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I recently took a look at the primary source of my reputation, and well... It's interesting.

screen shot of rep changes - all from edits

As you can see I edit a lot, and I have some questions...

  • Most of my edits are minor (such as formatting code or helping a foreign user make his question grammatically correct), should I be editing in this way?
  • Is this helping the site, or am I just on my own vendetta here?
  • Should I continue in this pattern?

It's not really a big deal, but I still like to be informed.

Also, how do I know if an edit has been accepted or not (I can't rely on the two reputation coming through as I edit way too much for that).

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  • 5
    are you aware of Editor (bronze), Strunk & White (silver) and Copy Editor (gold) badges? badges "...are awarded to encourage and incentivize positive community actions within the site."
    – gnat
    Mar 18, 2013 at 11:16
  • @gnat Yes. I havn't got the Strunk & White one yet, so I guess I havn't done 80 (but I must be close).
    – BDM
    Mar 18, 2013 at 11:18
  • @Prof: stackoverflow.com/users/2045818/… to see what you've suggested and check the other tabs in there.
    – Mat
    Mar 18, 2013 at 11:26
  • @Mat Is there a way other than going through each one? I mean I can live with it, but I probably won't bother.
    – BDM
    Mar 18, 2013 at 11:31
  • ...In fact, I see a feature request coming along...
    – BDM
    Mar 18, 2013 at 11:34
  • I'm pretty sure that's been requested already, but can't find it...
    – Mat
    Mar 18, 2013 at 11:36
  • There's this one: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/166992/…
    – Mat
    Mar 18, 2013 at 11:38
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    Kudos for wanting to improve things, and wanting to know if you are 'doing it right'.
    – Andrew Barber
    Mar 18, 2013 at 12:37
  • Lol, I love your username :P
    – Doorknob
    Jul 27, 2013 at 12:59
  • @Doorknob I already had the nickname Pickle, and, for me at least, there's no more prestigious title than "Professor". Not that I'm trying to make any suggestion that I am deserving of the title that I find the most prestigious...
    – BDM
    Aug 2, 2013 at 8:44
  • @Prof My username used to be "PicklishDoorknob" before I decided it was too long :P
    – Doorknob
    Aug 2, 2013 at 8:46
  • 1
    @Doorknob I was considering "GiantChocolatePickle", but I thought it could be taken out of context.
    – BDM
    Aug 2, 2013 at 8:48
  • @ProfPickle Haha :P at one point I commented on someone's post, and they thought I was calling them a doorknob! :P But these comments are getting off topic now, let's stop commenting :P
    – Doorknob
    Aug 2, 2013 at 8:50

2 Answers 2

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The main question you should ask yourself when editing is if there are any other parts of the post that should be edited. Spelling and grammar are important and should be fixed, but if you start editing you should fix all the problems a post has and not only fix the easy ones.

I spot checked a few of your edits, and you could have improved more in some of them. So I recommend to try harder to find all the issues in a post.

Editing is encouraged because it helps improve the site quality, by editing a lot you're not doing anything wrong (as long as the edits are good).

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  • Just to be clear, I like your answer (+1 btw), but I'm waiting for some other answers so I can get a real feel for it. Get some other perspectives.
    – BDM
    Mar 18, 2013 at 11:35
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    Since at least 8 people of the community agree with this view, it's possible that you'll get no other answer. I, for example, agree completely: your edits are not bad, but you're not editing everything. You're "just" doing formatting, when the posts also need some help in the grammar department. And removing "Please help" and similar phrases also helps streamline the site.
    – Joachim Sauer
    Mar 18, 2013 at 12:00
  • This revision, for example could have been better: it's hard to find out what the commans are and what output is. And you formatted some non-output text as output (effectively hiding it, since it overflowed the width inside a code block).
    – Joachim Sauer
    Mar 18, 2013 at 12:02
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    I don't think an editor is required to fix every single problem. Especially since what some people think are problems aren't considered so by other people. An edit should fix a lot, but I don't think its fair that an edit be judged on how much they left as long as they made a substantial improvement.
    – ɥʇǝS
    Mar 23, 2013 at 2:09
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    @Seth Agreed. Sometimes people try to fix problems with a post that they cannot fix. That is often very bad. Editors should fix as many problems with a post as they are reasonably able to fix.
    – Eliah Kagan
    Mar 23, 2013 at 16:25
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Your first three questions about:

  • if you are editing it right,
  • if its helping the site, and
  • if you should continue in this pattern

has already been answered well by @MadScientist, so I won't bore you by repeating the same stuff.

I would however like to touch upon how you should keep a track of the fate of your edits - whether they have been accepted/rejected, how many of them, etc.

  • How to begin

    Your Profile → Activity → Suggestions: This lists all the edit suggestions that you have made and which have had to gone through the Review Queue.

    all suggestions

  • Suggestion Links

    Here, you may click the link to take you to your Suggestion made to that particular post.

    suggestion links

  • Fate of the Edit

    Clicking on suggested edit link would take you to the edit. Here, you would be able to see who reviewed your edit and if the edit was Approved, Rejected or Edited by the reviewers. If a reviewer rejects the edit, he also has to provide a reason for it. So, if your edit is rejected you would be able to learn why was it so. It would help you to not make the same mistake again.

    edit info

  • Further Stats

    Clicking on more further provides the stats for both Reviewers and Editors:

    more stats

  • Quick Check

    For a quick check, you may also compare your Suggestions (Profile → Activity → Suggestions) with Revisions (Profile → Activity → Revisions) you have made. Revisions would list all the approved suggestions you have made. So, its a quick way to filter out the Rejected Edits.

    Revisions is a super-set of approved Suggestions. So, it (Revisions) also contain other revisions you have made (to your own post, to Community Wiki posts, etc).

Further Reading and Feature Requests:

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