Unable to suggest a tag edit to someone else's post that consists mostly of code

Question

I sometimes edit questions of Stack Overflow posters to improve them. Adding some tags or reformatting messages.

It happens that my edits are rejected with the message:

"Your message is mostly code, please add more details."

And this, even if I only added a tag.

1. How was the poster able to post his question, then, if its message was troublesome relative to Stack Overflow / Stack Exchange checkings?

He should not have been able to post his original message, if it's was a wrong one.

2. The one who edits the post to help for a problem of reformatting the content, for example, isn't the one able to enter more explanation about its goal inside.

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To the ones who added the first comments and downvoted too fast:

Take the time to read the question, you don't understand the problem.

A posted a wrong message, and I'm B editing his message, for civic duty, but I'm only to add a tag on it.

How can I be rejected while adding a tag on his message, if he, A, was able to post it?

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Here is a sample of the trouble :

Failed to obtain JDBC Connection; nested exception is java.sql.SQLException: interrupt, asked today.

I attempted to add jdbc, mybatis and mysql tags to it and received the message "It looks like your post is mostly code; please add some more details."

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Second example : adding an if-statement tag, on :
I am trying To write an else if statement but the program ends on the statement. This is my code

Answer 1

I haven't been able to reproduce this bug, even when using a sock puppet to test on production. It doesn't seem like there are discrepancies between the "mostly code" check on editing and authoring. Without seeing more examples, it's possible that there are other ways a post may be changed that do not have the same check in place, but unless I can get reproducible steps, I'm marking this as status-norepro for now.

Answer 2

The rules have changed over time. In fact in the distant past this rule did not exist at all. So the poster posted the question, then the system gained a new rule (or the rule was made stricter) but it didn't automatically delete all the posts that couldn't have been posted because they'd fail that new rule.

It's also possible they posted their code via one of the mobile apps. These are discontinued although a number of old timers still have them installed on their phones. The posting rules from those mobile apps may well be different to the website as the apps haven't been maintained in some years now.

If you want to edit the post you'll need to fix everything that's wrong with it. If you can't and the question really is mostly code with no explanation then perhaps it's better to vote or flag to close it as unclear, or alternatively just move on and spend your time editing something that is fixable rather than something that isn't because the information to fix it does not exist.