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I have looked for this particular question and cannot find it, but have a suspicion, it may be a duplicate.

I reviews this edit. I went to reject it as

invalid edit

This edit is incorrect or an attempt to reply to or comment on the existing post.

And got this error message:

Error msge

I then went to the post on StackOverflow. Rolledback the edit and left a comment.

enter image description here

As, usual, whenever I use an example for a question on this site, something out of the ordinary happens to the post, so I can only laugh, when you see the revision made since.. However, Murphy's law aside.

What is the best way to deal with an approved edit, you don't believe is correct?

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13
  • 3
    On that specific case the OP himself approved the edit so there was no need to roll back, it was typo and didn't affect the actual question. Generally speaking, rolling back is legit when you feel the edit changed too much but use @ to notify the editor otherwise small chance he'll notice the comment.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:25
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    OH, I didn't think to look if it was the OP who approved it, my bad.. oh, this is a REALLY BAD example
    – user310756
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:27
  • @ShaWizDowArd How can I see who approved the edit?
    – user310756
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:29
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    @Skippy the edit you linked above has it. All votes (accept or reject) on the edit are listed. If you noticed one of the approvers has a blue background, that's the OP.
    – psubsee2003
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:30
  • Err, I don't think it matters that the OP is the one who approved the edit. They probably didn't understand that it could obscure a problem with their code. The improvement looks like an innocuous correction of a typo and formatting fix, but it actually removes a semicolon. That's a pretty big change in languages where semicolons are statement terminators.
    – Cody Gray - on strike
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:32
  • @Cody that semicolon was part of pseudo code: myclass.foo is equal to some other classes in this list - that's not actual code so no different than removing a semicolon in a comment.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:33
  • @CodyGray I couldn't agree more!! that's why I rolled it back, a semi-colon makes a huge difference, the capitalisation of Foreach was another thing.
    – user310756
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:34
  • Ah, fair enough. I guess it is pseudo-code. I just assumed it was a language I didn't know! I secretly think all programming languages should aspire to read more like English.
    – Cody Gray - on strike
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:39
  • @CodyGray well, if one thinks it's code, then I guess one can only act as if it IS code.. some code that has been posted as code, does not only make poor code, but porr pseudo code!
    – user310756
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:40
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    Worth to mention the post was fixed by now and comments are proper comments while code is proper code now.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:57
  • @ShaWizDowArd have you noticed, most of the examples I use end up having an optimal outcome, which actually makes my question redundant for that example?? I am sure it's Murphy's Law hahahahaha
    – user310756
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:58
  • @Skippy nah, in this case the fix was made before you posted here and there's no impact on the question, maybe just extra upvote to Daniel as result of the attention here. :)
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 25, 2013 at 9:00
  • @ShaWizDowArd If I had of asked this question meta.stackexchange.com/questions/190297/… first, this question above, would've been neater ;) anyway, I better go off this site, while I'm getting along with everyone (Iknow, I know, I am my own worst enemy ;)
    – user310756
    Jul 25, 2013 at 9:02

2 Answers 2

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2

I have looked for this particular question and cannot find it, but have a suspicion, it may be a duplicate.
…
What is the best way to deal with an approved edit, you don't believe is correct?

Well, it's probably not a duplicate, since the answer already appears in the error message you got: "please visit the post and correct the edit".

There are two ways of doing this:

  1. Editing the current revision of the post, effectively "improving" the suggested edit.
  2. Rolling back the erroneously approved edit.

Using @ comments to notify the user who suggested the edit is also a good practice (editors of a post are valid targets of comment replies), as otherwise it's very unlikely that they'll be made aware of and learn from their mistakes. The comment you made is fine, you just need to direct it at the person who suggested the edit you reverted.

As for the more general question that you're implicitly asking about when is it appropriate to edit other people's code, that has been discussed before several times here. There's no hard rule, but I have a couple of guidelines:

  1. For questions, never make any edits to code that are not strictly formatting-related. That includes indenting code blocks, wrapping in backticks, fixing indentation, and removing empty lines. Everything else is off-limits, as it can obscure problems that the answers may need/want to address.
  2. For answers, you can feel a bit more free to fix typos and other obvious errors. But don't make major edits to the code (even if the original doesn't "work" and you're "fixing" it) that deviate from the author's original intent. Leave these suggestions as comments instead.
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  • leaving an @ for the user who made the suggested edit, doesn't work if they have not made a comment, I agree with you on that
    – user310756
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:32
  • @Skippy Sure it does. Editors of a post are valid targets of an @ comment reply. That's documented in the post I linked (which also links to here).
    – Cody Gray - on strike
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:35
  • Yes I understand this has been discussed, I guess the issue is, also letting the user know not to make such suggested edits, @cody whan I try to do that the editor's name doesn't come up, does it still notify them if their name doesn't pop up?
    – user310756
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:36
  • @Skippy Cody it right, @ will reach even users who closed a question.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:36
  • @ShaWizDowArd you know how a pop up box appears when you start typing after the @ ? If that user's name does not appear, are they still notifiied if you manually type in their user name?
    – user310756
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:38
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    Ah, yes. They are, assuming that they fall into one of these categories: the author of the post, anyone with an active bounty on the question, anyone who has left a still-visible comment on the post, and anyone who has edited the post. The suggestion window doesn't show all of those people.
    – Cody Gray - on strike
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:41
  • @CodyGray thank you for that.. could you please answer this (if you think it's Ok to) meta.stackexchange.com/questions/190297/… don't worry, Bart answered
    – user310756
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:54
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    @Cody I believe "anyone who cast a close vote" also apply.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:55
  • @Sha I don't think so. I believe only diamond moderators who have voted to close are valid targets. I'll hunt down the question if you like, I believe this was changed recently after complaints by frequent close voters about the volume and whinyness of these comments.
    – Cody Gray - on strike
    Jul 25, 2013 at 9:03
  • @Cody mind if we'll perform a live test? (one of us will cast a close vote on one of the other's old questions and the other will try to @comment)
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 25, 2013 at 9:08
  • @Sha You'd have to close the question first. There's no way someone would know who to reply to if only one vote was cast. I found this question, but Yannis's comment suggests there are other dupes I'm not finding.
    – Cody Gray - on strike
    Jul 25, 2013 at 9:16
  • @Cody we know now, don't we? :)
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jul 25, 2013 at 9:17
4

The OP has accepted the Suggested edit. So, there is no need to rollback.

What is the best way to deal with an approved edit, you don't believe is correct?

You can comment on the post to the OP for rollback the edit. In this case, it doesn't need anything. Leave as it is.

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3
  • Azik you are addressing one question, which may have been a poor example (yes it is), it doesn't address what is being asked, if it is altered and shouldn't have been, what does one do.
    – user310756
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:30
  • @Skippy, you can visit the post and correct the edit as you have enough rep to edit on any post :)
    – Azik
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:34
  • maybe I am not understanding you.. sorry
    – user310756
    Jul 25, 2013 at 8:39

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