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Questions tagged [editing]

For discussions/ support about editing questions and answers. Common guidelines, best practices, and frequent mistakes may be discussed with this tag. Disagreements between editors are also within the scope.

3 votes
0 answers
229 views

Edits by Anonymous user and approved by Community Bot

This is again regarding this post. If I see the history, there are many suggested edits: I can see there is involvement of a moderator who rolled back the edit. Even after rollback, multiple edits ...
Nilay Ghosh's user avatar
  • 26.3k
5 votes
1 answer
132 views

I had a question that did not have all of the information needed to fully answer. Is it better to rewrite the question, or start a new question?

There was this question "How do I determine temperature and pressure rise whenever mols of gases are added in a isolated room?" that I attempted to answer - but in the end I found myself in ...
Stephen Elliott's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
50 views

Edit history doesn't show edited portion - bug?

I was trying to see what edit was made in this particular answer but the edit history doesn't show the edited portion. I thought maybe some extra spaces was wiped out but couldn't figure where was the ...
Nilay Ghosh's user avatar
  • 26.3k
2 votes
0 answers
50 views

What additional steps do I need to take to change a title of a question back to the original title?

I wrote a question and a day later noticed the title had been edited by another user. The original title: When writing the net ionic equation, if one of the products ionizes, what is the most ...
neurosciencecalc's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
100 views

Gender-neutral language

The current (2019-10-10) version of the network-wide Code of Conduct emphasizes the use of gender-neutral language. This is not expected to be a significant change for Chemistry Stack Exchange since ...
user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
72 views

A clarification regarding the rejection of my recent edit

I apologize beforehand if this seems inappropriate, especially coming from a new user. Please view this link before I proceed: molecular orbital theory explaining molecular orbitals [P.S. : I've kept ...
Firefox1921's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
71 views

What should be done if one "edit a closed question" and write a "completely new question" such that it gets reopened?

Assume X is an OP. He writes a question A which gets closed. Now, X has a history of writing poor quality questions. So, he cannot post more questions. He then decides to edit his closed question(A). ...
Nilay Ghosh's user avatar
  • 26.3k
9 votes
11 answers
3k views

Formatting Sandbox III: please test stuff here

Sandbox II has become as clogged as Sandbox I was (and is), especially for users with 10,000 reputation or above. So, here is a new new post... Before you delete a post here, please reduce it to one ...
0 votes
1 answer
44 views

Number of characters in edits

Sometimes in edits, you can give the clarification for your changes as " added xx characters to body." Where is the character count visible on screen? I can not find it from the mobile website.
Micelle's user avatar
  • 181
15 votes
4 answers
327 views

How appropriate it is to improve typography of quoted text from the third-party source?

Often there is a quoted question (e.g. a block quote with >) from the textbook with certain typographic flaws which I would edit without any doubts, among which ...
andselisk's user avatar
  • 38.4k
16 votes
2 answers
206 views

When a low quality question turns into a fascinating tutoring dialog

A new contributor asked a question, Mechanism of ring formation of an epoxide under acidic aqueous conditions. It has "homework" written all over it. The original title ("did not understand the ...
Karsten's user avatar
  • 41.2k
8 votes
4 answers
312 views

Buzzwords Season 9 - Number of Moles (reboot)

For seasons 1-9 see: I question the use of "question" in question titles (search here) Help make help questions have more helpful titles (search here) Houston, we have a "Problem&...
A.K.'s user avatar
  • 12.6k
5 votes
1 answer
445 views

MathJax mhchem editor

Is there a tool (application, online service) that helps writing the ugly formatting MathJax + mhchem code? I mean things like just typing Ctrl-B to get the selected text to bold is something else ...
Poutnik's user avatar
  • 42.7k
5 votes
1 answer
148 views

Your edit gets rejected, then the reviewer who rejected the edit does essentially your edit...?

I have done some edits to questions, here and on other stack exchanges, and some have been rejected. That is perfectly alright. What is annoying to me though is when my edit is rejected and then the ...
B. Kelly's user avatar
  • 1,104
1 vote
1 answer
83 views

Heavy question editing

I think the practice of heavy question editing, especially after answer(s) have been provided, especially if the edit contains new facts that the questioning person (or user(s) that have already ...
mykhal's user avatar
  • 6,232
3 votes
1 answer
124 views

May I convert one of my ill-received, deleted questions to a completely new one in order to try to work towards lifting my question ban?

I recently have asked a question that received no answers but has gotten a down vote. Since this is my first time to ask after 6 months question ban, my options are limited. With the down vote and ...
Muze's user avatar
  • 1
15 votes
2 answers
572 views

Are questions being excessively edited?

Someone asks a perfectly reasonably question about aluminum hydroxide, then someone comes along and deletes the word "hydroxide" from the title to make the question sound stupid: Can ...
DavePhD's user avatar
  • 40.8k
6 votes
1 answer
133 views

Converting decimal comma to an English dot

We know that $25.00$ in English is actually written as $25{,}00$ in French (and many other languages actually). Weird, but true! Now, non-anglo users frequent our site and often write in such ...
Gaurang Tandon's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
60 views

Adding your Ideas as Edits to a Question

I came across a question recently in the Chemistry SE. I thought about it a bit and came up with some diagrams, or some other explanation or clarification that could help potential answerers ...
Eashaan Godbole's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
103 views

Non-English posts: Should edits that offer a translation be entertained?

This was a suggested edit to this post (link to revision in Spanish): From what I can make out (largely thanks to Google Translate), the proposed translation is pretty much correct (and makes minor ...
paracetamol's user avatar
  • 18.8k
12 votes
0 answers
76 views

Shouldn't the OP be notified if his/her question is put on hold or closed or edited?

I recently asked a question which was put on hold. I was not notified of it being put on hold. I was always notified if my question had any answer or comment. If I had received the notification, I had ...
Apoorv Potnis's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
63 views

Simultaneous post editing

Recently I noticed that some posts are not editable: Another edit is awaiting approval for this post. Further edits cannot be submitted until the pending edit is reviewed. I thought there is a git-...
andselisk's user avatar
  • 38.4k
5 votes
2 answers
85 views

Don't I have the authority to reject any suggested edit?

I have come across a situation that when I edit someone's post, it is kept on hold for 'peer review' and after the approval of the author it reflects on the site. But when someone suggests edit to my ...
chail10's user avatar
  • 688
14 votes
0 answers
151 views

Are you confused by confusing question titles including the word "Confusion"?

You have guessed it: Buzzwords! Long story short - as you can look up the tradition of these posts below - please add Confusion and its derivatives to the list of words that need to be fought as they ...
Martin - マーチン's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
66 views

Trying to understand reasons of this rejected edit

I just saw a question with title Is there such a thing as an acid without a hydrogen? And I suggested an edit to remove a before hydrogen to make it Is there such a thing as an acid without ...
Hanky Panky's user avatar
19 votes
1 answer
186 views

What are some basic guidelines for good edits on Chem.SE?

I came across a post on the main site just now that I think could use some changes. I found the editing help page in the Help Center, but its write-up is pretty cursory and high-level. What makes ...
hBy2Py's user avatar
  • 17.4k
7 votes
2 answers
77 views

What can I do to clean up old comments?

Comments are ephemeral by nature, and a lot of them get deleted everyday on different sites. (See this) I stumble upon old questions sometimes, which contain some comments, naturally. I know I can ...
M.A.R.'s user avatar
  • 10.7k
22 votes
4 answers
507 views

How to handle this Li Zhi guy?

Most who have spent a considerable amount of time on Chem.SE this past year knows Li Zhi. visits on a biweekly or monthly basis: Li Zhi, et al, et al, et al, et al, et al, et al ... quality of the ...
Linear Christmas's user avatar
24 votes
3 answers
604 views

absurd edit war

The question and its edit war So this edit war happened. Here's a quick recap: A poster asked a very clear question, two different ways. A user edited the question to eliminate the second phrasing. ...
Curt F.'s user avatar
  • 22k
32 votes
0 answers
1k views

20 most viewed questions that need answers (Updated 12 Apr 2024)

Some of these questions do have answers, but these answers have negative votes. Only questions with upvotes will be removed from the list. In addition, this list has new questions sprinkled throughout!...
Melanie Shebel's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
82 views

Question & answer edits to improve searchability

I've been improving questions mainly to improve the site's placement in search engines OR to improve the likelihood that a question would be clicked (more traffic.) I've been doing: Cleanup for ...
Melanie Shebel's user avatar
16 votes
1 answer
172 views

When editing posts that are consistently or overwhelmingly written in one flavour of English, please do not change the flavour

I was rather unhappy with an edit to a post of mine (which I immediately rolled back as soon as I saw it). While one may debate about whether mannonic acid or mannuronic acid is formed in an oxidation ...
Jan's user avatar
  • 68.4k
9 votes
2 answers
104 views

Is it a bad idea to have an edit only be the addition of the homework tag?

Often when cruising the latest questions or working through the review queue, I'll make an edit that only adds homework. I see two problems, the first very minor, the second potentially insidious. ...
pentavalentcarbon's user avatar
17 votes
3 answers
339 views

I have a doubt about "doubt" in doubt titles

From the depth of the stack exchange network I bring to you the newest season (7) of our community effort against buzzwords in question titles. The word of the season this time is doubt. In Indian ...
Martin - マーチン's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
133 views

Editing questions whose OP is not responding

What should be done to correct a question if OP is not responding. In this question Comparing acidities of substituted and aromatic carboxylic acids The OP (I think by mistake) wrote Electron ...
JM97's user avatar
  • 3,487
5 votes
1 answer
56 views

Need help with an edit

In this question I proposed an edit, then found I had made a typo (wanted sustituted, got dybstituted). Can't correct because I am stuck in peer review, and if I have to re-edit I am back in peer ...
Oscar Lanzi's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
56 views

Time limit editing comments

Why is there a five-minute time limit editing comments? I found typos I wanted to correct in a comment I had posted, but it was too late, and I was forced to delete and repost.
Oscar Lanzi's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
104 views

Allow small edits

For the upcoming MathJax/mhchem update, I'd like to make sure that old chemistry.SE posts do not break. I downloaded 12,000 unique usages of \ce and I have been ...
mhchem's user avatar
  • 3,316
9 votes
3 answers
174 views

Borderline self-promotional edit

Today I received an edit suggestion on this answer of mine. The answer contains the following: Probably the ultimate non-toxic solution [for a high density brine] would be a cesium polytungstate ...
Level River St's user avatar
15 votes
16 answers
2k views

Formatting Sandbox II: please *don't* test stuff here [duplicate]

This thread has been retired due to the large number of posts. The newest sandbox can be found here: Formatting Sandbox III: please test stuff here Spoiler warning: Be aware that this page ...
2 votes
0 answers
48 views

LaTeX in titles [duplicate]

Recently I edited a question adding LaTeX formatting for chemical formulas. I edited the both the text and the title, and this edit were accepted by peer-review. After some time, I noticed that ...
user avatar
56 votes
21 answers
3k views

Hidden points of editing you probably didn't know

Making a good edit is hard. On Chem.SE, we (would/should/could) care about the finest points of formatting. There are basic points of editing many editors know about: Put some fancy MathJax/ $\mathrm\...
7 votes
3 answers
124 views

Should I have accepted a trivial add-homework-tag edit on this old question?

I just rejected a suggested edit on this question, where someone had proposed adding homework but making no other changes. Since the question was two and a half years old, I rejected the edit with ...
hBy2Py's user avatar
  • 17.4k
14 votes
2 answers
584 views

Editing/presentation of chemical structures (to chemdraw or not to chemdraw)

Preface: feel free to close this/point me in the direction of the answer if it has already been discussed here. A quick search of Meta didn't bring anything up (searched ChemDraw and organic ...
NotEvans.'s user avatar
  • 17.2k
11 votes
0 answers
223 views

I am asking about chemistry, you know, that's why I put it in the title

Previously on 'Never mind the Buzzwords': I question the use of "question" in question titles (search here) Help make help questions have more helpful titles (search here) Houston, we have ...
Martin - マーチン's user avatar
-4 votes
3 answers
91 views

Why do editors not leave a comment or answer?

I have been a user for 6 months now and I have seen this many times. So I decided to ask this in meta as I found no better place to ask it. Why don't the users who edit the questions just leave a ...
Chinmay Chandak's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
261 views

American vs British spelling: Is there a standard? Should there be?

The only mention of this that turned up in a quick search was a passing mention three years ago. I've just encountered a pending edit on this question where the editor tidied up the question with ...
hBy2Py's user avatar
  • 17.4k
-1 votes
1 answer
162 views

Is HTML banished?

Sorry if the question was already discussed, but it’s IMHO unlikely, given (mhchem) tag without a wiki. I’m new here, as a post writer. Today I saw my post edited by a high-rep user. The main intent ...
Incnis Mrsi's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
114 views

Why is adding alternative text for images discouraged?

I suggested an edit which added alt text for the image of that question. It was rejected by 2 users giving the following as the reason: This edit does not make the post even a little bit ...
Mrin's user avatar
  • 51
5 votes
1 answer
62 views

Editing - What about misspellings?

Everyone's typing posts in here, or touching the screen of some techy-touchy device. (Exceptions not included; the point is, no one's writing) So, we can get typos. Imagine a situation where a good ...
M.A.R.'s user avatar
  • 10.7k

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