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Just now @Gung and I were editing the same post in the same way (making equations into latex equations). The post was fairly lengthy and this sort of editing is a bit of a pain.

Is there a way to avoid having two people edit the same post at the same time?

Or is this a matter for a different forum?

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    $\begingroup$ Peter, you are not alone on this (+1). meta.gis.stackexchange.com/questions/3292/… $\endgroup$
    – Andre Silva
    Commented Oct 19, 2013 at 16:09
  • $\begingroup$ It wasn't really answered there, though... Should I ask on the general site? $\endgroup$
    – Peter Flom Mod
    Commented Oct 19, 2013 at 17:35
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    $\begingroup$ Peter, I found this one on MSO. I think we are fine with this thread here (we know it is not a dupe,right?). Maybe you could add the M.GIS and the M.SO thread links to the question body. The subject will get more visibility/support around SE. $\endgroup$
    – Andre Silva
    Commented Oct 19, 2013 at 18:03
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry about that, Peter. It's frustrating; it's happened to me a number of times. As for where to raise this issue, if you just want to discuss it, here seems fine, but to get the SE developers to add this feature, it probably needs to be discussed on meta.SO, I would think. (On the other hand, a new question--beyond the one @AndreSilva lists--would probably be closed as a duplicate; I'm not sure there's a good solution.) $\endgroup$
    – gung - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Oct 20, 2013 at 0:09
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah, it's not your fault, @gung. There's no way to know that it is going on. $\endgroup$
    – Peter Flom Mod
    Commented Oct 20, 2013 at 0:43
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    $\begingroup$ I believe it would be a very easy programming task for the developers to create a pop like "This post is being edited! Be patient!". This would be more generally useful: say an answerer edits his or her answer to correct some serious mistake, or the OP adds critical information. Although the post should not be embargoed, still the visitors should now that what they read is bound to change in some way. So I believe moderators should raise the issue with the guys holding the virtual screwdrivers. $\endgroup$
    – Alecos Papadopoulos
    Commented Oct 20, 2013 at 12:02
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    $\begingroup$ A problem I've encountered a few times. Most recently, I repeatedly couldn't make the necessary extensive edits because the OP kept coming in and making relatively trivial changes. It would say I couldn't save unless my changes were more extensive (which they easily were by my own reckoning) but still couldn't save them. I'd wait and come back later ... and the same thing would happen - the OP would make a few small additions during my extensive edit session ... and I couldn't save. ... $\endgroup$
    – Glen_b
    Commented Oct 22, 2013 at 3:44
  • $\begingroup$ (ctd)... I ended up re-writing the whole thing off line, pasting it in and then going back and editing in the OPs changes that came while I was doing that. About the only thing more annoying (wrt editing posts at least) is to spend 10 minutes editing a post that the OP spent maybe two minutes on... only to have them delete the post while I'm fixing it enough to be a reasonable question. The hazards of editing I guess. I reckon there should be a 'horse shot out from under you' badge for that. $\endgroup$
    – Glen_b
    Commented Oct 22, 2013 at 3:45
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    $\begingroup$ One feature I've sometimes thought would be worth having is a 'work in progress' flag that you could turn on for a post (for say up to an hour), so you can save your work as you go, but people realize you're still working on it; answers and edits should hold off -- or perhaps, while the flag is there, the post doesn't even hit the new and active queues (/is there but maybe greyed out), which means people aren't jumping on it right away. $\endgroup$
    – Glen_b
    Commented Oct 22, 2013 at 3:53
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    $\begingroup$ What about saving an initial edit at the top of the question saying (currently editing)? This is a practice I am going to try and adopt for myself from now on. I believe I have spent about 10 hours on my Mast.SE post "under edit". :P $\endgroup$
    – Krista K
    Commented Oct 31, 2013 at 20:33
  • $\begingroup$ We could make use of Google's Etherpad $\endgroup$
    – A A
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 4:14

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