I have been doing some “paper trail” testing on my localhost.
There are a few settings that might be involved and I haven’t tested all the different possibilities.
Admin -> Settings -> Posting
editing grace period {300}
For (n) seconds after posting, editing will not create a new version in the post history.
post edit time limit {86400}
The author can edit or delete their post for (n) minutes after posting. Set to 0 for forever.
edit history visible to public {true}
Allow everyone to see previous versions of an edited post. When disabled, only staff members can view.
delete removed posts after {24}
Posts removed by the author will be automatically deleted after (n) hours. If set to 0, posts will be deleted immediately.
delete old hidden posts {true}
Auto-delete any hidden posts that stay hidden for more than 30 days.
Admin -> Settings -> Spam
cooldown minutes after hiding posts {10}
Number of minutes a user must wait before they can edit a post hidden via community flagging
Admin -> Settings -> User Preferences
default other edit history public {true}
Make the post revisions public by default.
BTW I can no longer find the “edit history public” setting in Profile Preferences,
I could be missing something, and it could be this has changed and may be involved with the problem.
I guess there are two ways to look at it.
One,
a user makes a post that is a policy violation
it gets Flagged
they see the error of their way and either correct or remove the post
System wipes the slate clean
Moderators have no need to see the “juvy” record
Two,
a user makes a post that is a policy violation
it gets Flagged
they realize they were caught and either correct or remove the post
System wipes the slate clean
Moderators should be able to see the “juvy” record of the repeat offender