3

Example1:

Here, OP 2 days back removed "of language" from the title and then again he added it today. Now, possibly after two days, he will add it again and two days after remove it again. By doing so OP's question will be among recent activity.

Example2

This edit is also a most trivial one and not needed. And, here OP's answer is getting fresh attention.

Example3:

Those who regularly visit this site will notice, that this particular post gets edited trivially often for no good reasons and thereby bumped active. None of the edits were needed.

Example4:

Here to bump, the "Mount" word was removed from the title unnecessarily. There's nothing wrong in having Mount as Mandara is a mountain only. And, the body still has Mount in it. So, may be for the next revision that will provide grounds?


Questions:
1. I can understand that such edits are not allowed in other SE sites. If so, what rules do we have to stop such activities which are quite blatantly unfair?
2. Can we make "giving reasons for edits" as mandatory?
3. What other rules can the other users suggest to curb this illegal act? Because, i think none will agree that this should be allowed.

This (giving reasons for edits as compulsory) will make it difficult to validate such unnecessary edits by giving reasons. For example, for the Mount edit, what reason could have been given? Or if someone is changing just it's to it is to illegally bump, what reason could be justifiable? My suggestions would be if reasons are "not good enough", then we can possibly take some actions. This is one way of tackling the situation IMO.

Suggestions from other users are welcome, as to what rules should be framed to curb such unfair acts.


................................

NOTE: Although all the posts are linked to one user only, but that does not mean that our focus is on the particular user and not on the activity. When the rules are properly framed and implemented none (whether the particular user or any other) can any more make such unfair edits. So, it's certainly not about that one user.

15
  • 9
    "bad intent' cannot be stopped by rules. There is a clique here that does whatever it wants. They impose rules only on posts that do not advocate their clique's viewpoints.
    – S K
    Commented Dec 10, 2017 at 15:51
  • @Tezz Which edit you are taking about? That post gets too often edited for no good reasons..
    – Rickross
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 5:08
  • 3
    I don't understand why some people just downvote valid questions. They can't say it is showing disagreement coz i am not proposing something. Can't they see that it's clearly an unethical activity??
    – Rickross
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 5:17
  • 4
    These are valid points. You can frame.it as an answer.and.post in the duplicate.existing thread
    – Rakesh Joshi
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 12:11
  • 5
    @RakeshJoshi The answer given there says "making trivial edits is discouraged". if it is so, how users are succeeding in making such edits even now day in day out? And that was 2016, so more than 1 year has passed and no strict implementations of rules?
    – Rickross
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 15:38
  • 5
    @Rickross its high time that higher mods should do something about this. Because this can harm the community and many users have stopped participating ..
    – Rakesh Joshi
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 15:42
  • @RakeshJoshi Yes we can frame a rule and implement it. It seems other SE sites don't allow such tactics.
    – Rickross
    Commented Dec 11, 2017 at 15:58
  • 1
    It is not illegal or anything. This is not a crime or a murder. You need to chose a better word than that. Making reasons mandatory does nothing in particular because SE automatically takes a reason. For this change you have to go to MSE. There are already rules given by SE. If someone bumps their posts again and again by trivial edits, they will be banned. That's the reason there are limits per day for editing own posts.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 7:09
  • 5
    @NogShine It does not have to be a murder or crime. Because on SE how can we even commit murder or crimes? Illegal means "something not permitted by laws". So, on SE it will mean "something not permitted by SE rules". So, what's so wrong in calling an activity that (seemingly) is not permitted on SE, illegal?
    – Rickross
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 8:28
  • Oh! I thought we can commit murder on SE. ;P Jokes apart, These kind of activities are not considered illegal. There are other things where suspensions and bans are given like creating sock puppets, scraping the content of SE, Spamming the site, writing hate speeches. This thing is not even 1% of it and can be resolved after talking to the editor. There's a limit for edits and I don't see these are done within a short period of time. That is abuse and against the rules. If it is done once a week or another with good edits, it is not a problem. Illegal is not the right word here at all.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 17:15
  • 1
    @NogShine "It is not illegal or anything. This is not a crime or a murder"--- This gives the impression that according to u only crimes and murders are illegal and yes we can do them on SE. So, if u meant something else u should have framed the sentence appropriately.
    – Rickross
    Commented Dec 17, 2017 at 5:18
  • 1
    @NogShine "These kind of activities are not considered illegal. There are other things where suspensions and bans are given like creating sock puppets, scraping the content of SE, Spamming the site, writing hate speeches. This thing is not even 1%" --- Don't know how does this unfair activity compare to those u mentioned but anyways it is still an unfair act and we need to stop it. Just because something is a smaller (i don't agree though that it is smaller in anyway) crime than another does not mean it stops being a crime altogether.
    – Rickross
    Commented Dec 17, 2017 at 5:31
  • I don't understand that you don't appreciate humor. If SE doesn't consider this as illegal, don't say it is illegal. There are meta posts which say limited and editing of our own posts with good improvement is fine. So, it is definitely not illegal. The word has entirely different definition. The things I mentioned are illegal according to SE and not this matter. They should be seen by community and should be solved by talks, discussion with users. Meta and complaining to CM's(as said by a user and upvotes to it. XD) is not at all a right thing for such matters.These are petty things.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Dec 17, 2017 at 9:46
  • 1
    I don't understand that you don't appreciate humor --- Again this sentence too is ill-framed. If i understand ur intent correctly u mean to say " I did not know that u do not appreciate humor". There are meta posts which say limited and editing of our own posts with good improvement is fine --- Do u think anyone will object when edits are improving a post? Actually in the examples i have given there were virtually no real change effected, what to say about improvements or good improvements? @NogShine
    – Rickross
    Commented Dec 17, 2017 at 12:33
  • Meta and complaining to CM's(as said by a user and upvotes to it. XD) is not at all a right thing for such matters. -- Ok but we are discussing here simply that- What should be the right approach in dealing with such cases? So, what's wrong that he forwarded a suggestion? Also what's ur problem that @RakeshJoshi's comment received 4 upvotes? Why is it funny? . These are petty things-- Petty or not worth the discussion. If a whole lot of users start doing the same the problem will automatically then appear as big. So, nothing wrong in addressing it now itself.
    – Rickross
    Commented Dec 17, 2017 at 12:39

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

This is mainly a link based answers as lots of discussions have happened for this topic. Readers are advised to go through it.

[Original Qn]
Duplicate of:
Is it fair to promote own posts by either linking them into own Q&A or making insignificant edits?

What is the official stand on such users who make trivial edits?
Trivial edits are discouraged.
Does Stack Exchange have an official stance on users doing a large number of trivial edits to old questions?

Why are they discouraged?
They bump the post and draw attention on the homepage, hence should be done with discretion.
Why are trivial edits discouraged?

How was it handled earlier (directly or indirectly)?
Multiple edits by a same user, used to turn post into wiki.
Do edits in the 5-minute grace period count as edits towards community wiki status?
But now this feature is disabled upon request:
Can we disable automatic community wiki conversion for answer edits?

Any other suggestions?
Provide a tiny checkbox for trivial edits or have an "unbump" feature. That will help to avoid bringing the post to the homepage, if the editor wishes.

How to deal with users who do this intentionally?
For such abuse, report it to a site Moderator.
Addressing users who make many trivial edits

6
  • 1
    So, since user is doing it frequently and "intentionally" we should report it to a site MOd. But he himself is a Mod here. So we need to report to the other two? In that case the other Mods should also be posting answers here, right?
    – Rickross
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 9:40
  • @Rickross, such issue can be raised to a Mod typically via chat room. As per this answer: "Sometimes, heavy-handed editors can come across as domineering and controlling, and that's not ok. If edits are regularly crossing into that territory for you, or you think there's abuse going on, then that's not acceptable and you should get in touch with a moderator." Then we have to leave it to those Mods to take it further. :-)
    – iammilind
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 9:47
  • 2
    " But he himself is a Mod here" Is this another post targeted at Keshav? You said it is not targeted at any user and general question in the question earlier. Why change here?
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 17:16
  • 4
    " Is this another post targeted at Keshav? You said it is not targeted at any user and general question in the question earlier. Why change here?"-- 1. No, it is not targeted, because i am asking for the rules to stop this activity. So, it is about rules and an activity. and not about any particular user. 2. But when we need to apply the rules then we need to consider first the case that we have on our hands right now and that user turned out to be a Mod. So, now how should we proceed? That has to be thought of as well. And, that was what the import of my comment there . @NogShine
    – Rickross
    Commented Dec 17, 2017 at 5:26
  • 2
    @Rickross A post about a user or activity doesn't matter much. You should post general questions about such matters when seeking opinions and should not be about a single user's posts. The decision won't be accurate. There are a lot of edits which I see which are trivial and done for the sake of editing. Why don't you add them too?
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Dec 17, 2017 at 9:48
  • @NogShine Again the same thing. This is a general post only about an activity and what should be done to tackle it. All the posts are just clarifying what kind of activity i am talking about here. And if all the posts are related to only one user, then what can be done about it? If i notice same activity from any others i will be happy to add it in the Q too.
    – Rickross
    Commented Dec 17, 2017 at 12:58

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .