4

There are couple of suggested edits in the queue at the moment that add extra information to answers. The edits are for the following answers:

The information added by the edits seems correct and relevant (although I must admit I haven't verified it), and one of the suggestions comes from an extremely credible source so I would assume is definitely correct.

That said, I'm not sure if this would class as too 'Radical' an edit, as per one of the rejection reasons.

If I had to make a judgment on personal opinion, I'd probably just accept both of these (as they most likely add extra value to the site), but I'd like to know what the official stance is.

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

The "how to edit" block, which is now visible to users without the privilege of editing every post, reports the following points:

  • fix grammatical or spelling errors
  • clarify meaning without changing it
  • correct minor mistakes
  • add related resources or links

  • always respect the original author

    screenshot

Adding something the user who wrote the answer didn't write, in the case it is not related resources or links, is something that I would consider an invalid edit, or a too radical change. The suggested edit could be a comment for the answer, or a completely different answer.

Consider that the "invalid edit" rejection reason is described using the following text (the emphasis is mine):

This edit is incorrect or an attempt to reply to or comment on the existing post.

If the answer were a Community Wiki, then it would have been acceptable to add more information, as the purpose of Community Wikis is allowing other users to contribute to the post.

As per the useful information, you could write a comment containing what reported in the suggested edit, starting for example with "As suggested by greg_1_anderson." The link to the suggested edit is always available, even in the case the suggested edit has been rejected; using it, you are giving credit to the user who should have wrote a comment.

4
  • Thanks as always :) What do you think about the fact that the information from the edits might have been useful and maybe should have been converted to a comment? I know mods can do that and non-mods can't; would it be appropriate to flag the answer for mod attention with a custom reason in this case?
    – Clive Mod
    Apr 28, 2012 at 15:12
  • 1
    Moderators cannot convert a suggested edit into a comment; flagging for moderation attention would not help.
    – apaderno Mod
    Apr 28, 2012 at 15:33
  • Oh sorry I didn't realise that, I thought I'd read somewhere on meta SO that mods could convert-to comments. I think adding a comment myself as you suggest would be the best solution
    – Clive Mod
    Apr 28, 2012 at 15:40
  • 1
    Moderators can convert an answer to a comment, or an answer to an edit to the question. Those are the only conversions possible starting from an answer; it is not possible, for example, to convert an answer in a new question, which is probably a more common case. I guess such conversion is not thought useful, or worth the time spent writing the code. It could also be it is seen as encouraging a bad behavior: Imagine what would happen if users start writing questions as answers, hoping they are converted to questions.
    – apaderno Mod
    Apr 28, 2012 at 15:45
4

I think the advice at the top of the page is the best guidance:

These edits were suggested by users who have not yet earned full edit privileges. Approve edits you know are correct; reject those you know are wrong. Leave ambiguous edits for other users to judge.

I accepted the edit to the Drush question. I wasn't sure about that one until you pointed out that the editor is a co-maintainer of Drush.

I have not acted on the other edit as I am not sure if it is a good one. While I am pretty sure it is correct, I think it could use a little rewording to make it more obvious when that condition really applies. Hence, I am leaving it for others to judge.

1
  • 2
    Thanks for the reply, that's the advice I'd been following for a while but those edits just seemed to be hanging around so I thought I'd ask :) What you've said is exactly the way I was thinking about it too. @kiamlaluno makes a good point about those edits perhaps being better served as comments, but as non-mods we can't convert them and it does seem a shame to lose that valuable information
    – Clive Mod
    Apr 28, 2012 at 15:11

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .