I usually make minor wording changes multiple times after I post something. Is this in bad form?
I don't do repeated-edits to get my post more attention --- I'm just mildly obsessive about wording and rarely get it right the first time.
2 Answers
Too much editing can turn a post into a Community Wiki post. Here are the current criteria, taken from here:
- The body of the post has been edited by at least five (5) different users.
- The post has been edited ten (10) times by the original owner.
What are "Community Wiki" posts?
If you get to 5+ edits, you may want to restrict yourself from making trivial edits, or at least work on the post via a different editor for a bit and save here at the end.
Note - there has to be a limit as some people wrote bots to repeatedly edit their questions to ensure they remained on the front page of StackOverflow.
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Yet again the wrong "solution" to a problem. The real fix would have been simply not re-post into the main page edited questions, or at least use some criteria to decide weather to do it or not.– o0'.Jan 13, 2011 at 9:23
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2@Lo'oris - how would you determine algorithmically whether or not an edit was "worthy" of a bump?– warrenJan 13, 2011 at 13:08
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@warren: amount of lines changed, amount of time passed before the previous edit, amount of edits done by the same person, etc. etc. And these are just the first things that came to my mind.– o0'.Jan 13, 2011 at 13:32
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@Lo'oris - I know I've made myriad edits to questions inside the grace period .. and sometimes again during a new grace period (ie, make a change, then make 3 or 7 fixes in 5 minutes)– warrenJan 13, 2011 at 13:47
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@warren: yes, and there's no reason to bump posts more than once during a single period.– o0'.Jan 13, 2011 at 14:03
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@Lo'oris - but when is it right to bump, then? certainly some (perhaps even most) edits are worthy of bringing the question back to the notice of users...– warrenJan 14, 2011 at 2:14
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@warren - editing is encouraged! Just be aware of the community wiki edit targets noted in my answer. It would be rare for normal editing to be confused with an attempt to game the system by fishing for votes on the front page.– Pat Ludwig ModJan 14, 2011 at 2:38
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@warren: did you even read what I said? Your last post suggests otherwise, since I've already answered exactly that question.– o0'.Jan 14, 2011 at 12:30
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1@Lo'oris please remember to be nice. I didn't understand your comment until I'd pondered it for a bit either.– Pat Ludwig ModJan 14, 2011 at 13:49
No, there's a five-minute window where your edit doesn't even show as one. I end up doing lots of edits also. Be warned, if you do 6 or more outside of those windows, the post will move into Community Wiki mode.
