5

I edited an answer and suggested a small change that was greatly improving the post. This suggestion got rejected. When I looked into the revision history I noticed a strange behavior.

The edit I suggested was made under someone else's username - apparently the one who reviewed and improved my suggestion. So far everything seems fine: (Revision link)

enter image description here

But then I looked into my suggested edit itself to see what happened to it and saw this:

enter image description here

Of course the difference here is too minor to be approved. But what is displayed here was not my suggestion! (That suggestion can be seen in the revision 2 in the image above)

So what happened here? Was this due some strange timing issued in improving and approving my suggestion without marking it as helpful?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
10

Your edit suggestion was made after someone else had made most of the same edit. Revision number 2 clocked in at 10:00:24, and your suggested edit was recorded at 10:00:35.

The system only recorded the difference between the second edit and yours, and that difference amounted to a minor edit.

A case of bad luck, I'm afraid!

Improve this answer
6
  • 2
    The guns in the west are really fast! :)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Nov 8, 2012 at 10:40
  • 1
    /me blows the smoke away from his gun barrel. Pffffft
    – Martijn Pieters
    Commented Nov 8, 2012 at 10:42
  • Interesting - as I saw this line in the edit box when starting to edit: try (byte[]) getValue(key).getBytes(); so in this rare case there seem to have two people seemed to have clicked on "edit" at the same time... Thanks for clarifying nonetheless.
    – Spontifixus
    Commented Nov 8, 2012 at 10:42
  • @Spontifixus: There is no notification to show someone else is editing the post already, and it is impossible to tell who started to edit first. All I know is that you started your edit before the other editor had submitted his changes.
    – Martijn Pieters
    Commented Nov 8, 2012 at 10:44
  • The link to the edit page normally gets disabled if another user is editing that post. There are several circumstances however where this mechanism does not come into effect: One of the users has had loaded the page already or both clicked at the same time... Conclusion: As you said: A timing issue and a case of bad luck ;)
    – Spontifixus
    Commented Nov 8, 2012 at 10:47
  • @MartijnPieters actually there is a message after somebody else finish to edit the same post, something like "this post has been edited, your edit will be submitted only if [can't remember more]"
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Nov 8, 2012 at 14:55

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .