I just got a recently posted question edited by a third person for what I consider very small elements that do not really add or subtract from the understanding or the meaning of the conveyed message. I don't know how to relate to this, I find it slightly intruding. Maybe it's just in good faith, a sort of proof-reading, but I just find it strange. I would like to know what the community consensus is about the topic. Here are the edits:
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3$\begingroup$ Moderators are specially elected users with wide-ranging privileges (you can tell them by the "diamond" behind their names - I'm a moderator, for example). The editor in your screenshot is just a user with the necessary amount of reputation to have the edit privilege. $\endgroup$– ACuriousMind ModMar 27 at 12:52
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$\begingroup$ Thanks for the clarification. Could a Moderator have done the editing? $\endgroup$– Mike AnblipsMar 27 at 12:54
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3$\begingroup$ It's possibly a shock the first time someone else edits your question (it was for me) but you get used to it and it starts to make sense and is even useful after a while. It's like having your own team of proof readers. $\endgroup$– StephenG - Help UkraineMar 27 at 23:36
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2$\begingroup$ Should somebody fix "kinda" into "kind of", in this comment? No one can edit your comments. Comments are not important; only questions and answers are. Questions and answers without misspellings and grammatical errors are better for readers than than questions and answers with misspellings and grammatical errors, so the kind of edit that Peter Mortensen did is a good thing. You have no “ownership” of your question. $\endgroup$– GhosterMar 28 at 19:55
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$\begingroup$ I am trying to understand what the consensus is. ACuriousMind’s answer explains the consensus. I believe it was written before your comment. Is there something about it that is unclear? $\endgroup$– GhosterMar 28 at 19:58
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$\begingroup$ You seem not to have understood that my statement "I am trying to understand what consensus is" was in direct relationship with your statement that "I am complaining about my spellings being fixed". Now that I explained that to you, is there something about it that's not clear? $\endgroup$– Mike AnblipsMar 28 at 20:03
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$\begingroup$ I thought somebody who cares about it would do, exactly as it happened in the title already. But I have no issue with fixing it, of course. $\endgroup$– Mike AnblipsMar 28 at 20:04
1 Answer
Edits that improve the grammar or spelling of posts are unquestionably welcome. StackExchange sites generally have a far weaker notion of "ownership" of posts than many other websites, and only 2k reputation are necessary to be granted the edit privilege that allows users to edit any post they want without having to go through review.
The help center page on editing spells out that this is intentional and calls out "To fix grammatical or spelling mistakes" as a valid reason to edit, among other things.
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4$\begingroup$ To use phraseology common in asking for details: which grammar? which spelling? and frankly how much is just not enough? While small edits are essential for instance in the title so that users can search accurately, I see proposed trivial edits by reputation farmers where two or three letters have been edited and the rest is adding blank spaces to reach the minimum number of characters for a legitimate edit. see this meta question for additional context. (For the record I think the example of the OP is in a good edit.) $\endgroup$ Mar 27 at 16:50
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$\begingroup$ This was a little bit the backdrop of my question. For instance, I find correcting "looks like" to "it looks like" or "first time" with "it is the first time" rather unnecessary, it does not really add/subtract anything. However, ACuriousMind's answer is very clear an "one-directional": any spelling/grammar mistake correction is intentional. Question settled! $\endgroup$ Mar 29 at 5:35