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I saw this review in the queue:

enter image description here

If the anonymous user is indeed DBChronos, this edit seems totally acceptable. However, if not, this could conflict with the author's intent.

DBChronos is indeed an unregistered user, so that matches up. However, I have no way to actually verify the identity of the anonymous user.

Should I approve this edit anyways? Should I reject it because I can't verify the user's identity? Should I wait for them to merge their account with a registered account, then accept the edit?

Sidenote: I skipped it in the queue.

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    Here's a few cross-site related meta questions on superuser, unix.se, and ubuntu.se. The consensus across all three is to allow it if it isn't obvious vandalism.
    – n8te
    Jan 11, 2018 at 3:57
  • @n8te Seems good enough for me to be an answer... do you just not do answers though?
    – JMY1000
    Jan 11, 2018 at 4:05
  • I can write it as an answer if you want. I just went with a comment at the time since it's almost a link-only answer.
    – n8te
    Jan 11, 2018 at 4:10
  • @n8te I'd be honored to be your first answer! Pasting some relevant content from the body of accepted/highly voted answers on those answers seems fine to me, along with your own opinion if you have one.
    – JMY1000
    Jan 11, 2018 at 4:14

1 Answer 1

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Moderators on Super User, Unix & Linux, and Ask Ubuntu have weighed in on this topic and the consensus across all three is to allow it if it's not obvious vandalism.

From unix.meta.stackexchange:

This generally happens because they posted the question on an unregistered account and then later registered one when they realized they would need to follow-up on comments. I have yet to come across a case where somebody makes a fake account with the same name to impersonate another user, so you can probably assume it's the same user and approve it, as long as the edit looks to actually be useful.

--Michael Mrozek

From meta.askubuntu:

I approve if they aren't obviously a vandal. We can't do a IP check, or anything like that so its a little difficult, but again, if it isn't vandalizing (and adds value to the question) then by all means, approve it.

--jrg

See also this question on meta.superuser.com

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  • Worth pointing out, one should leave a comment, that indicates they can recover the account with a little effort (5 minutes worth of effort).
    – Ramhound
    Jan 11, 2018 at 12:26

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