like what a moderator has to say… you think this doesn’t happen, but that’s because we weed the site carefully so behaviour like that isn’t seen much. You’d be surprised. There’s times even i’m tempted to hide something because it bothers me, so I can imagine what that would be like for someone younger with less emotional control. It’d become so messy, so fast. It would be more work for us to have to go through and unhide things, ask why they were hidden, and argue with users who say “it’s my post, I say so”.
Besides… there’s nothing wrong with asking for an update. That doesn’t need to be hidden. It shows that our community works together for quality control, and shows we implement those changes and critiques. There’s no shame in being corrected, or having an outdated answer.
That to say, it’s too risky, and there’s no point to it when moderators and editors exist for that weeding purpose. We have a good and active staff team, and we have a good staff to user ratio; it’s not like we’re overwhelmed when there’s something that can be done. Stuff that needs to be cleaned up can be flagged and left to staff to handle.
I can say with almost complete confidence that this won’t be implemented. That isn’t a standard thing in forums, and not something Q2A natively offers. It would require extra programming. And PM can’t even be bothered to do promotions, which is a button click.
