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no improvement whatsoever

This edit does not make the post even a little bit easier to read, easier to find, more accurate or more accessible. Changes are either completely superfluous or actively harm readability.

When I first got this message after an edit of mine was rejected, I already found it quite a harsh remark from the reviewer. Then I found out it is generated automatically. Now, when I'm reviewing myself, I hesitate using this reject edit reason, because of its wording. Other reject reasons are more nuanced.

So I'd like to propose a slightly different wording:

little or no improvement

This edit does not make the post sufficiently easier to read, easier to find, more accurate or more accessible. Changes are either trivial or superfluous, or do not contribute to better readability.

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  • 1
    I agree, the current version is too harsh. I've also hesitated few times using this as a reject reason.
    – birgire
    Commented Sep 5, 2016 at 21:11

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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I agree, the current message sounds daunting and harsh to a point where it might as well say "why the heck did you even consider this?"

The objective here is to not downright discourage the user from ever trying to make another edit, rather, to help them become a better a better editor. It's not what you say, but how you say it.

Here's my input for an alternative message which is tailored more towards those who get it the first time:

improvement isn't necessary for this post

While we encourage members to edit posts in order to improve our content in our community, this isn't necessary for this particular post. The reason being is that this edit does not sufficiently increase readability or accuracy, nor does it improve user experience.

I'm not sure if these messages are on a per site basis or overall on the SE community, so I don;t know how suggestions for improvements on this website works.

It seems you are not the only one with a recommendation to this change, which brings up a few interesting points.

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  • Improvement might be necessary, but the suggested edit doesn't improve it, so that message doesn't always apply
    – Tom J Nowell Mod
    Commented Oct 4, 2016 at 15:01
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It appears this message is not set by WPSE admins but by StackExchange in general. It's wording has been discussed at length in meta, without any consequences.

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