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Editing a question in the Close Votes review has a rather unexpected consequence: the question is immediately removed from the queue. I'm pretty certain that not all people noticed this. See for example this review of an obviously bad question: it received three close votes and then somebody went in an edited a typo in the question title, with the effect of removing the question from the queue (note: that question was improved later).

I think people should be warned about the consequences, with a message like: "Please only edit questions that you think should not be closed after your changes."

For reference:

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  • Should this be shown only to people editing from the review queue, or to anone that can see close votes and is trying to edit a post? Commented Jan 7, 2014 at 17:16
  • @DennisJaheruddin: Simply editing the post doesn't remove it from the queue, only doing that from the review queue does. Commented Jan 8, 2014 at 2:34

6 Answers 6

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+150

Make it simple and change the button's label to "Edit & Leave Open". That way there's no need for extra popups or reading some descriptions hidden under a "(more)" link, and it will be dead obvious what the action behind the button really is.

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  • 7
    more accurate description of this action would be like "Edit & Abort Review" - because edit does more than just Leave Open vote - it aborts review
    – gnat
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 22:40
  • @gnat: IMHO you don't need that level of detail (see the post by Shog9 explaining why). It's sufficient to make obvious that this is an action towards leaving the question open. Commented Jan 9, 2014 at 15:01
11

There's already some guidance to this effect in the close review queue itself:

Edit if this question could be improved so that it does not need to be closed

It doesn't explicitly call out the effect that editing will have on the disposition of review item itself, but none of the action descriptions do - in practice, this has been subject to change even when the actions themselves (and the guidance given for them) haven't; the hope is that folks will Do The Right Thing for the post they're reviewing, without worrying about what will happen to it after that.

That said, we're always open to suggestions for improvement - if you think you can improve on the guidance given to reviewers, post your ideas.

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  • 3
    These guidelines are way too much text, you cannot expect everybody to read these properly. I think that the solution by 3ventic is a better one - extremely short and hard to miss. Commented Jan 9, 2014 at 15:02
5

I'd like this — a warning, or the [Edit and Leave Open] button, or even to have [Edit] not do anything to the post's place in the queue.

I've been using this network for about seven years and been a heavy editor for five, and I've had no idea the Edit button in the close queue did that. I've even used the Edit button a couple of times on a site where I've also been a diamond moderator, on reviews that probably should've stayed in the queue. I've used it to make tangential edits that don't resolve the problem, and wouldn't have done so if the button was labelled [Edit and Leave Open].

I only found out about this recently: someone pinged me in a comment to tell me what the Edit review option I'd picked had done, so I went looking for documentation that could verify that for me and tell me more, and that trail's lead me to this feature request.

5

Such a warning now exists; it was implemented as part of the review queue enhancements last month to add descriptions for each review item:

"Improve this question yourself and keep it open."

That said, the review action has been changed so that the "Edit" button is no longer a binding action, and now counts the same as a standard review to leave open (meaning the review task will only be dismissed with an outcome of leaving open if two other users agree that it should be left open).

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I think this is a good idea, but could be implemented in a bit different way. There could be a new dialog after editing a question in the Close Vote Queue that says something to this effect:

Since you edited this question, do you think it should still be closed?

That way, if a problematic question that isn't off-topic after editing, it can be kicked out of the queue, and if it is still off-topic it can stay in the queue and possibly recieve another close vote from saying yes to this dialog.

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  • 4
    Maybe we can follow that up with a third dialog that just rants at the editor for wasting time on a question they think should be closed.
    – Shog9
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 18:21
  • Editing a question without improving it substantially indeed sounds like wasting everybody's time. Either way, your suggestion is what Let me edit a post in the close review, then vote to close it is about and it has been sitting around since March (now it's even declined). Implementing a warning is much simpler and should be less controversial. Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 18:28
  • @9Shogsa-Shogging That's true, but then again, why is the edit button even shown in the CV queue anyway?
    – hichris123
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 20:14
  • @WladimirPalant Do you really think people will read that?
    – hichris123
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 20:14
  • @hichris123: see my answer here for a fairly detailed explanation. For a short summary, click the "(more)" link in the close review queue.
    – Shog9
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 20:40
  • @9Shogsa-Shogging I'm not a 3K user yet, so I can't look at the CV queue guidelines, but I'm just making suggestions on my (limited) experience.
    – hichris123
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 20:41
  • See here
    – Shog9
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 21:03
0

I would say, Edit and leave open is a great option,

However, this should also go back into the close votes with all those who voted to get an opportunity to change their vote if appropriate.

Maybe a message at the top of the Review Que saying:

[Question] was edited, please re-confirm if it should be closed

^ The wording isn't great, please edit it!

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