Whenever I review the suggested edit queue, there are always a number of trivial edits that only fix one of many issues with the post.
As a reviewer, I know that my appropriate course of action ought to be to click the Improve
button and make the additional fixes.
However, improving results a couple negatives:
- I now have to spend my time combing through the post, fixing all of the issues that the original editor could have fixed while they already had the edit window open. Overall time spent by users re-editing posts increases.
- The user is rewarded for their edit. By giving them them reputation, we're positively reinforcing the behavior.
I know that trivial edits have been discussed here before. Reactive solutions for this have been proposed and discussed. The ideal reactive solution would perhaps be a combination of:
- A "Reject and Improve" button - (Already complete) Removes the positive encouragement via rep gain, also results in the post being (hopefully) fully improved by a more experienced reviewer.
- More obvious feedback to editors whose suggestions are rejected, to help them correct their editing procedures.
- Encouraging all reviewers to be more heavy-handed with their rejections, only accepting more substantial edits. Letting users know whether or not their reviews are "correct" may help with this.
However, perhaps there is a proactive solution?
How can we encourage editors to make more substantial suggested edits?
</rant>