Related questions:
The editing race - the slackers always win
Provide indicator that another user is editing a post
https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/88186/collision-detection-fails-when-saving-while-suggested-edits-are-pending
Do we need a 'reject and improve' button?
This started off as a request about perceived edits being edit suggestion "improvements," I've extended it to include edits in general.
If we a reject and improve button will not be available, then can there at least be a confirmation when we are "improving" an edit suggestion?
I know, if we see an edit suggestion on a question, we can look at it. If we decide to improve the edit, then we know we are improving it because we clicked on the improve button. However, if you are currently editing a post and someone sneaks in a suggestion before you're finished, there is no such indication that we improved an edit. It goes through as if it was an improvement. But I was not improving some edit suggestion.
I've run into this so many times where I was making a major edit and someone manages to submit a suggestion that tweaks a thing or two in the post. If I saw such an edit, I would have rejected it on sight. But since I get no notification if a suggested edit is submitted, there's no way I would have known about it unless I happen to have the question open in another tab and constantly check it for updates (I do this but it's annoying to have to do it). I don't want to be rewarding these useless suggestions.
I propose that if an edit or suggestion is made some time between the time I start my edit and when I attempt to submit it, the system should stop me to notify that an edit or suggestion was made and perhaps display it for me.
I imagine that implementation could be as simple as locally storing the current revision at the start and checking the revision at the time of submission and see if they agree. The notification could appear very much like the edit suggestion dialog appears. It could show my edit compared to the revision since I last saw the post and the latest revision or suggestion (or some combination).
This would also be a perfect opportunity to see if merging my edit and the previous edit is possible. It also gives me a chance to decide if I really want to go through with my submission or step back and not submit since I can see that there's a more superior edit. Making conflicting edits could be less likely and easier to deal with. I think that's a win-win situation.
I think this would be a nice complement what's currently in place (checking for edits that has been submitted periodically). It doesn't always work for regular edits and it does not include updates about edit suggestions. All I really care about here is merely knowing that an edit (suggestion) was made some time between the time I started editing and when I submitted the edit.
I have yet to see this myself but there supposedly are notifications if you make an edit but it isn't considered more substantial than the previous revision. I don't think that's enough. It really should display the dialog/notification/whatever if you are editing over any revision, substantial or not.
