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It seems that there is no notification of the OP of a question, when an answer is edited. (See my question here.)

I would like to have an option to notify the OP of a question when I edit my/an answer to his question.

I can see that it is not preferable to get a message on every small correction, like editing a typo or changing the tags.

But comments only saying "I updated my answer" are more like noise and not usable for a later reader of the answer.

So if I do a change to an answer, where I think it is important for the person that asked to recognize my change, because I fixed a bug in the solution or I changed it because it was not the correct solution for some other reason, then I would like to notify those person automatically.

So what about a checkmark next to the "Save Edits" button, saying "Notify the OP of the question about the Edit" and if the checkmark is used then send a message saying

"Edit to question X, Text of the Edit Summary"

Maybe additionally, only send it, if the Edit Summary is not empty.

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1 Answer 1

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Post owners are always notified of comments on their posts.

Thus, leaving a comment should suffice, if you feel your edit is so significant as to warrant notification.

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    I know how commenting works, and if it is only one change I did to my answer, I don't care to leave a comment "@QuestionOP, I updated my answer". But I have had some answers where I was asked to do more than two changes, to fit additional requirements or whatever. And I don't like to add many comments, just saying "I did another change", just with the purpose to have the asker notified.
    – stema
    Commented Jul 7, 2011 at 12:24
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    I believe if you delete and re-post the same comment, "I updated my answer", then the user will be notified, again.
    – M. Tibbits
    Commented Jul 7, 2011 at 13:43
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    there is a thin line between notifying users properly ... and just bothering them with trivia @M.
    – waffles
    Commented Jul 7, 2011 at 15:15
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    +1 I agree with @waffles. Don't notify unless you've dramatically altered the text of your answer. (The OP asked the question in the first place, if they're still interested they'll probably be checking and catch the edit anyways). My previous comment was informational (not intended to suggest a practice).
    – M. Tibbits
    Commented Jul 7, 2011 at 17:10
  • -1 I don't want to leave a redundant comment as the edit note already serves that purpose and the comment would be noise (that invites a discussion in the comments, which we certainly want to avoid).
    – Tamara Wijsman
    Commented Aug 24, 2011 at 22:00
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    @tom if you read the OP's request closely and his example, that is exactly what he wants in this specific case though. Adding a checkbox would be like adding a "free spam" button. If you need to let someone know about important bits of an edit, expend the effort to add a comment elaborating about it.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Aug 24, 2011 at 22:14
  • @JeffAtwood: Oh, his example is indeed different from what is suggested by the title (and your post mentions "post owners"); so I thought his post was a duplicate of this highly upvoted feature request which I would love to see, I hope you see why leaving a comment is redundant and unnecessary noise in my case.
    – Tamara Wijsman
    Commented Aug 25, 2011 at 1:11
  • I think it would be useful when editing a post to have an available checkbox "Send notification". That way, you can choose when "you feel your edit is so significant as to warrant notification" if you want to comment or edit.
    – Julien Carsique
    Commented Feb 14, 2012 at 15:16
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    Some users are not aware that such a comment is necessary. I use Stack Exchange a fair bit and didn't know this, and neither had someone who had done a major update to their answer of a question of mine.
    – Andrew Grimm
    Commented Nov 19, 2012 at 22:43

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