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So sometimes I edit new people's posts just to fix up dodgy formatting. I consider such edits useful because they tend to greatly improve the readability of any code included. Very often when I choose to save such edits I get a message saying that I haven't changed enough non-whitespace characters.

I was wondering if the edit validation procedure can be changed slightly... something like:

if not_enough_non_whitespace_changes():
    if performed_code_formatting():
        return PASS
    return FAIL

EDIT due to comments

Thanks for the comments. My problem is that whitespace edits are impossible. They don't get as far as being reviewed. These types of edits are, I believe, commonly completely obvious to anyone who has ever formatted their own code. they are also completely non-trivial.

Surely it makes sense to at least let these edits through to review? I mean for everyone that has the right to edit at all. If these types of edits are not as obvious as I think they are and they actually need someone with 2000 rep to reliably fix them them then can someone please explain why?

The official way to perform such edits is to do a bunch of trivial edits at the same time. This doesn't make sense to me.

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  1. We have plenty of editors above 2000 rep that can make the change.

  2. The chances of whitespace in code being the only thing wrong with a post are pretty close to zero.

  3. If this is one of those rare moments that code whitespace is the only thing wrong with the post, does it really need to be fixed?

If it really bothers you, leave a comment asking the OP or an editor to fix it.

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  • 1. I know, but it doesn't mean they are the only ones with the expertise 2. true, but resorting to trivial edits just doesn't seem like a solution to me 3. Yes! having code that looks like code instead of a line of scrambled junk is important. Isn't it? Readability is way up there with the cool stuff. If leaving a comment is the only way then so be it. Is there no chance that the verification mechanism could be updated though?
    – Sheena
    Commented Oct 29, 2012 at 16:34

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