Why Concatenation?

Your method of altering the variables using preprocess_node and block is great. Why concatenate the links to the node/block content instead of just providing the variables. Users could then, per your instructions, add the $block_edit_links/$node_edit_links variables to their template files. Themers could also remove these variables for specific nodes/blocks they don't want the links to show on.

I understand you can't change this functionality out of the box because so many users rely on the concatenation. What about a config option: "Automatically add links" or "I will add variables to my template files?"

Just a suggestion/request. Great module. Thank you very much for it! Send me a message if you think this is a good idea and/or if you would like me to create a patch for this.