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On editing any post on Stack Overflow, it shows me this message:



How can I decide if the post needs an edit and the edit is not trivial?

I mean, what are the key points should I remember while editing any post to make it substantial?

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2 Answers 2

up vote 6 down vote accepted

Any edit which would improve the quality of the post is welcome! Though don't make an edit request just to fix one uncapitalized I, or fixing a single comma. Try to improve the post overall, by improving its structure, its wording, and/or grammar/spelling. Make sure that it doesn't affect the meaning of original question though.

How would you know? For me, it irks my eye. I can't stand seeing a post with no paragraphs, or posts without capitalization, or without code blocks where needed. That's where I fix. And I try to fix as much as possible in a single edit.

Best way to know? Make many edit requests. See what gets approved by the community, and what not. Best teacher is experience :)

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Thank you Madara. –  Prasad Jadhav Oct 29 '12 at 11:50
@PrasadJadhav: Sure thing :) –  Second Rikudo Oct 29 '12 at 11:53

I edit names:

java, python, jax-rs, Restful, ...

Names like these are written wrong more often than not.

I always edit trivial language errors like:

I am a beginner with Python and I have this problem.

Sentences like this can go.

... loaded the code .please help me

I don't know where on the world people switch period and space like this but it can be found very often.

plz, ur, cuz, ...

English, please.

... wrote 2 classes

Up to the number twelve, I prefer words instead of digits.

Thanks, Regards, Please help! Looking forward for any suggestion.

This is cruft that can be removed.

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Thank you Tichodroma. –  Prasad Jadhav Oct 29 '12 at 11:51
Although do all these, just doing the first one should be marked as too minor, and I would have accepted the wording in the second one as seems correct to me although I might treat ir as cruft like the sig as it does not provide more info about the issue. –  Mark Oct 29 '12 at 12:49
I'll bite - what's the trivial language error in "I am a beginner with Python and I have this problem."? –  mmyers Oct 29 '12 at 14:11
@mmyers, it would be accepted better if he had written "I am inexperienced with Python, and have insert problem when I do insert action. –  Grammar Oct 29 '12 at 15:47

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