OK. My very old posts. Posts which I am editing for the first time in ages…
But still, why can’t I edit them?
First some history
The HASTAC site used to allow Full HTML access to all users. Over time, this became a significant security threat so we began filtering HTML tags around 2014. At the time, the Filtered HTML profiles and settings we had in place were somewhat anemic in terms of the styling capability they provided for users. For that reason, some of our affiliate-users and trusted partners were given special access to Full HTML through 2015.
When the new HASTAC site launched, in July 2015, we corrected these styling limitations with a more robust version of Filtered HTML, adding more flexibility and styling capabilities into our filtering profiles. So now, all new posts created by non-admins are defaulted to Filtered HTML, including certain staff, faculty, and Scholars. Fear not. This is still a very powerful tool-set for styling your content and, for most users, the difference is barely noticeable.
Finally, here’s why you can’t edit those old posts
Sadly, our web platform (Drupal 7) does not retroactively apply permissions, rules, or other similar modifications to content. As such, anything created during the “Full HTML era” remains set as such. The result: Any attempt to edit full HTML content will, by default, also be seen as an attempt to save as full HTML. This is looks like a security threat to the system and so the post gives an access denied error and / or remains unpublished and / or otherwise inaccessible for editing to any users, except the HASTAC site admins.
The resolutions are:
(A) If you are able, be sure to reset any old (before July 2015) posts to “Filtered HTML.” Do so just below the body text editor, before editing and saving, as you see here. Doing so will retain your edits when you save.
(B) You may send us a support ticket contact a site admin via direct message on site in cases where you may get an “access denied” error and are unable to reset to Filtered HTML on your own.