The "Recent Questions" list is useless every time "Bill the Lizard" goes on one of his editing sprees. Editing (and closing) questions should not bump them onto the "recent" list.
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7Why shouldn't an edit bump to the front of the activity queue? How will others know you've changed your answer/question to something more wrong? – random Nov 8 '09 at 4:35
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2edits are supposed to bump them because it's "activity" – warren Nov 8 '09 at 8:34
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1editing something to improve readability doesn't add any information, and so shouldn't bump it. I think we need a "don't bump" reason-for-editing. – Phoshi Nov 8 '09 at 13:03
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It should depend on whether the question already has an accepted answer or not. If it does not, then the bump helps promote it, to get an answer. If it already has an accept answer, then it bumps it unnecessarily and clutters the front page. – Synetech Aug 20 '11 at 14:37
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@Phoshi - how would the system tell whether an edit improves readability? – Brad Mace Aug 22 '11 at 16:22
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@bemace; You'd tell it, if course. A little drop-down or something. – Phoshi Aug 22 '11 at 19:10
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@Phoshi - part of the reason they're bumped is so that the changes can be vetted by other users. What if someone adds a bunch of spam links but marks it as a minor change, or even just misinterprets the intent and wrecks it? – Brad Mace Aug 22 '11 at 19:16
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@bemace; True, it could only work in the context of a better/more obvious "Recent Activity" tool. – Phoshi Aug 22 '11 at 21:03
I could argue that editing could be more of a reason to bump.
New posts have plenty of visibility. People evaluate, respond, and vote on new posts so they are thoroughly vetted by the community. Not so with older posts. Someone could easily change the context of a question to render everyone's answers incorrect. Or they could just be adding spam.
You don't want content added to your system without people noticing. Bumping edited posts is the primary way to assure that new content is visible to the community.
UPDATE: If something like this could be implemented (Make Activity Description in ‘Activity’ Tab More Descriptive), at least you would know whether to bother looking at the recent "activity."
answered Nov 8 '09 at 13:51
