Can ~Anybody~ Out There, *Please* HELP Me? Desperately Seeking Editability...
"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward."
- Kurt Vonnegut -
I'll admit it up front:
I've just about reached the end of my rope. I alternate between crying and laughing...
This is my fourth post appealing for help.
For those whose immediate response is not a cynical "Ask me if I care?" - here are links to my previous three appeals:
TIL... Now I'm REALLY Frustrated With the STEEMIT User Interface!😤
Seeking EDITABILITY Beyond Seven Days!
I'm starting to feel as pathetic as I fear I must sound...
Nevertheless, "hope springs eternal," and so I will ask again:
Is anyone listening?
Is there anybody out there who can help me "unlock" the ability to edit my older posts?
I'll pull out all the stops...
I'll be a drama-queen...
I'll ask the question as many ways as I possibly can...
I'll even attempt to illustrate all the myriad ways...
Can Anybody HELP Me?
Image courtesy of Sasin Tipchai and http://pixabay.com
You see, I had this great idea...
I created a Topical Table of Contents for my Steemit posts. I got tired of being "only as good as my last post," and wanted to make it easy for my readers and followers to access my entire library of posts without having to scroll several miles down through the SSI (Standard Steemit Interface).
My great idea spawned a couple more.
I began keeping a List of Post Ideas as a way of helping myself remember what I want to write about in the future.
Also, because I "follow" too many people to practically keep up with on a regular basis, I created a sort of "Favorites List" to help me make the rounds of my favorite authors. I curate manually, and don't want to forget to both read and support the authors who I most appreciate.
When I began these projects,
published posts could be accessed for editing for up to one month. On a daily basis, I would update these posts with new TOC entries, new article ideas, and any changes in favorite authors.
On roughly a monthly basis, I would re-post these "special files" with updated contents, changing links where necessary...
I was all excited for HF17.
HF17 was supposed to provide the ability to edit old posts.
My excitement was short-lived when I discovered that matters were now far worse, that I would have to create revised versions of my "special files" on a weekly basis! Bollocks!
Can Anybody HELP Me?
Image courtesy of Gerd Altmann and http://pixabay.com
Could you possibly throw me a lifeline?
Do you have the skill to write a utility that can "unlock" an older post and let me edit it?
I've been informed by developer @vandeberg that the necessary infrastructure already exists.
(EDIT: Said to exist in a "plugin" for HF19?)
Just go to this previous post on the topic, and you can see his helpful input. He offers several references that sound promising. (Scroll down to the comments below that post).
However, I'm frustrated out of my gourd, because I can't access this ability as a user and content creator!
Can Anybody HELP Me?
Image courtesy of Dawn Sinclair and http://pixabay.com
I'm even willing to try and write a utility myself.
However, before I can even attempt that, I need a helping hand.
I need some guidance as to how to set up the right "build environment" that would let me access the Steemit blockchain. I need an understanding of the framework and tools necessary for constructing such a beast.
Can anyone point me to a "ground-up" description of how to write a Steemit utility? I know how to code; I can learn language tools quickly; however, I need guidance, possibly a complete example, as to how to "set things up" to perform that task.
Can Anybody HELP Me?
Image courtesy of Steve Buissinne and http://pixabay.com
I'm sure I could find better things to fret over...
I would really like to fret over something else, but my fundamentally OCD nature keeps bringing me back to this issue!
I really want this! I'd be willing to throw some (modest) amount of Steem or SBD towards someone with the skills to move this issue forward.
My blog is now so long / large that I think I actually need multiple files in order to create a hierarchical table of contents. And, as I have already thought of three uses for permanently editable files on Steemit, I'm sure that other creative folk will be able to think of many others?
Can Anybody HELP Me?
Image courtesy of Gerd Altmann and http://pixabay.com
And so, can you help me? Will you?
All efforts to help accepted... Suggestions, utilities, http://steemit.com upgrades, build framework guidance, heck, even a little sympathy would be nice?
Do I have to declare a State of Emergency?
Can Anybody HELP Me?
Image courtesy of Andrew Martin and http://pixabay.com
I know I'm stressing over this too much...
The length and pathos of this article probably tells you that pretty clearly!
Would begging help???
Can Anybody HELP Me?
Image courtesy of Dean Moriarty and http://pixabay.com
Shockingly, I'm not too proud to beg, at least not today!
Can Anybody HELP Me?
Image courtesy of Gerd Altmann and http://pixabay.com
Can you tell I'm desperate?
THANK YOU in advance for any help you may be able to offer...
~FIN~
LOOK! Check out our amazing product:
>>CLICK HERE!<<
You are why I'm here on Steemit!
I have very eclectic interests and hope, over time, to write about them all.
⬇️To Check Out @creatr's World⬇️CLICK Each Image Below⬇️
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Hmmm..................
a LOT of people could do with something like this. Creating a page for your own needs would be no drama. i could do that for you and host it. All you would need to do is enter the links.
I could to that quite easily for free, no worries I think.
But to do it so that you can create a table of content for others to view would need a database, which would be more work
But it would also be really useful, for a lot of people.
if you can't get a resolution sometime soon, and you are desperate for anything to fix the problem, let me know and I'll make something up for you.
Thank you so much, my friend, for your very kind offer!
However, I already have access to hosting and tools to do what you are offering. I have not done it for reasons that I've described in other replies here - the main one being that I need the "archival quality" of the Steemit blockchain in the long run.
So, I'm not that desperate yet... But, THANK YOU!, nonetheless...
No worries. ;-)
I also would like the ability to have my own 'page' where I can put up a list of my stories, and stories that i want to highlight to my readers.
I think having a personal 'home' page that you can edit, that doesn't go away, would be a major boost to Steemit.
It would make it much easier for someone to read a series of posts, and get to know an author.
Like the people posting whole novels, one post at a time, or like @papa-pepper posting his games and wild food posts.
How hard can it be?
you know why I don't fret about this, @creatr? Because I have a separate Wordpress website where I can archive all my writings, allow people access and edit to my heart's content. You said you want to preserve this for posterity - why not do it this way? Sure, you have to register a domain and pay a modest fee to keep the Wordpress people happy, but you can use some of that SBD and be your own man and not have to beg peeps to change something they don't really want to change.
You can even leave a sum of money in your will to continue this website long after you're gone if you don't think posterity will be all that interested ha ha...
Hi John,
Yes, the thought of having some kind of funded "perpetual trust" has crossed my mind... HOWEVER:
Presently, pretty much all "disposable revenue" is allocated to survival... though Steemit and other cryptocurrencies offer some hope of an eventual change to that situation.
also:
I think of this sort of like the difference between leaving a few reams of paper in an attic vs. erecting a "Stonehenge" sized edifice. I view the Steemit blockchain as potentially being more like the latter, and any "government-legal-contractual" trust structure as more akin to the former.
Do I sound like I'm begging?
Yes, admittedly... But it's not just for me. The general consensus of "regular users" who have responded to my missives and become aware of this seem to support such a change.
And (though progress has been slow) I think the "peeps" have been implementing some level of what I'm asking for in the background, and that they will eventually complete it.
Perhaps more ideally, I shall be driven to study the problem, and ultimately learn how to figure out the details of implementing a tool to do this myself.
Of course,
then there are my darker moments when I think that perhaps I should instead be worrying about eradicating all traces of my thoughts from the worldwide web, so as to save my progeny embarrassment... :O
you know the famous ode of Horace, the Roman poet? He erected a monument more lasting than bronze and higher than the royal site of the pyramids simply though the quality of his writing - and then he bragged about it! So did Shakespeare...so, that may be another way to go because some peeps think the blockchain record shouldn't be edited - that's the purpose of it. Me? I just like it when Walmart rips off one of my quotes to sell their socks. Yeah, that makes me feel like I achieved something ha ha
My friend John, immortalized by Walmart?
Awesome! :D
I'll send you the ad if I can find it - no wait, I'll ask Deb - she's preparing a lawsuit haha
Can't wait... ;)
Okay, they were selling mobile phones - thought it was socks - that's better, I suppose :)
Better indeed!
"John J. Geddes, Spokesperson for Wireless!"
vs.
"John J. Geddes, Smelly Sock Salesman."
:D ... LOL!
Being from SA all I know about Walmart is that a lot of funny looking Fat People go there? Does it need advertising?, they are already hilarious!
I cannot, alas, help you. I can edit my own posts, back as far as I want to look. But I cannot tell you how to edit yours. All I can do is sit here with you in your sadness, virtually holding your hand. Well, I can also resteem. Maybe that will help, too.
Thank you, my friend @cristof, both for your sympathy and for the Re-Steem!
Also for your comment, which now has me quite puzzled...
Are you sure you can edit your articles beyond 7 days?
Are you a Steemit witness? Could that be why you can edit it all?
Enquiring minds want to know! :D
I am not a witness. You know, let me check and see if I can edit something back two weeks.
Please do let me know.
If you are able, I will be simultaneously shocked and jealous in addition to being terminally curious as to how it may be possible.... ;)
Yeah.
No.
I didn't go back far enough to see that. And now I sit in the dark with you, pouting, trying not to weep. All those lovely posts that could be improved so much with just a little tweak here...and there...
But no.
OK, thanks for the revised report!
I'll feel slightly less miserable myself now... slightly...
I was going to suggest an offsite list linking everything back to here but the hassle of paying for a site can be a deterrent and the post isn't probably eternal compared to if it's here (I read a host can wipe out your stuff if they deem it against whatever TOS they have). This is probably a useless (and annoying) suggestion but a weekly TOC with a link to your previous TOCs :| Or evernote but then others won't see that so weekly TOC it is. Can't imagine how annoying that would be to make but desperate times for people like you with extensive posts. Well, until such time a lot of people complain and someone makes a plugin for editing or steemit itself amends it.
PS. The pictures... lol
Hi there, friend!
Thanks for your compassionate and thoughtful response. You're right about the ephemeral nature of external web hosting, which is why I'm not planning to do that.
I also appreciate your letting me know that you found my selection of images amusing, THANK YOU! ;)
😄😇😄
Yeah well it's the best I could think of. I'm caveman-level when it comes to computer stuff. You'll probably have to make another post about this issue again. I'm hoping you'd make it an ode. :D with more of those pics just to be sure of course.
Have you thought of maybe hosting these lists on a different platform? Google docs, perhaps? It would just be a list of links and ideas, right? Then you can just link to them off Steemit Site, no biggie. I understand with the urge to want to change those things you have now, but probably not likely it will happen.
For myself, I don't think other people can see it I use wri.pe to make lists and draft posts for my Steemit posts because it supports Markdown.
But for your lists, the best option would be to use an offsite tool.
Greetings, @farmstead,
and Thank You very much for your very thoughtful and constructive comments.
I do presently use various "ad-hoc" tools to do my editing and maintain my various lists, and etc., "offline"...
And, yes, I have in fact considered the alternative of other web hosts for the purposes I've described in this article... I may actually be forced into attempting it one day!
However, even if I ever do "go external," I will consider it a very temporary measure. Why?
I am counting on the promise of what I hope will be the "archival quality" of the Steemit blockchain. In the long run, I don't really trust Google or other "off-Steemit" platforms.
While I do myself maintain hosted web presences in other places where I could conceivably set up such link files, I am also looking towards a more distant future in which I will not be around (i.e. I'll be dead) to pay for and maintain those sites. I would like my progeny and any "audience" I may eventually develop to be able to access and read my writing in perpetuity.
And so, for the long term, I want to have my indices and other tools right here on the Steemit blockchain.
Nevertheless, thank you so very much for your terrific suggestions!
😄😇😄
I'm sorry, I must have missed that part!
NO apologies necessary! I appreciate you!
And, BTW, Thank You for the Re-Steem! ;)
Here I was all proud that I could tell someone you said something in your post, and here I go, not fully reading. Hahaha How embarrassing! Hahahaha.
Of course! There are so many features I think that Steemit could use right now, and this is a good suggestion! I don't see any reason in not allowing a post to be edited since it cannot gain any more earnings anyhow.
Help, help the end of beta is drawing ever closer, and we still don't have something that is a natural for blogging. I look at my old posts and feel like I've just stepped in something nasty. The end of beta is audible in the distance. Sound the alarm.
source
Thanks, friend, for your supportive AND very amusing response.... ;) :D
It sure would be a shame to not have the ability to edit the things I've done in the past, just for the lessening of awful content on Steemit. The beginning of my blog looks like a garbage collection strike. I'm sure many are looking for a chance to make library links or other things, and that would be extremely useful, but I just want to make Steemit a better place by cleaning out my own refuse.
I agree, this isn't the best UI, but it's a great platform! Your post looks excellent! Upvoted and followed!
Thank you. ;)
Why not copy everything over to Google's Blogger which is free?
www.blogger.com
Thanks... but I'm "Google averse."
For a more complete answer, please see my response to @farmstead and others...
Nonetheless, I appreciate your thoughtful suggestion! ;)
I could be wrong, but from what I surmise the reason you can't is because the payout is on the post as written at the time of payout. That info goes onto the blockchain and becomes part of it forever. Since you can't break the blockchain (the security behind steem dollars), no editing can occur.
I'm afraid you are wrong, my friend.
The way all editing on Steemit happens is via "versioning," i.e. new edits simply supplant and overlay old. The original and all subsequent copies are preserved perpetually... it's just that the "latest version" is the one presented via the user interface.
And so, there really is no obstacle (apart from the present user interface) that prevents editing any post.
One of the unfortunate things with the platform is the lack of a comprehensive wiki that spells out all these sorts of problems and answers them, that I know off that is. If there were such a thing I think it would be best to advertise it everywhere. Appears someone has steemit.wiki but has no site. something similar would be really cool to aggregate all the concise how-to posts into or just make an actual wiki for community editing. I have no clue how to, just ideas.
Hello friend,
Thanks for your comment.
There actually is a Steemit wiki in progress...
I don't have the link "off-hand," but check in with @stellabelle and her blog, and you should be able to find it?
I'll return here later when I come across the link...
I figured someone HAD to be on it a long time ago... but you never know. Sometimes things can fall through the cracks.
As for editing, I can edit new posts over the past 2 weeks but months old ones I can not. More so another confirmation that you are not alone in this quandry.