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It has been determined that greetings; smiley and salutations should be removed from posts. However for a lot of users who are aware of this topic and have > 2k reputation on Stack Overflow, such edits should always be rejected because they are too minor, letting things like "please help me!" remain inside posts.

In the same time, it is rare that my suggestions which only consist of removing "thank you" are rejected.

I know this may look as duplicate of this, which confirmed such things should be removed from posts. But many peoples on meta who saw it still consider it only cover edits of users who have the edit privilege, and not suggested ones.

Should such edits should be approved or rejected?

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  • Look at the comments here to see how it can affect posts on meta. The edits I suggestted have always been part of the review queue. I never search shuch words inside posts using a search engine...
    – user2284570
    Commented Apr 12, 2014 at 12:55
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    Greatings, such as funny imaeg, should NEVER be removed. Only less-great things like greetings should be edited out.
    – user1228
    Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 14:31

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Edits should fix things. Typos, bad grammar, bad punctuation, misformmatted code, numbered lists that didn't come out right, and excess chattiness should all be fixed. The too minor reason doesn't refer to the fact that a change is unimportant so much as it does to you left things unfixed.

Some people, perhaps on a campaign for rep from suggested edits, search for things, like "thanks" or a common typo, and fix only that problem. These common mistakes are great ways to find posts with problems, but if the suggester fixes only the thing they searched for, and leaves all the rest untouched, then the edit is too minor.

So, should your edit that removed chattiness be approved? If the post is now perfect, yes, probably. If the post is still in need of an edit, definitely not. For the "now perfect" case, some reviewers ask if the edit was really needed (some people change can't to cannot or might to could, that sort of thing, which is pretty pointless really) or if it was polite (removing only Thanks from an otherwise perfect post can offend some users) and will reject even if the post was left perfect.

Of course, balancing that are the robo reviewers who approve everything because approving is quicker than rejecting (no need to choose a reason) and they're grinding for a badge. It's hard to draw good conclusions about how to suggest edits in an environment where you might get positive feedback for wrong actions. But that's where we find ourselves.

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  • The edits I suggested have always been part of the review queue. I never search such words inside posts using a search engine)... Should suggested edits be also rejected in this case?
    – user2284570
    Commented Apr 12, 2014 at 12:59
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    @user2284570 It does to matter where you do the edit the criteria are the same i.e. don't just fix salutations etc and if there are things unfixed the edit should be rejected as too minor
    – mmmmmm
    Commented Apr 12, 2014 at 13:10
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    Wow this is really not what "too minor" means in normal American English; I would never have guessed that was how to use that reason. Is there a reason not to say "incomplete" or "needs more extensive editing"?
    – Elin
    Commented Apr 12, 2014 at 13:26
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    @Elin: well there is a longer description which says: "This edit is too minor; suggested edits should be substantive improvements addressing multiple issues in the post."
    – Qantas 94 Heavy
    Commented Apr 12, 2014 at 14:06
  • Yeah, I guess I have always interpreted that to mean that if here are not multiple issues in the post don't do these minor edits. That is, yes clean these up if it is part of a larger edit, but by themselves they are too small. This discussion helped me understand something too, which is that I have an option when I don't have time to completely edit a post that someone else has started but not really compeleted.
    – Elin
    Commented Apr 12, 2014 at 14:29
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If it's suggested and you're not reviewing in a queue (therefore have already read the question, aren't trying to get a lot of reviews done etc.) I would probably improve it then mark the review as unhelpful. This is an educational opportunity for the suggested editor, and IIRC you can leave a comment explaining why though a "correct" edit it was unhelpful, i.e., since we frown upon minor edits.

If you don't want to improve it, I think Kate's answer is complete.

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  • It is rare when I suggest such edits outside the review process.
    – user2284570
    Commented Apr 12, 2014 at 12:51

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