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Nice hole in the system... You can pretty much say anything in a revision comment and it cannot be removed or cleaned up by a mod. See https://stackoverflow.com/revisions/3405175/4 for an example.

Mods need the ability to at least remove the comment, if not the ability to edit the text of it.

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  • 1
    +1 - Maybe something like the super snazzy mod/10k only re-tag feature. Just hover over it to get an inline edit link.
    – user50049
    Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 15:12
  • 3
    +1 I hate this "thanks for the edit" crap!
    – Ladybug Killer
    Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 15:21
  • 1
    stackoverflow.com/posts/3404853/revisions -- I think this user may need a warning, although I support this feature request anyway.
    – Jon Seigel
    Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 17:22
  • 4
    @Jon already done. I think he was having a really bad day... He blasted one guy for misspelling the 'java' tag then went on to misspell it himself.
    – user1228
    Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 18:11
  • 1
    @Jon Seigel: see here for that case
    – Tobias Kienzler
    Commented Aug 5, 2010 at 8:32
  • Aaah, another successful FR.
    – user1228
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 13:27

4 Answers 4

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24

This was implemented earlier this week and is available to diamond moderators on each site.

By going to the edit summary, you'll see this:

enter image description here

And can edit out any inappropriate message that was left by the editor.

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  • 3
    Any hint what is this mysterious "redact" doing? ;-)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 20:48
  • @ShadowWizard Allows purging of sensitive details on a post.
    – Taryn Staff
    Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 20:49
  • 1
    You mean perform an edit that doesn't leave a revision? (I've seen SE employees doing it in the past, but not ordinary mods)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 20:51
  • 1
    @ShadowWizard Meaning that if someone accidentally posts details they shouldn't have, we can remove those details from the history of the post without needing to directly touch the DB. Make it like those details never existed. At this point, it's a CM only tool.
    – Taryn Staff
    Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 20:52
  • ahem... the link in the question?
    – user1228
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 13:26
  • 1
    @Won't I don't know what you are talking about. There was nothing inappropriate in that edit history. :P
    – Taryn Staff
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 13:28
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Moderators should be able to edit these comments, just as they can edit comments. While history (for both of these!) right there in the UI would be better, for comments it's been declared good enough that the history is in the database (so SE can investigate complaints against mods doing this). If it's good enough for comments, which are more visible, then that approach seems good enough for edit notes too -- let mods edit freely and log it in the DB.

This ability should be restricted to moderators until (a) there is more-visible history (UI impact) and (b) broader need is shown. Let's make sure objectionable edit comments can be edited, but this should be rare enough that flagging and waiting for a moderator should suffice.

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2
  • What would be the review mechanism for these so that it can be self-policing?
    – tchrist
    Commented Apr 17, 2015 at 3:20
  • @tchrist maybe, as with comments, just a marker showing that it was edited. All moderation actions are also logged for all mods to see.
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Apr 17, 2015 at 3:23
7

While I realize you can always flag a post for moderator attention, it would be great if you could flag the edit directly. There might even be a ♦ mod tool that shows a list of flagged edits.

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3
  • Wouldn't enough people flagging the question, remove the question? So even if it was just one edit that was bad (and fixed, but still offensive to the point of flagging) the whole thing would be gone?
    – Jesse Dorsey
    Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 15:19
  • @Noct - you wouldn't flag the question as offensive/spam. Right now you can flag the question for moderator attention (which will not cause it to be deleted). I would also like to be able to flag an edit for attention. That wouldn't cause the question to be deleted either.
    – user27414
    Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 15:21
  • Flagging for mod attention won't do any good, though, until mods can edit that field (the point of this request).
    – Monica Cellio
    Commented Apr 16, 2015 at 20:41
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I think that because there is no "revision history" on "revision comments" then allowing mods to edit them is not a good idea.

However, allowing mods to delete the revision comments (the user generated part, not the "6 chars added" part) is something I would completely support.

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5
  • I agree on the last part, however I think that this should be 10k feature, which would not necessarily need a revision history for the comments itself.
    – Time Traveling Bobby
    Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 15:16
  • @Bobby, too much power for 10k users. Muahahahahahahhahhaahha!
    – devinb
    Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 15:21
  • 3
    Yeah, too much power. There are enough 10Ks now that there could be some abuse or misuse of this. If we did have a 10K tool for this, it would need some edit history, etc, to ensure accountability.
    – user27414
    Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 15:22
  • @JonB, @Bobby: Maybe time for a 20k feature?
    – Richard
    Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 17:01
  • 2
    @Richard - you mean I'd have to start working for rep again? BOO!!!!
    – user27414
    Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 17:12

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