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I've recently suggested several edits on this site.

After two accepted edits (1), (2), it seems that my account has been disallowed for further suggested edits. I don't have links for rejected ones, however.

I realize that presumably, someone has decided the edits were too minor or whatsoever. Indeed, I was primarily fixing grammar, layout, or other things making the Q&A more readable.

Nevertheless, it's a common sense on SE that even minor edits are still useful, if they indeed provide with meaningful value and aren't massive. So any constructive edits, even fixing typos or formatting, should be encouraged as they (1) improve readability and (2) searchability on search engines, which in turn attracts new visitors and provide with value for existing ones.
This is the very ultimate judgment for evaluating users' behavior at the entire SE community. (except maybe this site :))

Is it true that WA@SE rules are somehow different?

I'm not an active user here, but I was thinking that could be a positive contribution to a community.
Am I wrong?


Update
This is not an an appeal. What's done is done.

"Something else to be improved in the posts". Look at the edits that have been kindly accepted (I don't find the links to rejected ones). Is there anything else to improve there?

Moreover, minor edits is a kind of "dirty work". They consume a lot of moderator's time which they can rather spend on something else. Doing it by non-moderators (or users with rep under 2000) is a profit for the site, see links above for why.

"Pursuing rep". Please don't accuse me pursuing +2 reputation for these edits; it's much easier time investment to submit five good Q/A to gain rep.

Actual Question. My goal is to figure out whether the WebApp@SE community needs this very type of contribution. If it doesn't (for whatever reasons or whoever is right or wrong), this is the only thing I really want to know.

2 Answers 2

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I was the moderator who rejected your edits.

Your edits were just adding the keyboard style to the post.

I approved the first couple as they seemed OK, but then as more edits of the same kind came in I realised that all you had done is gone through looking for posts that required this edit.

While this kind of edit can improve the post, it's very rarely the only change that needs making. By concentrating on this one aspect you are ignoring the rest of the post and not making other edits that would improve it overall.

The other danger is that by making lots of minor edits like this you flood the homepage with old, often answered, questions.

The ban on suggesting edits is only temporary, so when it's lifted you can go back to helping to improve the site. Just take your time and look at the big picture.

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  • Let me better understand your answer. All I have done is minor edits (typos, shortcuts, and formatting), correct. See referenced articles on Meta@SE what community thinks on this. Even minor edits (1) improve articles' readability and (2) searchability on search engines. Both factors attract new visitors to the site and provide the existing ones with value, and this is the big picture I've understood from my membership @SE. :) Homepage flooding is also covered in linked article at Meta@SE. People suggest no more than 30-40 as per SO, so it might be 10 for this site. Is it correct? Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 11:04
  • @bytebuster - minor edits are OK - in moderation. Take your time with these and they are more likely to be accepted.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 11:06
  • Now I'm even more confused as none of my questions appear to be answered. :) Let's see what others say and then I decide how to follow on this. Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 11:10
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    While I do agreed with ChrisF that perhaps contributions could go beyond super minor edits, I think the OP is only following the WebApps standard given we have certain high rep users who edit nearly every post to make sure Google has a capital G and keyboard styles wherever possible.
    – John C
    Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 12:27
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    @JohnC - If you have > 2k reputation then you can make any edit you want. The fact that the edit has to be reviewed means that it's important it's worth someone's time to review.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 20:47
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    @bytebuster: Aside from the fact that the edits need reviewing (and thus take up someone else's time), minor edits bump posts up on the main page for trivial reasons. If you're going to fix it, fix everything. Commented Nov 19, 2012 at 3:04
  • @ChrisF Just got a notification from a script that this Q has no accepted answer. "you can go back to helping to improve the site" — no thanks; I was able to live without logging in here for 9 months, and the site seems to survive without me as well. :) Commented Aug 22, 2013 at 4:58
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Guidelines on what to suggest for edits are the same for across the network. It just depends on how much the reviewers let you get away with or don't pay attention to the other issues left over with a post.

When you change just the formatting, or only add superficial styles, and there remains more that can be done (spelling, grammar, spacing) then the weight of those left around counts against the edit.

Have enough suggested edits knocked back and you'll have to wait a week to do it again.

It's true that there are some high reputation users who only edit a single letter, but that comes from a privilege of having clawed their way up past the 2000 mark.

Once past 2000 reputation the system kind of trusts you to do edits without being reviewed at the first instance. But doesn't mean it can't be rolled back in cases where those edits are unwarranted or useless.

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  • Updated the Q, addressing "other issues left over" and pursuit for free reputation gain. :) Also, I refuse to wait for a week. If I did something wrong, and was punished for a reason, I want to know the reason to avoid recurring misbehavior. Otherwise, I dare to ask for unblocking right away. :) Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 15:35
  • Where is the mention of doing it for the sake of reputation? You wanted to know why it happened, and why other users are doing what you're doing without restriction Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 15:39
  • Sorry, maybe I've misinterpreted the sentences of "privilege" and "system kind of trusts you". I'm not surprised that 2k+ rep users can submit edits with no restrictions, but I believed that "SE community is maintained by YOU", and anyone (regardless the rep) can offer their contribution provided it is constructive. Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 16:01

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