Limits on the number of times you can edit something

[theymos]

This limit has existed for a long time, but I'm only describing it now because I didn't actually expect people to run into it.

Symptom
You'll get this rather non-descriptive error message when editing something:

Database Error
Please try again. If you come back to this error screen, report the error to an administrator.

The edit will not happen, but will be saved as a draft.

Cause

Your post's edit log is taking up too much space. The space it takes up is related to total_bytes_of_post * times_edited_per_week, though it's not quite a linear relationship due to compression. A maximum-sized post can be updated maybe 5-20 times per week before hitting this error.

Solutions

Solution 1:
- Wait up to a week for the system to archive your post's edit log. This currently starts every Saturday at 20:51 UTC and takes around an hour to complete.

Solution 2:
- PM me with a link to your post and I'll fix it manually.
- I'm probably not going to do this more than once per person per year or something.

In either case, you'll need to reduce either or both of the size of your post or the frequency at which you update it in order to prevent this from happening again.

Maybe in the future I'll try to eliminate this problem. It's caused by the kludgy way I implemented edit logging.

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[GermanGiant]

Thanks for the info. I dont think one normally needs to edit a post time and again. But, certain posts like Signature Campaign Details may require regular editing.

[bit1]

OK, I got it!

I used Solution 2 once, So I will need use solution 1  from now on.


Thank you very much.

[smoothie]

I think I seen that message before. Not sure if it was for this very reason.

Otherwise good to know.

[Brewins]

it will better if there is an option to delete our saved drafts the way we delete our PMs in inbox, set the maximum number of drafts one can have on their account and they need to delete old ones to save new,number of the drafts can vary based on user's rank

[Jhanzo]

it will better if there is an option to delete our saved drafts the way we delete our PMs in inbox, set the maximum number of drafts one can have on their account and they need to delete old ones to save new,number of the drafts can vary based on user's rank

the cause of the problem at OP is the edit log, not drafts... and you can only have 100 drafts max, the rest will be deleted automatically.

[erikalui]

Glad that I edit my post barely once a week and not on a regular basis. Thanks for the update.

[sickpig]

@theymos why is there a need for edit logging?

[dogie]

Could this be fixed by allowing users to manually purge their edit log?

[theymos]

Could this be fixed by allowing users to manually purge their edit log?

That'd defeat the point. Edit logs are primarily for scam investigations.

[dogie]

Could this be fixed by allowing users to manually purge their edit log?

That'd defeat the point. Edit logs are primarily for scam investigations.

Oh right, I was thinking it was used like the drafts folder.

[sickpig]

That'd defeat the point. Edit logs are primarily for scam investigations.

thanks the indirect reply.