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The scenario:

  1. An asker posts a question.
  2. A low rep user notices some improvements to the questions code, and edits them into the question.
  3. The edit gets accepted in the review queues.
  4. Another user notices the site policy invalidation and rolls back the edit.

All seems to be well, as the post has been edited to not go against should you edit someone else's code in a question?

However, this means that three, plus, users will continue to violate site policy. This is bad, as review queues are there to educate users on what is and is not allowed behaviour. And so allowing this to continue teaches new users they can do things they shouldn't.

How can we inform all users involved in incorrect reviews what correct site policy is?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I know you can ping editors. I am not sure about edit reviewers, I recall seeing a status-declined feature request to that part... \$\endgroup\$
    – Vogel612
    Jan 24, 2018 at 13:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ I usually invite them to chat. Find their chat profile and get them in The 2nd. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mast Mod
    Jan 24, 2018 at 13:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ Does this happen frequently? \$\endgroup\$
    – Martin R
    Jan 24, 2018 at 19:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ @MartinR I don't know, it happened today - and so I want to know how to handle it. \$\endgroup\$
    – Peilonrayz Mod
    Jan 24, 2018 at 19:22
  • \$\begingroup\$ @MartinR Some reviewers do it all the time, so it depends a bit on how much such reviewers are active in a period of time and how active the 'proper' reviewers are. Not just his either, some reviewers are simply not doing their job. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mast Mod
    Jan 24, 2018 at 20:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ I must to confess that I am the low-rep user that suggested the edit. As an explanation, I just want to say that I did it because on S.O. it annoys me that users post snippet code without proper indentation, specially because it takes just a single click on the button "Tidy"! Therefore, that was what I did... good to know the particular rules on CR, thanks again for explaining it. \$\endgroup\$
    – Gerardo Furtado
    Jan 25, 2018 at 5:07
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    \$\begingroup\$ @GerardoFurtado Whilst you suggested the edit - that made me notice this issue - I don't think you're to blame. The two reviewers should have known better, and they may go on to create more situations like this. A simple message under the question to you is all that's needed to inform you of site policy, but I don't know how to do this for the two reviewers, that, IMO, need it most. \$\endgroup\$
    – Peilonrayz Mod
    Jan 25, 2018 at 9:33
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    \$\begingroup\$ If you're concerned that the reviewers will continue to violate site policy and/or have done so in the past, you can flag the post for a moderator and link to the bad review in the description. Moderators can look at the reviewers' history and take appropriate action (including educating them) if necessary. (I'm a moderator on another SE site.) \$\endgroup\$
    – Null
    Jan 25, 2018 at 16:54

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Most importantly, you should reject the suggested edit with a good description about why it should be rejected, then you can just hope that other reviewers sees this decision somehow.

As said in the comments here on meta, you can flag a post for moderator attention and moderators can help educate users through some different ways.

Another way is to create meta posts, such as this one, to bring attention to the topic.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Perhaps adding some text in the reminder help on the review page? Something clarifying that "changes to the code" should be a reason to reject the edit. \$\endgroup\$
    – 1201ProgramAlarm
    Feb 26, 2018 at 0:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ Unfortunately "you should reject the suggested edit" was not possible, as it had already been approved. I can see how it may help, if that wasn't the case tho. \$\endgroup\$
    – Peilonrayz Mod
    Feb 26, 2018 at 11:36

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