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Edits limits (Edits must be at least 6 characters; is there something else to improve in this post?) can be passed easily using html comments.

Testing:

This is what can be done to skip the edit limit:

Using code comment fools the edit and adds them in the number of characters edit. Here is an example:

<!--  -->

This code block is long enough to edit the question without touching anything other. Simply copying and placing it at anywhere in the question can skip the edit limit. These automatically get disappeared because these are html comments.

Benefit:

  • Questions can be edited with changes having less than 6 edits

This seems more like a to me rather than . It must be detected by the site that the edit is no more than addition to a useless html comment (unless it is in a code block or it is a syntax highlighting comment), so don't let it be edited. The system should let such edits be prohibited.
This will save the time of the reviewers by not adding useless edits in the queue.

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  • Is there evidence that such edits are either 1. actually slipping through, or 2. overwhelming the edit review system? I've suggested two edits using HTML comments to bypass the limit and both were rejected (one reviewer even noted the addition of the comment in a custom rejection reason). Sep 22, 2019 at 4:00
  • Your last line is what the core is.. how'd a machine know where the code was put? Specially when sites like webmasters exist. Also this is helpful in say cases like shrinking images in a post which involves appending m or l in the url link. It is small change (1 char) but can make posts much better. So the editor with <2k rep has to put filler content.
    – anki
    Sep 22, 2019 at 4:16
  • @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog I have suggested a lot of edits with HTML comments, and each one of them has been approved
    – Nouman
    Sep 22, 2019 at 4:30
  • This work around has been known for some time. I would post the links but searching for those posts is an Endeavour. Sep 22, 2019 at 5:11
  • @Mari-LouA Here is an example: arduino.stackexchange.com/posts/68560/revisions
    – Nouman
    Sep 22, 2019 at 6:34
  • @SonictheAnonymousHedgehog not all of them Sep 22, 2019 at 6:54
  • @RobertLongson I don't even remember I suggested an edit here. But just like I showed one on arduino.se , there are a lots of such in other communities
    – Nouman
    Sep 22, 2019 at 7:33
  • @RobertLongson The trick wasn't actually necessary in that case, as title-only edits aren't subject to that limit (and in fact a title edit will waive the 6-character body edit limit). Sep 22, 2019 at 7:56
  • Related: Is it possible to waive the six character threshold on edits, if they help to eliminate horizontal scrollbars? and this comment by @rene “…you could add a <!-- html comment --> to overcome the character limit … to fool the system and don't complain when reviewers reject your edit anyway.” Sep 22, 2019 at 8:12
  • and in 2011 How to overcome “Edits must be at least 6 characters”? These posts (and comments) show that the team and developers over at SE are well aware of the ruse, and no one has stepped in front to say it is a bug. Sep 22, 2019 at 8:22
  • @Mari-LouA I want the SE team to prohibit this type of editing
    – Nouman
    Sep 22, 2019 at 9:07
  • @Mari-LouA Thanks for that. Didn't its unclear. Edited
    – Nouman
    Sep 22, 2019 at 10:10
  • As the related feature request and the official answer to it proves, this isn't a bug. Sep 22, 2019 at 10:22

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