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If you see the following suggested edit (https://stackoverflow.com/review/suggested-edits/11026733), it will look like there is only one word change, and someone seeing is can quickly take the decision based on that, if they don't read the comment or go to the right side of the code blocks. ScreenShot1

You will see the difference when you go to the right side of the code blocks.

Screenshot2

I know, the reviewers should be careful to check all areas for editing. But I am not sure if all the reviewers do that. (For this edit, it's more likely that we will look for other edits, since we see only one word change. But when we have more visible changes, then the possibility is more to ignore the hidden changes).

So I think the system should somehow mark a codeblock if it has any edits so that anyone knows that there is an edit in the codeblock, even when no changes are visible at the first view.

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  • 2
    A thoughtful suggestion, friend.
    – NVZ
    Jan 26, 2016 at 5:03
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    Very much related: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/142919/… (basically the same request, just for links.)
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jan 26, 2016 at 15:37
  • @ShadowWizard, It's something similar. But I just want to highlight a code block if there is any change. I don't want to check if any specific link was changed or not. So, that question has a specific requirement different than this one.
    – Tᴀʀᴇǫ Mᴀʜᴍᴏᴏᴅ
    Jan 26, 2016 at 17:15
  • Also, as @Sha knows, certain spammers inject smart spam into code blocks that isn't visible unless you scroll horizontally. One such instance.
    – M.A.R.
    Jan 26, 2016 at 20:28

2 Answers 2

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You can check the edits twice. Once in rendered output mode (as you already have) and again in markdown mode.

markdown mode clearly shows the code edits you cannot see in rendered output mode without scrolling:

enter image description here

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    Yeah, that looks good. But my feature-request still remains because most people are not going to switch views when they are reviewing. (They would do it, if they have known that there are more). The problem is after the initial view most of the people wont think there are more edits. After learning this today, I may be aware and may follow your suggestions. But how many reviewers even know about this (and how many future reviewer will know?)
    – Tᴀʀᴇǫ Mᴀʜᴍᴏᴏᴅ
    Jan 26, 2016 at 10:44
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While this suggestion seems well-intentioned, I think it will cause too many face-punches. On sites like StackOverflow, a large proportion of edits affect code (I wouldn't be surprised if it's the majority), because one of the most common edits is to fix code that wasn't properly marked in the first place, or is indented poorly. Almost all my edits are of this type (but my edits don't need to be reviewed).

It might work reasonably if the warning was only for small changes to large code blocks. Those are more likely to be changes that impact the logic than reformatting.

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  • Not necessarily the face-punches, but we need to mark the code blocks with small changes, because the small changes have more possibility to be ignored by reviewers but it may change the original intent of the post by a huge margin!
    – Tᴀʀᴇǫ Mᴀʜᴍᴏᴏᴅ
    Jan 29, 2016 at 3:08
  • No, the system is smart enough to detect changes that only affect formatting, after all it's just spaces added in the beginning of each line. Detecting actual code change is easy, and most likely already exists in the system. Suggested edits that change actual code are rare.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Jan 29, 2016 at 10:56

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