changing thread titles (test10)
 

I just discovered, entirely by accident, that by double-clicking beside the title of my latest thread in metrical, I was able to change its title, as these screenshots illustrate:

https://i.imgur.com/wBuwyuF.png?1

https://i.imgur.com/GjQHoKO.png?1

https://i.imgur.com/fNvxJ2E.png?1

Drunk on my power, I did this a few times, and now I seem to have lost the ability. So my question is: what's the deal? Is it a time-limited thing (you can do it within X minutes of starting the thread)? Is it limited to a number of times? Did I just suddenly get mod powers for the briefest of moments?

Oh and also, uh... can someone change my thread title back to "Japanese garden", please?

Edit: just changed the title of this thread ten times, so it's not limited by number. But now the ability is gone, so it appears to be time-limited (to five minutes, maybe?). So I guess we have a temporary ability to change thread titles upon creating them. Now I know. Perhaps this is news to you as well.

Yep, news to me. Mods can do it in the way you describe at any point (which I know from another vbulletin forum).

But googling, I see that it's configurable: a time limit can be set to allow users to change their own thread titles. This can be set by someone with admin privileges. How long it is here, I don't know. Jayne or Alex would know or could check. But useful to know this can be done.

-Matt

Or maybe it's just you, Aaron, and you have the world's most niche, yet also unreliable, superpower. Thread Change Man! Pow!!

Thanks. I suspect it is one of those features that not even Alex knows about, but maybe it will inspire me - get my mind off Trump and corona viruses and similar tragedies and back to writing. I could start by writing and changing titles and then graduate to actual poems. Anything to (a) start writing, and (b) stop obsessing about our totally fucked-up and fucked-over world.

(I do know that Mods can change titles, but I don't know if this is some thing they're born with, like the Dalai Lama, or it just comes about by being appointed.)

First off, I see you're online at this precise moment, Aaron, so I can tell you that I've changed your poem's thread title - for good! :D

Another comment is about to follow...

Jayne

Michael said: (I do know that Mods can change titles, but I don't know if this is some thing they're born with, like the Dalai Lama, or it just comes about by being appointed.)

Yep, I was born with this Superpower ;)

No, only joking... I haven't got time right now to find the appropriate bit in the Guidelines (I'm exhausted after looking after my 2 year-old grandson for two days!) but it's always been my understanding that you need a Mod to alter a thread title.

I think you may be right though, Aaron, in that you can alter a mistake yourself - in about a nanosecond, maybe - after which the damage stays done.

I would like to state that I never mind being contacted by members about stuff such as this; Alex doesn't have time for the everyday ''housekeeping'' matters, so I'm happy to deal with them and Alex seems happy to leave them to me. I refer all the heavy techie stuff to the Boss, however...

Jayne

Thanks Jayne.

Based on my tests, I believe the ability lasts for about five minutes for us plebs.

Hi Jayne,

Apparently, if you go to the Admin Control Panel, this setting will tell you how long we've got:

Admin CP -> Settings -> Options -> Message Posting and Editing Options -> Time Limit on Editing of Thread Title

-Matt

Where did you get that info, Matt? :confused:

I must have a different Admin Control Panel!

Jayne

Hi Jayne,

I googled it; it's from the link in the my first post. It was someone offering help for vBulletin v4 and the Sphere is v3, so I guess that might be why it's not the same.

Still, I imagine there must be a setting somewhere which specifies that users can edit thread titles and for how long.

-Matt