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I think it would be useful to introduce a new form of flagging addressed to users with 2k (5k? 10k?) reputation and not diamond moderators: flagging posts that require editing.

I'm thinking about posts that don't have issues with what they say (and thus don't deserve a downvote), but with how they say it:

  • posts with poor English
  • posts with poor formatting
  • posts with broken links

The flags should also inform the post owner, so that they may attempt to address the issue themselves.

Posts with outdated or wrong content should not receive this flag. Commenting or adding a new, up to date answer should remain the way to go in these cases.

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  • 2
    This suggestion again, eh?
    – Welbog
    Oct 5, 2010 at 21:29
  • @Toronto: you know where the close button is...
    – badp
    Oct 5, 2010 at 21:31
  • I'm feeling lazy and it's time to drive home!
    – Welbog
    Oct 5, 2010 at 21:31
  • Hmm... very similar to meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5052/…, but that was aimed more at the asker than at 2k-ers.
    – mmyers
    Oct 5, 2010 at 22:22
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    Does it really make sense to burden contributors that have a history of posting great answers with maintenance work? Lord, I hope not.
    – Uphill Luge
    Oct 5, 2010 at 22:31
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    @hans, editing is both a right and a duty. Also, often times there are no questions I can really answer...
    – badp
    Oct 5, 2010 at 22:34
  • @mmyers, also different on content. I only think this would be appropriate for small edit that fix the form without altering the meaning, definitely not for salvaging questions from closure. (that's already available via the close vote monitoring 10k tools, too)
    – badp
    Oct 5, 2010 at 22:38

3 Answers 3

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Good idea, I've often found things that could benefit from editing on sites where I don't have enough rep to do it myself. I can see some problems, though:

  • The flag might be overused (for example, people flagging their posts in case there are any problems).
  • The reasons for flagging would be inherently subjective, so a post might keep receiving flags even if no 2k users think it's worth editing).
  • New users probably won't understand the distinction between moderators and people that can edit posts.

Until such a feature is implemented, an alternative would be to post a link to the post in the chat and explaining what needs to be edited.

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1

That'd be great, but they will have to make a 2k and 3k page, so that the flags can be seen.

(3k since we should also have this for posts that need closing).

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  • If it became a 10k tool, it'd go well with this suggestion.
    – badp
    Oct 5, 2010 at 21:33
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    I've a vague memory of someone suggesting that 3k users shouldn't get a close candidate list because the list is easy to abuse and we want them to have some time to get used to the power before we hand them a force multiplier. And I feel that this is a good argument.
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Oct 5, 2010 at 22:37
  • @dmckee Okay, but how is that relevant here?
    – badp
    Oct 10, 2010 at 15:41
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I may be in the minority, but as far as I'm concerned, posts with poor formatting, poor grammar, and/or broken links deserve a downvote. We want the authors to edit them, not to further burden the community with these problems.

If the question is readable enough as-is, then it doesn't need editing. If it's not, then it should be downvoted. Simple as that.

Besides, there are how many thousands of users with editing privileges now? The likelihood that none of them have seen the "flagged for editing" question by the time somebody sees the flag is slim to nil.

Downvotes cost you only 1 rep and the author only 2. Are they really so terrible?

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  • 2
    why are you assuming I'm talking about Stack Overflow?
    – badp
    Oct 6, 2010 at 4:42
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    @radp: If you're talking about a Stack Exchange site then it's even more likely that a high-rep user will see the question itself before the flag, because questions may remain on the front page for a day or more.
    – Aarobot
    Oct 6, 2010 at 14:13

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