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I recently edited a closed question by another user, in an attempt to reopen the question. For that I had to somewhat modify the question, by removing fluff like 'please answer this' but also adding some context, which was added to my taste. After my edit the question got a downvote. It is plausible, of course, that the downvoter downvoted because of my edits. Not only do I not get punished for that, I still keep my +2 from my edits, and the OP got punished.

For major edits, shouldn't the editor also put reputation at stake?

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    $\begingroup$ Of course, the downvote might also come from the question being on top of the listing again after the edit, so more people see it. $\endgroup$
    – Norbert Schuch
    Jan 1 at 22:35
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    $\begingroup$ IMO your edits substantially (not just “somewhat”) changed the question, although it still remains a homework-like question. I personally don’t think much of the “interest” argument, and I don’t think it’s the role of a third party (rather than the OP) to do “major edits” either. $\endgroup$
    – ZeroTheHero
    Jan 1 at 22:37
  • $\begingroup$ @NorbertSchuch I think it's unlikely the downvote was due to my edit, but it is definitely a possibility. My question is more in general, just gave this one example to illustrate an example where the changes on the question is significant, and the phenomena of a dislike after the edit happened. $\endgroup$
    – peep
    Jan 1 at 22:40
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    $\begingroup$ You want to be punished? Sorry, there is not yet any BDSM stack exchange for you. $\endgroup$
    – hft
    Jan 3 at 0:29
  • $\begingroup$ I guess that is one way to make sure nobody edits anything... $\endgroup$
    – Jon Custer
    Jan 3 at 18:59
  • $\begingroup$ No one with power on this platform will ever endorse an idea that could cause them to lose their power, let alone risk it in the act of exercising it. $\endgroup$
    – Peter Moore
    Jan 22 at 4:12

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No.

If the edits were accepted then presumably the edits were considered improvements. The question of when downvotes occur rarely depends on edits: assuming the edits are good, this question would likely have been downvoted anyways.

It’s a separate issue as to doing significant edits (which IMO you should not do, or should not be accepted at any rate.). If you feel bad about your edits, you can always ask for a rollback and see of the downvote disappears.

[Alternatively of course, one could envisage "penalizing" all those who accepted your edits. :) ]

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  • $\begingroup$ Fair enough, makes sense that the editor shouldn't make major edits. Maybe in that case might as well re-ask the question with the desired corrections. I agree that with the same logic I was proposing whoever accepts the edit should also be penalized! But then again, the edit shouldn't have happened in the first place. Thanks for the answer! $\endgroup$
    – peep
    Jan 3 at 10:32
  • $\begingroup$ @peep I would have rejected the edits as changing the intent of the OP but the edits were good so no point in making a storm in a teacup. Be aware that major edits may affect the relevance of answers posted pre-edit and thus be unfair to others who have invested time and effort in those answers. Also I remain a firm believer that it’s the job of the OP to express themselves with sufficient clarify so the community does not have to guess what the OP wants. $\endgroup$
    – ZeroTheHero
    Jan 3 at 13:30
  • $\begingroup$ I think my intent with the post was a little misunderstood. I don't feel bad for this particular edit, I was just wondering in general if it wouldn't make sense for the editors to put their reputations at stake. The reality is that stack almost doesn't punish dislikes, so it's not that relevant in practice, but it could simbolically be interesting anyway. But I think your opinion is more in the spirit of this website! I thought about making this post as a discussion, and I think it ended up working as that, and I agree with your position in the matter. $\endgroup$
    – peep
    Jan 3 at 13:39
  • $\begingroup$ @peep then what do you do for a 2nd edit to a first edit, and so recursively? In the end it remains that, if the edits were accepted as improvement (and your edits were IMO improvements), they actually improved the OP and so likely decreased the number of downvotes. $\endgroup$
    – ZeroTheHero
    Jan 3 at 13:51

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