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We regularly get flagged about specific users who are submitting a series of really bad edits. Normally, enough rejected edits for these users would trigger a timed edit ban by the system. However, as we all know, there can be bad reviewers out there who approve even these terrible or vandalizing edits.

One such user was flagged today who has had 29 suggested edits rejected, many over the last few days, but was never banned because a few of these edits were approved (several of the reviewers responsible will not be doing so for a little while). Moderators currently have no means to manually ban the user from suggesting more, unlike the manual bans we can impose on reviewers.

I believe moderators should have the capability to manually ban certain users from suggesting edits for a duration, again like we can for bad reviewers. Our current options are too heavy-handed, such as moderator messages or even account suspension. Both of these leave permanent marks on a user's account, and I can say from experience that moderator messages aren't always read.

Can we add this tool to our other options for dealing with bad editors?

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  • 5
    I think this would really help in situations where there are edit wars as well.
    – Travis J
    Commented Feb 18, 2014 at 17:14
  • 58
    Also throw in the ability for a mod to insta-reject all pending edits from such users.
    – Servy
    Commented Feb 18, 2014 at 17:14
  • 20
    @Travis J: Indeed. There are some either really stubborn or really stupid users who keep suggesting the same edit to the same post over and over again until it gets approved by some unwitting robo-reviewers.
    – BoltClock's a Unicorn Mod
    Commented Feb 18, 2014 at 17:24
  • 6
    25 upvotes in 17 minutes - that's a nice takeoff ;-)
    – Caffeinated
    Commented Feb 18, 2014 at 17:30
  • 50
    I've stated this in the Tavern, but I want this to be expanded to just a plain edit ban that could be applied to users whether they can suggest edits or not. I've seen users who do have edit privileges make a series of really bad edits. I'd also enjoy a similar UI to normal suspension, where we could send a mod message along with the edit ban, with a list of messages that are specific to editing.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Feb 18, 2014 at 17:54
  • 41
    Why suggested edits specifically? The bad editors don't magically stop at 2000 rep.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Feb 18, 2014 at 19:13
  • 8
    @Gilles most stop when they realize they don't gain rep from it anymore.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Apr 28, 2014 at 7:28
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    @Gilles After 2000 rep <strike>if</strike> when folks keep making bad edits they have surely been approached about it a couple different ways and it't time to suspend them from ALL site privs until they take the site guidelines seriously. In other words there is a ban for those cases already, and because there is no rep gain most of the motivation is gone anyway. We have systems for most of the remaining issues.
    – Caleb
    Commented May 2, 2014 at 21:12
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    My god… I didn't know what mods couldn't review ban. Well, +1.
    – bjb568
    Commented May 11, 2014 at 20:08
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    @bjb568 it's not related to review, they can ban from reviewing for a while now, it's about blocking users from editing i.e. suggesting edits when they have <2k rep. (it happens automatically when enough suggestions are rejected, but with the robo reviewers it's quite useless)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jun 25, 2014 at 14:51
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    @JanDvorak: Related to that: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/194571/…
    – Ry-
    Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 3:44
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    Discussing this now, my good sir (and I refunded @minitech's bounty).
    – Jarrod Dixon
    Commented Jul 18, 2014 at 19:06
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    @ɥʇǝS it's now in the "let's do it" queue (will get doled out in the next week or so); thanks for the reminder!
    – Jarrod Dixon
    Commented Mar 18, 2015 at 20:52
  • 3
    I think a large part of the problem comes from not giving feedback to the user when edits are rejected. Not even the plain notice of the fact anything was rejected. (Yes, I know where you can find the information, that's not helpful here.) When I was new on one of the sites, I got quite some edits rejected - which surprised me two month later when I found out... I would have been very motivated to understand what I do wrong.
    – Volker Siegel
    Commented Apr 8, 2015 at 3:04
  • 4
    We do a bit better there now than we used to, @Volker
    – Shog9
    Commented Apr 8, 2015 at 3:44

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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This is done:

"blocked from suggested edits no", popup asks "How many days do you want to ban J. Random User from suggesting edits?"

You can also lift an edit ban now:

unban button leads to popup: "Allow J. Random User to suggest edits? (Will only apply if recent edit history allows)"

Note that this may not always work in the case of system-imposed edit bans (that is, if their recent edit history still looks lousy at the time you lift the ban, it might just get re-applied.)

Usage guidance

This was implemented for the following purpose: someone is quickly and repeatedly suggesting poor or controversial edits and must be stopped before they can overwhelm the review queue. The ban will allow pending edits to be reviewed with care at the convenience of the moderators or other reviewers. Following the edit ban, they should be engaged in comments and/or on meta and made aware of the rules and guidelines for respectful editing.

This should not be used in place of suspension for stopping blatantly abusive editors. And of course, it is unavailable for users with full editing privileges, where suspension remains the only option when communication has broken down.

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  • 10
    Aha! Finally proof that Shog knows your greatest fear. No wonder everyone is on good behavior around you!
    – ɥʇǝS
    Commented Apr 8, 2015 at 1:37
  • 3
    What happens when someone bans community from editing :O
    – 54D
    Commented Apr 8, 2015 at 2:38
  • 4
    Try it & see...
    – Shog9
    Commented Apr 8, 2015 at 2:39
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    @ArceusMaster0493 obviously, she will retaliate and ban all the users.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Apr 8, 2015 at 10:42
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    On a more serious note, is this possible to add a warning in the review page itself: "review with care due to [dunno what to put here]", like we have warning for possible spam edits?
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Apr 8, 2015 at 10:44
  • J. Random User? I thought you were going to ban yourself (only to unban yourself). :-/ Oh wait, it looks like it cannot be done to yourself nor other mods.
    – Jamal
    Commented Apr 10, 2015 at 21:59
  • 1
    Can't be done on anyone with edit privs, @Jamal. But, of course I tested this on myself.
    – Shog9
    Commented Apr 12, 2015 at 15:26

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