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So... from a while back, I posted a question dealing with implementing a certain feature within an iPad app (no specifics, see link for question), and I noticed that there was an approved edit by a user named Zephyer who posted something about Windows 7. After a face-palm, I re-edited my question to bring it back in line with my query. So, my question then is: What the heck do we do with the occasional stupid/irrelevant edit? I know it doesn't happen often, but there's got to be something other than just re-editing I can do!

EDIT: Excellent suggestions. To clarify two things though:

  1. This post is quite old. I was a new user at the time, unaware of the rollback feature if it even existed at the time of it's posting.
  2. I just wanted to know if there was some way to get the attention of the editor. It doesn't need to be a downvote or a flag, just a message, or an indication.
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3 Answers 3

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I know it doesn't happen often, but there's got to be something other than just reediting I can do!

Why should there be? It happens. Someone posts a bad edit, others approve it without realizing that it's a bad edit, and it's done.

The best that you can do is fix it and assume that the change was made (and approved) in good faith. Then move on.

The system is good, but it's not perfect.

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  • le sigh "When will people learn, democracy doesn't work." -Homer Simpson
    – CodaFi
    Mar 18, 2012 at 8:08
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    I'm not sure I quite agree with the sentiments expressed at the end of your answer or in the previous comment. The system (democracy?) is working here. People can suggest edits to your posts, and if you don't agree with them, you can roll them back. That's precisely how it was designed, and I don't see why that's so far from perfection.
    – Cody Gray
    Mar 18, 2012 at 8:25
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    #nobodyGetsMySarcasm
    – CodaFi
    Mar 19, 2012 at 0:21
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There is nothing you can do to "punish" the editor, especially when such things happen by mistake sometimes.

The proper approach, in my opinion, is to first Rollback to your last good revision:

rollback screenshot

Then check the editor other suggestions to see if it's a one time glitch or rampage of vandalism. In case of the second option, if it's still going on, flag one of his posts (question or answer, can't flag anything else) for moderator attention, choose "Other" and explain what's going on.

Usually the community itself prevent such edit, but some cases slip through as people either think the edit was somehow relevant or just too "kind" and approve almost every edit - I consider this a "known risk" in self governing community but such things can always be fixed so it's not a big deal.

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I just wanted to know if there was some way to get the attention of the editor. It doesn't need to be a downvote or a flag, just a message, or an indication.

You can @-reference the user who edited a post in a comment for that post. Suppose I edit one of your posts; you can write the following comment for that post, and I will be notified of that comment, in my Super Drop-down Collider Menu.

@kiamlaluno Your edit is not correct: A pancake is not a waffle.

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