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I've made an edit on a post and I now realize that it is in error:

I've added a suggested edit (the water tag) but I now realize it's probably not appropriate. I recommend rejecting it (I think there's no way I can delete it myself).

It would save time and trouble for others if I could retract/delete the edit but I don't see how to do that from the interface, and in the FAQ: How do suggested edits work? I don't see anything about how to delete one's own pending edit.

Is there anything I can do to remove my own pending edit? (I have rep = 1500 on that site).

I tried to re-edit and remove the water tag but I get the following (and probably expected) behavior. I click the tag (was on the left) and it disappears, but when I save the UI says "nothing has changed", probably because the tag isn't really there yet.

enter image description here

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    Sadly, I don't think there is.
    – Picachieu
    Commented Feb 4, 2019 at 1:03
  • 2
    Can you re-edit and remove the tag?
    – Catija Staff
    Commented Feb 4, 2019 at 1:05
  • @Catija I've added an image. The UI rejects the edit because the tag isn't really there yet.
    – uhoh
    Commented Feb 4, 2019 at 1:10
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    Hmmmm. Edit out the water tag and fix the English: "drops while" to "drop as the". ?
    – Catija Staff
    Commented Feb 4, 2019 at 1:16
  • @Catija that seems to have been accepted, interesting. Okay I will keep my eye on it. One caveat in my haste I did the text edit but forgot the tag deletion. I deleted the tag in an edit immediately following (few seconds) and it worked, so I assume those two are considered a single edit.
    – uhoh
    Commented Feb 4, 2019 at 1:20
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    Yeah, so you can continue to change your suggested edit until it's reviewed. The caveat that we seem to have come across here is that you still have to actually edit something. So by editing the text, it allows you to un-edit the tag, which is what the "nothing has changed" warning is implying.
    – Catija Staff
    Commented Feb 4, 2019 at 1:23
  • The edit has been accepted, all is well, you've saved the day, etc.;-) Thank you! I think this is useful enough to add to the linked FAQ, and possibly to be an answer here as well.
    – uhoh
    Commented Feb 4, 2019 at 1:32

1 Answer 1

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You can't completely remove an edit suggestion, no.

You can, however, re-edit the post to change what you're editing. I've often submitted suggestions to posts and then realized I missed editing something important, say, the title of a question. The ability to adjust/improve your suggested edit is pretty darn useful. The caveat here, though, is that you still have to meet the minimum requirements for your edit suggestion. You have to either change the title, change the tags, or change the body by six characters.

In your case, since you can't just remove the tag to cancel the edit and there's not a different, better tag, you need to change something else about the post. I notice there's an error and the post says "drops while" instead of "drop while". Unfortunately, removing the tag and the s on "drops" won't be sufficient to meet the six-character edit suggestion minimum. You can, however, change "drops while" to a similar phrasing "drop as the". This should pass muster and be an edit you can submit.

This method requires there be something in the post that needs editing, so if the post is well-written and there's not anything in the comments worth adding, you may not be able to change anything in the end and will just have to accept your edit suggestion being declined.

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