@Carleas I don’t know if this is already a thing, but could we be notified of edits to comments that we like, while having the like removed until we can review the edit to see if we still like the comment?
This isn’t a feature at the moment, and I can’t find a way to add it, but I’ll keep an eye out.
Is this a hypothetical or something that’s actually come up?
A hypothetical.
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I’ve liked the above comment. Please notify me when it changes from a hypothetical to something that’s already come up.
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What could it hurt in this case to be proactive?
I’ll engage the hypothetical, I just wanted to know if I needed to do something or if i could keep armchairing it.
An edit that materially alters the meaning of a post, such that people who liked it want to revoke their likes, is most likely an abuse of the edit function. If someone wants to update their position well after the fact in a way that changes its meaning, the best way to do that would be to make a new post. Edits can be rolled back, and that would probably be the best way to address the hypothetical.
I can picture edge-cases-to-edge-cases beyond this where it wouldn’t be sufficient, but if those ever come up they will be dealt with ad hoc, there’s no need for a specific policy or function.
As for detecting it, there isn’t a way to do it automatically, but cases where it matters it should be caught. There’s a limited time window in which a user can edit their post (24 hours for most users), so it would probably happen in a conversation that’s still active (“trusted” users have a longer window, but they are implicitly less likely to abuse the edit button).
You can also get a list of your liked posts from your profile, so if this is something that concerns you, you can check them there (though you have to click through to each post to see if it has an edit icon).
It could be as simple as sending a notification to the user (Facebook used to do this & may still) and removing all likes after an edit is saved. The notification to the user(s) could read “Would you like to re-like this edited post? Likes are removed after edits.” I don’t write code, but it seems like it would be simple enough.
I agree that sounds simple, though I don’t know how to do it myself. I can look for a plugin, that’s about my level of being able to modify things.
For what it’s worth, the people who create and maintain this software have been asked to add exactly this feature, and they’ve rejected the request because it almost never comes up, and sending a ton more notifications for something that will probably never make a difference is a bad trade.
Not sure if I’m convinced, but I can appreciate that argument. And when it does come up there are better ways to deal with it, e.g. roll back the edit and give a slap on the wrist to the user who’s abusing the edit button.
That’s a contradiction. Or at least a conflict.
If someone doesn’t want such notifications they can simply uncheck a box.
How so?
People edit posts that other people have liked often → a ton more notifications
Almost none of those edits change the meaning of the original post → it almost never comes up.
No contradiction.
It’s simple when there is one box, not when there are one hundred. Each box is an incremental cost, and if the incremental benefit is less than that incremental cost, it’s not worth it even if it’s mechanically simple. For everyone who will never need to review edits to post they’ve liked, which is almost everyone, the change makes their lives worse on net.
Well, anyway. If there is a short time limit on edits, it’s prolly correct that rogue edits are unlikely.
Giving up.
There are a few others settings that could help. There’s also an edit log on the backend that could be useful in noticing shenanigans (I’m talking to the developers about it, I found a bug/unexpected behavior in how it’s reporting edits).
I mentioned the hundred boxes because I’m a little overwhelmed with options in tweaking this and that, so more boxes sounds particularly stressful for me at the moment, and maybe I’m overestimating how true that is for users.
You’re right it sounds simple, and there’s a thriving community that develops plugins for the software, so if it’s something is simple and useful it usually gets made. I haven’t seen one yet which supports their claim that this isn’t a big enough problem that it needs a technical solution, but I will keep looking.
Sorry if it feels like I’m shooting you down, it’s an interesting hypothetical and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
And I appreciate the feedback. I take the fact that you’re making a suggestion at all as an expression of care for the site, and I don’t take it for granted.
You are an excellent administrator and deliver top-notch customer support. 
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