Question

Can we have an edit history for answers in case we need to revert back to the original?

So kind of like an undo button

Answer 1

Well...

Explanation:

The general principle here is that regular contributors should be able to write and edit answers at will, but not revert edits and delete answers.

This is the case because it's much easier to keep an eye on the site if regular contributors can only add content. Removing content, either by reverting edits or by deleting answers, would be much harder to supervise.

Moreover, implementing a revert feature would require changes in infrastructure that are really out of reach at the moment.

Mind you, contributors can still remove content if they want, but they can only do so by editing, not by undoing edits, and we already have an infrastructure built for that purpose.

So if you can undo an edit by doing another edit, it wouldn't make sense, at least from a practical standpoint, to add a separate function that allows users to revert edits.

Now, for safety reasons, moderators have access to answer histories for all the answers that have been edited and can revert edits if needed. We use this feature to protect the content posted on Socratic from destructive edits and rewrites, i.e. from trolls.

If somebody ruins one of your answers (or any answer, for that matter), shoot me a note about it and I'll swing by and return the answer to its original form.