Regarding the WAI 65c816 thread…
It’s very stressful to get a notification that your post was edited by a moderator.
I think editing and deleting posts should be reserved only when the content is very egregious.
If you have more information to add on to the end of a post, I think a reply is better.
Sorry to shock and disappoint - certainly not my intention.
On the other hand, had I seen the post before the snippet was added by the mod. I’d just have skipped over it and ignored that thread because sometimes I simply can’t be bothered to follow links and open external articles…
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t…
-Gordon
All good.
On the other other hand, when people see a thread continue to bump, their motivation to read it more thoroughly is typically higher.
Certainly true! In this case, I didn’t want to comment because I didn’t (yet) have a contribution. Another approach I could have taken is to PM you suggesting the edit - which I surely would have done if I’d anticipated that the edit was going to be a shock.
One of the things I dislike that GitHub did is when the stopped counting comments as contributions. I think they should count.
I found that snippet helpful, too. Especially, since the link looks much like an ordinary link to some document and you really don’t know what it is about, until you have followed this external link.
Regarding the shock value, I guess, it’s much about how you perceive moderation in general. I think, it shouldn’t be just the “forum police” (thankfully, there is next to no need for this), but also a public service. With the latter, there’s always plenty of room to fail. E.g., I could imagine a comment to be perceived as some kind of scholarly correction, marking the initial post as insufficient.
I think it’s quite normal for initial post to be insufficient. Most people in this world don’t post at all and only lurk because they don’t want to get ripped to shreds by the forum regulars for not knowing enough, in my experience.
Hmm, I know some forums are like that, but does this forum seem that way?
Not at all. But here’s a recent example of someone who recently told me to just google it, whom I don’t think it’s worth explaining to that the I did use google before asking, and the image I found had a watermark on it which obscured what I was looking for.
The reason I stay at that forum is that I know how to handle the people like that.
That is a pretty hostile reception, on the face of it. If I were a moderator there, I’d probably think that moderation might be able to improve matters. If it did, it would certainly upset some people, who would feel they were not allowed to express themselves freely. If not moderation, there’s peer pressure, although that’s not in evidence there. And if not peer pressure, then only the thick-skinned survive, and I’m not a fan of that kind of online culture. The net effect (in my view) is that you end up with thick-skinned hostile cultures in some forums, and with moderation and civility (perhaps even kindness) in others.
In this case, do you consider “could you add a quote from the linked document so readers can understand the context without clocking through” being “ripped to shreds”?
I can understand that if you are not used to a forum with active and supportive moderators, that seeing a moderator edit could trigger an “oh no” response. After you understood that it was a simple clarification (and the kind that Discourse makes automatically when the software can figure out how), was the edit itself upsetting?
No I think that’s a fine request. Edit itself was fine too.
I love Big Ed’s stewardship, and this is one of the most relaxed boards around, so as a result, one of my most favourite. 
Yeah, I don’t see people being destructive here like I do so many other places.
Thanks for the kind words 
Well Deserved. I’d cancel my Netflix subscription if I had one! Much more engrossing content here - and that after just an hour or so as newbie here.
Yes, this is a great forum with friendly people.
But it’s quite easy when there are not that many active users.
Or when people not just looking for likes.
Yes indeed - just read a support thread where someone with 41000 users has a couple of troublemakers and isn’t sure how to deal with them…
I ended up reporting one of those troublemakers at Atari Age. The only thing evil respects is unyeilding strength.