All registered users now have permission to delete their own unanswered posts.
In the past, we've kept that option turned off because the forum software allowed some deletions that could cause a bit of chaos. (An example would be deleting the first post of a topic, but retaining the responses!) Recent software improvements have eliminated that problem, so we are again allowing deletions.
The rules are simple: you can only delete your own posts, and you can only delete the last post in a topic. If the last post is also the first post, then the whole topic goes away.
The main driver for this change was the recent spike in duplicate postings. Now you don't need an admin to delete the extras!
Maybe it's worth explaining that duplicate postings usually result from clicking the Submit button more than once. Sometimes it happens that you press Submit and never get a response, but the posting actually was made and it was only the reply that never got back to you. In that case, clicking Submit again gets you a duplicate. It's kind of like accidentally placing an order twice.
When you're replying to an existing topic, there's a trick that can avoid duplicates in the first place. If clicking Submit doesn't give the expected response, then before clicking it again, do a Preview and check the trail of postings below the editing box. If the Submit actually did work, you'll see your own words already posted.
But duplicates are no big deal. If you do end up creating one, you can now easily delete it yourself most of the time. And if you can't, the admins can -- just let us know what you'd like to have done.
Thanks for making the forums such a great place!
--Rik
