Have you missed the defunct phist.steemdata.com by @furion? Unfortunately, the project was retired in May 2018 and the community was left without an easy tool to check the edit history of posts and comments.

Phist was written in Python and ran on a MongoDB back-end, which were both not my cup of tea. For a while I wanted to create a replacement for it but got busy with other coding projects. Until recently, the idea reoccurred to me, so I decided to dig into it, although the Python+MongoDB combination had previously dissuaded me from reviving the project. I looked at the code for inspiration (https://github.com/SteemData/phist.steemdata.com) and built a similar website fully in Node JS. For the database, I setup an SBDS (Steem Blockchain Data Service) instance on the SSD server for blazing fast searches. I tested SteemSQL but the searches were extremely slow for some reason, whereas on SBDS MySQL they took milliseconds!

In a nutshell, SBDS allows dumping the blockchain into a MySQL database. Once I had that, after days of waiting for SBDS to build the database...

... I sprinkled some JS magic, then added some nifty loops with long hours of testing/debugging... and voilà, I proudly present to you:

Steem Scribe

https://scribe.steemian.info

(also accessible via non-SSL at http://scribe.steemian.info)

The scribes were monks and clerics dedicated to record keeping. I found that notion appropriate.

Usage

• Paste the URL of the post or comment, then press <Enter> or click the Submit button. You can use URLs from https://steemit.com or other websites like https://busy.org.
• Click the scribe image to clear and go back to the main page.

Here's what a result would look like:

Notes

• SBDS is still experimental and may be buggy. In fact, the latest version doesn't run, so I used an old fork I had in my repository, with some little adjustments.
• I could have done it in PHP, however for the learning experience I went fully with Node JS. Besides, setting up a PHP website requires many packages (PHP, Apache, Let's Encrypt, etc.) and numerous configurations.
• Although the web page is mostly done, it's still a work in progress and may require more optimizations and tweaks. There may be some short down times.
• The database is a fat 675 GB, taking up 745 GB!

Switching from SBDS to S2DB

SBDS has fully built the database (with a few hick-ups) but it was having trouble streaming blocks to keep them updated. While searching for solutions, I've discovered today this kick-ass alternative S2DB by @dehenne (https://github.com/pcsg/pcsg-steem-blockchain-parser), which I implemented to take over where SBDS left. Things are looking good so far and the DB is keeping up with the blockchain every 10 seconds. You should be able to find results up to date 😃

Easter Eggs

The usual 404 will make you smile. If you achieve a 500 you'll laugh harder.