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I have a number of issues with the concept of editing other peoples' posts, but this is a key concern (one of two, actually).

  • How can I tell who edited my post and why it was edited?
  • Do others see who has made edits?
  • What happens if I reverse those edits?
  • Is there an automatic way to do that or do I have to manually re-edit?
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    First you get notified when someone edits your post. Second click on the edit time in your post to see the post history. Third: You can rollback edits you don't like – juergen d Dec 19 '13 at 13:23
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    There must be a FAQ that explains all this? Well What is a 'rollback'? is one part. Also see How does editing work? – Martin Smith Dec 19 '13 at 13:24
  • I improved the formatting and grammar a bit, but didn't add [faq-proposed]; if anyone's comfortable doing that I would agree. (@Martin) – Doorknob Dec 19 '13 at 13:28
  • Also, how ironic ;) – Doorknob Dec 19 '13 at 13:28
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    @DoorknobofSnow - It is pretty much all covered already in "How does editing work". If I had the rep to VTC as dupe I would. If any info is missing from that answer surely best to add it there. – Martin Smith Dec 19 '13 at 13:29
  • @MartinSmith getting notified of edits made to your posts isn't mentioned in that faq... all in all there are too many subjects here so we can't really close as dupe. – Shadow Wizard Wearing Mask Dec 19 '13 at 13:36
  • @gnat good point, having it closed as dupe of all three will make total sense. Joint effort wins! ;) – Shadow Wizard Wearing Mask Dec 19 '13 at 13:40
  • @ShadowWizard Agreed! This is one thing I don't like about coming along a post like this as a diamond mod; if I make a dupe vote, the question I choose overrides all others entered. Often, I would prefer something like how it works with all users. – Andrew Barber Dec 20 '13 at 15:07
  • @TheFestivusUnicorn yep, I once considered starting feature request asking to let moderators choose multiple dupe sources... don't remember why I ditched the idea though. – Shadow Wizard Wearing Mask Dec 20 '13 at 18:37
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As a general note - the Stack Exchange model has been specifically written to allow such edits - this is not a problem or a bug - it is by design.

Now, to your questions:

how can i tell what they did and why?

Click on the edited <relative time> ago link. You will see all revisions.

enter image description here

The revision should have a summary too - should tell you why.

do others see who has made edits?

Yes.

what happens if I reverse those edits (and is there an automatic way to do that or do I have to manually re-edit?

You can rollback (link on the revision you wish to rollback to), but - make sure not to rollback changes that improve the post. Rollback wars are frowned upon.

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    And from the revisions page, you can choose to Rollback to any past revision, no need to "manually re-edit". – Shadow Wizard Wearing Mask Dec 19 '13 at 13:25
  • @ShadowWizard - was adding. Thanks. – Oded Dec 19 '13 at 13:27
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    Jon Skeet style, love it! – Shadow Wizard Wearing Mask Dec 19 '13 at 13:27
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    @ShadowWizard - learned from the master ;) – Oded Dec 19 '13 at 13:28
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    Rollback wars also raise automatic flag and good chance moderator will come over and lock the post in such a case. – Shadow Wizard Wearing Mask Dec 19 '13 at 13:32
  • The rollback feature is only available to users with full editing privileges though. – Servy Dec 20 '13 at 15:08
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Also important to mention that for non trivial edits (title or body >6 characters change) you get notification to your inbox:

Clicking that inbox item will take you directly to the Revisions page.

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  • Thanks everyone. Some points made by several of you so I wont address individuals. Clicking on the time of edit to display the changes ... is that supposed to be intuitive? IMNSHO its not very intuitive. Certainly I can see that roll back wars would be very bad and have no intention of starting one. This leads to a separate topic which I'm staying away from right now (this is not Wikipedia as our posts are not anonymous) .. I want to read more before I get into that. – RFlack Dec 19 '13 at 17:35
  • WOW. I just went back and looked at the post in question. People have time to correct others typo / spelling etc? Im really impressed. Its like having a secretary. – RFlack Dec 19 '13 at 17:39
  • Oh; I didn't know those notifications don't show up for very small edits. Interesting! – Andrew Barber Dec 20 '13 at 15:08
  • @TheFestivusUnicorn "don't flood the inbox with noise" is still a strong motto, I tend to agree with it. :-) – Shadow Wizard Wearing Mask Dec 20 '13 at 18:38
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    Strange. My motto is, "beat the owner of each inbox over the head with bags full of unicorn horns until they submit"... – Andrew Barber Dec 20 '13 at 18:55

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