> I think a well-designed tool would easily allow the user to undo the silly thing he just did.
Agreed. From a usability perspective, undo is always best. Especially undo that the user: 1) knows about, 2) trusts, and 3) is fast. That encourages exploration and lets users fix mistakes.
> their mistake has now limited the actions that every other user of the system can make, because the system will be modified to prevent other users from making the same mistake.
I don't think this is a black and white issue. It's not about denying all users the ability to express X ever again. I think it's more about having systems that can tell if X is an unusual or heavyweight action and say, "Hey, you're about to do X, which impacts a lot of stuff and you've never done before. Are you sure that's what you mean?"
It's velvet rope permissions, not a locked door.
Agreed. From a usability perspective, undo is always best. Especially undo that the user: 1) knows about, 2) trusts, and 3) is fast. That encourages exploration and lets users fix mistakes.
> their mistake has now limited the actions that every other user of the system can make, because the system will be modified to prevent other users from making the same mistake.
I don't think this is a black and white issue. It's not about denying all users the ability to express X ever again. I think it's more about having systems that can tell if X is an unusual or heavyweight action and say, "Hey, you're about to do X, which impacts a lot of stuff and you've never done before. Are you sure that's what you mean?"
It's velvet rope permissions, not a locked door.