Now this is a nice argument, JF! I know I have already agreed but not on these grounds but rather due to the triviality of the matter.
So if I could elaborate:
I believe that we have to take into consideration which format (CD-Vinyl) was consumed more, which edit was played more at TVs and radios and which edit was heard and imprinted in the conscience of most people.
As such the edited versions are the ones in question. For fans like us who seek the extra missing seconds, it is somehow important, but we are hardly the 1% of the consumers, who still follow such old acts and notice the differences.
All versions are in fact edits, even the longest ones, if we consider there is a fade out in all songs (as heard on the uncut SOS version). So if you decide to further edit it for every format it is an artistic decision that changes somehow the stracture of the song, especially if the cut is in the middle of the song like SFA or MFN or WII (which omits a whole verse = version) and less on WW or YLT although the sax part in YLT is a great omition and the Instrumental part in WW is way too long to consider a simple edit... The omition of verses can change the whole meaning of songs and the omition of a solo can make the difference between success and failure. (The BIA album is definately a sales trick to market the new format, but still the vinyl edition has sold more)
So yes, we can claim it is a different version and not just an edit, only for these reasons. Of course the artist having complete control over them would certainly declare a version as definitive and let the others into obscurity, so since the SOS versions surviving to the digital age are the ones on remastered debut and Alchemy, maybe we should skip the others. The STP version can even be considered a sales trick, to attract the fans who want everything.
Maybe dear Hugo who started it should set the rules so we stop nagging!
Because after all, it is just a song, who cares but us?