Are you aware that the statement "You cannot edit posts older than 7 days" is no longer true for the STEEM blockchain?

This means that yes, it is now possible to edit posts older than 7 days! You can go back and make changes to your older material, no matter how far back. Although this has not yet been fully implemented, a system-wide update is not far away. There is a work-around available (details below) which lets you do this right now.

WTF?

If this is news to you, the following is what I understand the situation to be:

• there was a recent release to the Steem code which allows unlimited editing of posts. This release - Steem 0.19.10 is an optional update
• because it is optional, it has not been implemented by all nodes (ie 'witnesses'). There are various technical reasons for this - see Brandonfrye's linked-to video below
• in order for the blockchain to register edits to posts older than 7 days, nodes running release 19.10 have to be available on the system. The changes may not register if there are no nodes to be found, or if a node is not found in time
• this feature of being able to edit posts past the current 7-day limit will become standard with further updates, and certainly by HF20 which is due to be released sometime next month
• currently most of the top 20 witnesses are not running this release, ie their nodes do not support unlimited editing. Steemit.com is waiting for these updates to happen before implementation. This is the reason why there is currently no 'edit' option on Steemit for posts older than 7 days.

Oh!

The work-around I mentioned above is available to use right away if you wish to have a go at editing older posts. There is a post by @timcliff - he is the one, along with @roadscape, who developed this work-around solution - entitled Unlimited Content Editing. Here he explains what you need to do if you would like to make some changes to your old posts. It looks straightforward enough and the comments show that several users have successfully managed to do this.

If you would like to be talked through a detailed and in-depth look at the issue of the 19.10 release and why it has not been implemented, as well as receive instructions on how to use the current work-around, @brandonfrye has done a clear and comprehensive 15 min video entitled How To Edit Your Steemit Posts Past 7 Days.

Right!

So, I learnt that we can edit posts older than 7 days, but I still had some questions in my head. Below is my understanding of the answers:

• the older versions of the post will still be available in the same way that is currently the case - ie. the change history of the post will continue to reflect the entire history of the post, up to and including the newest edit (regardless of time interval since originally posted). In other words, this will not affect the immutability of the blockchain :).
• the crypto payout of the old post is not at all affected by this. The payout remains frozen at what it was when the original 7-day period ran out. No further earnings are possible atm.

So What?

Hmmm, so what can one do with this, apart from correcting typos and broken links?

Well, one of the things I've been thinking about has been some kind of a blog-map. This would basically be a barge-curation page with links to my own blog content, listed under headings of my choosing. It would be a link to send people who are not on on the STEEM blockchain, like friends and family whom I'd like to share my blog with and/or promote crypto-blockchain-life to :D. It would also be available to anyone who wished to see a simplified version of what my blog was about without having to search or scroll. What stopped me from developing this any further has been the thought that I would not be able to update this 'barge-blogmap' with newer posts as they get published, and would therefore have to continually recreate it as a new post - too much hassle!

...until I came across a post by @abh12345, entitled Unlimited post edit time - Good for profile/index pages?, in which he proposed (and demonstrated through implementation) a 'profile' page which is linked to from his blog homepage, and which would (in the fullness of time) be continually updatable. I pricked up my ears and some of the nodes in my brain started making connections!

I have now published a blogmap.This post has been written in parallel and my plan was to publish the two posts (this and that) more or less simultaneously. This way I'll be able to cross link the explanation of the concept (this) with the the demonstration (that).

Direct link to 'Barge Blogmap' post which is a permalink on @barge's homepage. Or click the image below.

However, and to complicate the matter slightly, I have just started using www.steempeak.com. I enthusiastically blogged about my first and then my second impressions. I love this alternative interface to Steemit, and know that I will be using steempeak.com more than steemit.com from here on out. It is also likely that usage of feature-filled alternatives to Steemit will swiftly increase at some point as the upgrade in the quality of the user-experience is experienced by more and more people (try SteemPeak out for yourself if you're not sure what I'm on about). For the moment, most of the blockchain activity takes place on the shoulders of little ol' granny Steemit.

So which links ought I to use? Shall I link to a Steemit or to a SteemPeak interface? Shall I double-up and provide links to both? I remember being a little put-off when I was redirected to busy.org after clicking a link in Steemit and expecting a steemit.com page and interface to show up. I expect that there may be some similar resistance to this phenomenon with SteemPeak links. However, that is not my responsibility and it is always one's freewill choice to engage or not with the content, regardless of presentation. I embrace change and I embrace my @steempeak experience which has greatly accelerated my range of blockchain interactive fun. I am very fond of Steemit and all, but ........

[UPDATE]: I have decided to 'double-up' and provide links to both interfaces on the blogmap. It makes the page look neat and I rather like this solution :D

In addition to links to my own blog output, I have also thought about linking interesting conversations I have had in the Steemniverse. Perhaps I could link posts by other authors that I have found exceptional. The whole thing is bound to change shape over time anyway. I'm open to suggestions.

There you have it friends, my big plan for this upcoming expansion to blockchain activity. Does this idea appeal to you? Any other ideas of what one could do with the possibility of unlimited editing on the STEEM blockchain?

Thanks for reading
Namaste!