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This suggested edit: https://stackoverflow.com/review/suggested-edits/2017549 was rejected as spam. It doesn't make any sense to me. I added a useful caveat regarding delimiters rather than using '@' sign ( as opposed to forking a new unneeded answer ), in the process avoiding a duplicate answer I was prepared to make.

Additionally I added a link to http://www.grymoire.com/Unix/Sed.html a very solid SED guide I've been using since 2002; and it has been posted here many times before.

What did I do wrong here? I thought the purpose of this is to encourage collaboration and improvement of a good answer. (Note that I UPVOTED the answer in question and removed a comment resulting from confusion prior) Instead it seems the MO is race to put out a crappy answer, update it several times and hope that someone picks your answer first, rather than having a single complete GOOD answer.

I'm trying to be more active to build up my reputation, but it's getting frustrating when your contributions are constantly rejected with little merit, or when the reviewers claim them your edits as their own by changing one word during their review https://stackoverflow.com/review/suggested-edits/2002287 which is funnier since several of my shorter edits have been thrown away for less when they removed non-sense. https://stackoverflow.com/review/suggested-edits/2017267. Heck this was more substantial fixing a title and correcting grammer and was rejected https://stackoverflow.com/review/suggested-edits/1980548

And one of my favorites, is this one, where apparently pointing out that an accepted answer doesn't actually solve the question asked is not acceptable. I added this because I TRIED to use it and discovered it's not suitable for automation. It's a very useful start, but it doesn't actually answer the question: https://stackoverflow.com/review/suggested-edits/1726643

Hoping someone can help shine some light on any of these. Thanks

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    Edits that change the body of the post have a very high chance of being rejected because you're basically putting words into the author's mouth. The "safest" edits to do are those that correct a lot of grammatical and spelling errors. – Mysticial Apr 30 '13 at 14:47
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    It's probably because many users just want to clear the queue quickly, and don't bother to read the Edit Description you write. I can see how your last 3 edits might have been rejected by hasty reviewers, however once I read the edit description and paid attention to the smaller details you pointed out, your edits make sense – Rachel Apr 30 '13 at 14:48
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    @Rachel if that is the case, it seems like there is a bigger problem here. Clearing the queue quickly isn't very good if it affects the quality of reviews now is it? – MarioDS Apr 30 '13 at 14:49
  • Thanks Mystical, that certainly makes sense, but then what's the point of collaborating. I.E. Is it really better for me to provide yet another identical answer just to correct a couple lines in the body? – UpAndAdam Apr 30 '13 at 14:50
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    @Rachel: just want to clear the queue quickly No, they just want the shiny gold badge. (The queue is constantly at around 1 digit to 20 suggested edit at any time - compared to before the revamp of the review system which might hit maximum of 200 on good days). – nhahtdh Apr 30 '13 at 14:50
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    @UpAndAdam no you shouldn't copy answers, but you may write comments on existing answers if you feel something is missing. – MarioDS Apr 30 '13 at 14:50
  • @MarioDeSchaepmeester Thanks Mario, I'll try sticking to that for a bit. – UpAndAdam Apr 30 '13 at 14:56
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    Don't use suggested edits to change answers. Fixing errors of fact, or adding other points the author forgot are not what suggested edits are for. Just add another answer of your own in those cases. Use suggested edits to fix grammer, spelling, and formatting. – Kate Gregory Apr 30 '13 at 14:58
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    Your edits keep getting rejected because they're wrong. You're either: making inappropriate changes - modifying the content, adding your own opinion, etc; or making incorrect changes - rewording things badly, adding grammatical errors that weren't present before. Edits are supposed to improve posts, and while I guess you think that's what you're doing, you're simply not. – Anthony Grist Apr 30 '13 at 15:01
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This edit is more appropriate as a comment. Sed might be relevant, but you're changing someone else's answer and if they wanted to mention Sed more prominently with glowing reviews, they would have done that already.

This edit doesn't seem to preserve the message of the original author. Your clarifications would have been better expressed as a comment.

This edit is too minor, as is this one.

This one got rejected because you added the phrase "In my homework."

This edit is just wrong. Don't comment on someone else's post in an edit. That's what comments are for.

If you need a guiding principle, respect the intent of the original author when editing.

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    Not sure if you noticed, but in the first edit, the OP of the answer cast the final reject vote. Obviously the poster didn't like the addition – psubsee2003 Apr 30 '13 at 14:50
  • The first edit did mention sed, in that it was used in the code the answer provided. I think my objection to that edit would have been "A great tool to accomplish this", as that implies that the OP finds the sed library to be great, which may not be the case. – Rachel Apr 30 '13 at 14:52
  • @psubsee2003 Yeah I noticed, but since when does it matter if they LIKE the addition. This is supposed to be about content, correctness, collaboration and usefulness. Or did I miss something? From the FAQ about accepting that your posts might be edited. – UpAndAdam Apr 30 '13 at 14:52
  • @Rachel: It also adds nothing informative to the answer except an opinion. – Time Traveling Bobby Apr 30 '13 at 14:53
  • @M.NightDemonbobby I might disagree with that, as I find links going back to the libraries are great when I'm looking for answers, and it pointed out escape characters. I wouldn't go out of my way to make those edits, but I might add them if I am doing another edit or had problems finding that information myself. – Rachel Apr 30 '13 at 14:54
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    The "In my homework" one also adds grammatical errors that weren't present in the original post, rather than fixing issues with it. – Anthony Grist Apr 30 '13 at 14:54
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    @UpAndAdam: If I write the answer "You can write a cmd-script for that." and you change it to "Windows has the awesome CMD-Tool which let's you write scripts to accomplish that"...then I'm offended, because I think the cmd sucks hard and I don't want that statement above my name. – Time Traveling Bobby Apr 30 '13 at 14:54
  • @M.NightDemonbobby: Look again. It does add information, apart from the link. – nhahtdh Apr 30 '13 at 14:54
  • @Rachel It implies they think its a suitable tool for the task. Nothing more, but I can see that they might have preferred a different tool but answered using sed because of the nature of the question... however if that was the case one would think they would suggest another tool to consider as well.. – UpAndAdam Apr 30 '13 at 14:55
  • @Rachel: There's a link? Oh...in that case it should have been "better wrapped". – Time Traveling Bobby Apr 30 '13 at 14:55
  • That sort of thing is better expressed as a comment. The editor clearly has difficulty differentiating a comment from a genuine edit. – user102937 Apr 30 '13 at 14:56
  • @M.NightDemonbobby Yes, if you read the edit comment you see "added link to grymoire's sed guide, made some small subjective grammatical changes to help flow, and pointed out use of escape character" – Rachel Apr 30 '13 at 14:56
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    @Rachel: I only looked at the diff to be honest...but I still stick to my opinion that it adds nearly nothing, and the link should have been better presented...well, the whole thing should have been a comment in the first place, as it basically comments on the answer. – Time Traveling Bobby Apr 30 '13 at 14:58
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    @UpAndAdam if you are editing for Rep, then stop. Besides, Cristian Ciupitu didn't get your +2. He didn't get any rep. As a user with >2K reputation, he has full edit privledges and there is no reputation for editing once you hit that mark. – psubsee2003 Apr 30 '13 at 15:03
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    This isn't about the formatting of the hyperlink. It's about an endorsement of a tool, an endorsement which the author of the original answer didn't give. That's why some edit reviewers chose "spam" as the reject reason. – user102937 Apr 30 '13 at 15:05

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