"Edits" That Change the OP's Meaning

Question

In July, I answered a post about a comma (Using "which" without a comma) The user accepted my answer and the question disappeared.

Last night, edits to the question change the tone of this post, and also "built in" an answer which makes my answer look wrong. Right after that, I got 3 downvotes in a row based on sudden interest in the post (after it lay dormant for months.). Maybe my answer was wrong. The OP didn't think so.

The original question had this line "Word always complains, seeing it as a restrictive clause and demands a comma..."

The edit changed this to "Seeing it as a relative clause I'd like to know..."

The OP doesn't see it as a relative clause. Word sees it that way and Bob was asking if that is correct.

We need clear guidelines for editing. In my opinion, posts should not be edited to remove a person's local dialect / personality, add what you think they mean, or make it less "suggestive" or more "moralistic". If the OP drops the F bomb or uses other such language, in my opinion that's an editorial decision for the Mods. If the OP ends a post by saying "Thanks a bunch." I will leave it alone...Bob is a patent attorney and doesn't need me to tell him how to speak or that "Thanks a bunch" is improper for this website.

To conclude, this website is about asking questions and giving answers and is done so in the spirit of democracy. This means that there will be some good answers and some "not so good answers." I have posted my share of not-so-good answers (from my own 20/20 point of view and the view of others who gave me downvotes.) We vote on those and the voting should be a fair, and like any democratic situation the votes can only be as good as the voting pool (and in my opinion we have some pretty strong voters here!).

Answer 1

I concur. The information about Microsoft Word's grammar checker is important and I have restored that. It provides the information about where the premise for the question actually lies and what the OP is asking about. It's not his long-standing view; it's a view presented by Microsoft's software. While the omission of that information doesn't change the meaning, it does change the premise and it does remove the potential for an answer which states that Word has it wrong and the user's implied understanding is actually correct.

For the rest of the edit: the quote formatting is helpful; the removal of chatty meta-information is justified; the other changes were not important enough to make, in my opinion, but equally they are not worth undoing.

However, all of that said, the questioner should not have asked two questions in the first place.

Answer 2

Per the help center, you should edit a post:

• To fix grammar and spelling mistakes
• To clarify the meaning of the post (without changing that meaning)
• To include additional information only found in comments, so all of the information relevant to the post is contained in one place
• To correct minor mistakes or add updates as the post ages
• To add related resources or hyperlinks

Although it's debatable how much "clarification" one can do without changing meaning, I think any attempt at "major surgery" is going beyond what the privilege is intended for. Especially when the post is months old and already has an accepted answer.

If you feel the edits changed the meaning, you're always free to revert it or flag it for a mod's attention.

That aside, I voted to close this question in particular because it lacks basic research and is easily Google-able.

Answer 3

1. I believe Edwin Ashworth left the comment, This is not a suitable question for EL&U. Questions like this should be close voted, not answered. The same applies to the question that I edited. The question I linked is very basic and substandard. It is just an elementary grammar question that had been asked many times in EL&U and repeatedly closed-voted as duplicate or lack of research. See how many past past perfect question have been closed. Take a look at how many questions have been asked in ELL. I think it makes most sense to vote to close or at least propose a duplicate, rather than answering the question.

2. If any question is off-topic with many errors mainly in formatting, I think it is best to edit it on a best-effort basis. This site is not for showing personality and style in one's question.

3. The guideline is to delete thank you message in any question when editing.

   Should 'Hi', 'thanks,' taglines, and salutations be removed from posts?.

   What should I keep out of my posts and titles?

   Why are edits removing “Thanks in advance” sometimes rejected?

Conclusion: I have just reviewed my edit and I don't see any problem with it. I don't think I changed any meaning of the question. If you think there are mistakes in my edit, please edit it yourself and read this. Why are some users with 10k+ rep allowing minor, and I mean, very minor edits to pass through?. @MrHen ranks from not minor to minor as follows:

• Replacing a generic title with a specific title
• Tag changes
• Adding content from a linked website
• Removing unnecessary images
• Replacing long link URLs with a proper link
• Major reformatting or grammar changes that improve readability
• Major rewording that improves readability and unequivocally does not alter meaning
• Fixing malformed markdown
• Removing greetings and thanks
• Fixing quotes, highlights or other minor formatting
• Fixing spelling errors or minor grammar errors
• Whitespace (really?)

The bold above is what I did to the post. There is absolutely no change in any meaning in my edit.