8
$\begingroup$

In reviewing other user's edits, it seems like recently a lot of users with very low ratings (ie $\sim 100$) are editing other user's questions. I've seen quite a few edits are clearly wrong, such as turning a mixed effects model from

y ~ x + (1 | ID) to y ~ x + (1 / ID)

and other cases of adding "Thanks for the help guys" etc. to the end of a post.

I thought a minimum rating was required to edit other's posts?

$\endgroup$
12
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ If you could supply a link or two to such threads, it would help us determine what actually happened. $\endgroup$
    – whuber Mod
    Sep 18, 2015 at 18:57
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ If I recall correctly, I believe the following was an example of a user with a low rating adding a "Thanks guys!" or something to the end of the original question (which I rejected). stats.stackexchange.com/questions/173121/… $\endgroup$
    – Cliff AB
    Sep 18, 2015 at 19:04
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ This included an edit that was okay (I approved, but it really didn't help that much...) by a user with rating = 149. stats.stackexchange.com/questions/173141/… $\endgroup$
    – Cliff AB
    Sep 18, 2015 at 19:21
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Perhaps this my misunderstanding; I thought that a minimum ranking of something like 500 was required, but I now see that all that is required is 100. $\endgroup$
    – Cliff AB
    Sep 18, 2015 at 20:56
  • $\begingroup$ @gung no our edits were ships passing the night. I started editing before your edit was committed. When I started that text was deleted. You deleted it and I didn't. When I committed your edit it was ~20 sec after you finished. I couldn't rollback my suggested edit, so I was stuck. (I had that link handy because I looked it up after reading your edit.) $\endgroup$
    – Erik
    Sep 18, 2015 at 21:06
  • $\begingroup$ @Erik, oh I see that now. My apologies. $\endgroup$
    – gung - Reinstate Monica
    Sep 18, 2015 at 21:07
  • $\begingroup$ @gung No worries. I understand the confusion, and that is why I up-voted the request to allow rolling back edits on Meta. :) $\endgroup$
    – Erik
    Sep 18, 2015 at 21:10
  • $\begingroup$ @CliffAB I just realized that you linked to my edit in the comments above. $\endgroup$
    – Erik
    Sep 18, 2015 at 21:27
  • $\begingroup$ @Erik, ha, don't take it as insult. I had just thought that users needed a higher rating to edit posts and was confused why they were allowed to do so. That was just an example of what was confusing me. $\endgroup$
    – Cliff AB
    Sep 18, 2015 at 21:31
  • $\begingroup$ @CliffAB Don't worry about it. It takes more than that to make me feel insulted. I figured I was partly responsible for you asking this question when I read the title because I edited 4 or 5 questions earlier today based on the response to this Meta question. $\endgroup$
    – Erik
    Sep 18, 2015 at 21:36
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ The rep needed to suggest an edit is deliberately very low. It looks to me like things are working. A new user suggesting edits doesn't necessarily know what all the network rules and site conventions are and so we may well be rejecting quite a few edits early on. If a suggestion is mostly OK, approve and edit; if it makes the post worse, or breaks a more important rule, reject it. If you think there's a more serious issue (such as vandalism) or think a short explanation from a moderator would be required to set things straight, you can always flag a particular post and explain the problem. $\endgroup$
    – Glen_b
    Sep 18, 2015 at 22:47
  • $\begingroup$ @whuber: ah, here's an example of someone with rating of 1 editing a post: stats.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/79961. Not trying to bust anyone, just not sure what's happening. $\endgroup$
    – Cliff AB
    Oct 12, 2015 at 21:57

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
9
$\begingroup$

There are minimum reputation levels to earn the privilege to edit: 100 to edit CW posts, and 2k to edit non-CW posts (and 20k to edit tag wikis). There is no minimum to suggest edits, however.

The suggested edits just need to be approved by reviewers like you and I. When you are reviewing edits, you have several options: one that I use in cases like you're describing is the approve and edit option. From there, I just delete the added 'thanks' and approve the rest. Of course, if the edit is completely incorrect, you should feel free to reject it.

$\endgroup$
4
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ If reviewers are catching bad edits then the system is working. That is the reason for peer review, and an important part of teaching younger members. $\endgroup$
    – Erik
    Sep 18, 2015 at 21:01
  • $\begingroup$ yes, I had been confused with some of the privileges (I mixed up ability to approve edits with ability to edit). Some of the edits are a little annoying (i.e. neutral edits, where I think the quality of the answer remains unchanged), but that's just the peer review process. $\endgroup$
    – Cliff AB
    Sep 18, 2015 at 21:09
  • $\begingroup$ No, the limit for tag wikis is 5K (else I coulnt edit them) $\endgroup$
    – kjetil b halvorsen Mod
    Sep 20, 2015 at 20:51
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @kjetilbhalvorsen, check the link. You can suggest edits only (& review other's suggested edits). When you reach 20k you can edit tag wikis without your suggested edits having to be approved by others in the review queue. $\endgroup$
    – gung - Reinstate Monica
    Sep 20, 2015 at 22:11
4
$\begingroup$

In addition to gung's answer there are some things you can do if you notice a pattern of bad edits from a user (regardless of their rep).

  1. Ping them in chat, if they've used chat before.*
  2. Talk to a moderator in a private chat room, and let the moderator handle the issue.

*: I would like to extend an open invitation to everyone to ping me in chat if they think I'm doing something wrong.

$\endgroup$
0

You must log in to answer this question.

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