The Question.
In July 2015, the insert image feature of the toolbar of the
Stack Exchange markdown editor was changed (shortcut
Ctrl+G, displayed as the icon
).
The behavior since then has been to make the image clickable by default - by adding an extra link to the image itself.1, 2
But the official help pages - Meta Stack Exchange markdown
formatting help on how "images can be added primarily by using the the
editor toolbar button " (see Images at the bottom of
the page)
and Meta Stack Overflow markdown editing help on images - have
still not been updated to reflect this change (now more than five years
later).
Shortly after I posted this question/request, a moderator and Senior Product Support Specialist wrote in a comment that the syntax for images was not changed and is still the same, concluding the syntax in the help pages is correct. - Which indeed is true if you take on a very narrow fail-of-conformity attitude concerning what help and guidance is needed to settle whether a suggested edit should be accepted or rejected.
Let me use a pilot case to explain why I think that a well-thought-out update of the help pages would benefit us all. To see the revision history of the question I have in mind, click on the image below, possibly holding down Ctrl+Shift (if you want it to open in a new tab).
If you study the revisions of that question, you will notice that edit number 2 was rolled back. The editor who rolled it back commented: @Henke That edit has made the post worse.
Just to be clear - I completely agree that rolling back the edit was the right thing to do. But the question remains: on what grounds? Just referring to gut feeling? Or by saying the edit made the post worse? Without any further references this is simply not good enough or acceptable as a motivation. Out of respect for both the editor and the reviewers we must be capable of doing better than that!
Let me for a moment put myself in the shoes of the editor/reviewers of the edit that made the image non-clickable. Suppose I go to one of the help pages, such as the Meta Stack Exchange help about adding images. The current content about images is shown below.3
If the editor in this case did their homework and read the help page, they
would conclude that an image can be input similarly to adding a link by
using the suggested syntax:4
Judging from this help page neither the editor nor the reviewers did anything
wrong!
Why on earth would they look any further? In my mind this is exactly how a help page is supposed to work. You look up whatever information you need and apply whatever syntax you find there. Bear in mind that a first-time reader might not even consider that an image could be clickable.
I have taken the liberty of supplying an answer of my own, so that you can vote it up or down however you like.5
When can we expect the help pages to be updated?
References:
From now on, the image uploader automatically wraps images in a link to
themselves
Meta Stack Exchange help on how to add an image via
Meta Stack Overflow Markdown Editing Help: Images
The recommended syntax for an image with a link
Extra square brackets and numbers when using automated link or add picture
feature in ...
Why does the images index on Stack Overflow appear twice?
1 The previous default behavior was to just display the
image - without any click link.
2 If you are curious to learn more about how this works, see the
reference list. - Or simply click the Edit feature of this question
and start reading the markdown code. I have included a few different styles
and methods on how to make an image clickable or non-clickable.
3 If you find it difficult to read the text in the image, click on
it, and then on the back arrow of your web browser.
4 Of course, this syntax will not result in a clickable image.
5 There is nothing personal about these downvotes. It is just an
elegant way of finding out the opinion of the community as a whole.