40
votes
Hidden points of editing you probably didn't know
Sizing for images
If you post to Imgur (the default host for StackExchange) you can use URL suffix codes to change the size of the image in your answer or question:
$$ \small
\begin{array}{clcc}
\...
30
votes
Hidden points of editing you probably didn't know
Units formatting
Units should always be upright, and be separated by value with a space. This can be achieved best in MathJax with the sequence ...
26
votes
Accepted
Hidden points of editing you probably didn't know
Overview and Quicklinks
(ordered chronologically, oldest entry first)
Units formatting
Use mhchem for MathJax to format chemical expressions
Sizing for images
Grammar, spelling, and style
Compose ...
25
votes
Accepted
absurd edit war
I was involved in an edit war at EE.SE earlier this year, over this answer. The following meta discussion is here.
Based on this experience, IMO if a particular edit is rolled back once by the OP, ...
- 17.3k
23
votes
Hidden points of editing you probably didn't know
Be judicious when editing questions that are [on hold] or [closed].
Editing posts bumps them back to the top of the main page. Only edit closed questions that you think you can improve them to the ...
23
votes
Hidden points of editing you probably didn't know
Compose good titles and headings
Clean, descriptive titles improve searching.
Martin mentioned it in a comment, but I will summarize here. Good titles help make questions about chemistry experiments,...
20
votes
How to handle this Li Zhi guy?
Spicy jalapeno bacon ipsum dolor amet venison pig beef fatback frankfurter tail cupim hamburger pork loin andouille drumstick leberkas. Ball tip alcatra swine pig pastrami sirloin corned beef rump ham ...
- 43.8k
19
votes
Hidden points of editing you probably didn't know
Use mhchem for MathJax to format chemical expressions
(For people out there who don’t know this … yet.)
We have the wonderful mhchem package which comes with the ...
19
votes
Hidden points of editing you probably didn't know
Don't let the broad tag be
Tags help define categories for questions and thus they make searching easier. Occasionally I see posts — from relatively new users especially — that contain ...
16
votes
Hidden points of editing you probably didn't know
Use display style maths wherever possible
Inline maths mode should be only used for short introductions of terms, a sum formula of a compound. For more complex terms, like fractions or sums, it ...
16
votes
What are some basic guidelines for good edits on Chem.SE?
On Stack Exchange, we generally like having substantial edits being made. Somebody who edits a post to correct one or two typos is helpful, but somebody who also takes the time to improve the title ...
14
votes
Hidden points of editing you probably didn't know
Text and spaces in MathJax
Trying to put a short phrase in your MathJax, but your spaces keep disappearing?
There are a few ways to explicitly insert spaces. For a short phrase it is best to use the ...
13
votes
Hidden points of editing you probably didn't know
Comprehensive editing
I’d like to add another issue that I see not happening way too often:
When editing for any of the other points, do a simple check of the text and the MathJax involved, too.
...
13
votes
I have a doubt about "doubt" in doubt titles
When I started about an hour ago, a search for is:question title:doubt gave 25 questions.
I (have tried to) fixed these.
- 43.8k
13
votes
absurd edit war
I thought long and hard whether or not I should comment, but because the post reads like that the moderating team enforced this edit war, which is simply not true, I think it is necessary to clear up ...
- 43.8k
13
votes
How to handle this Li Zhi guy?
This was actually something we (the moderators) looked at a few months ago. Suffice it to say that we've tried everything that is reasonable to contact this guy, short of sending him a Howler by owl ...
- 71.1k
12
votes
Accepted
Allow small edits
No, unfortunately there isn't a way to get around this for users without the editing privilege (2000 rep). People have proposed this as a feature on Meta.StackExchange numerous times, but it's ...
- 2,957
12
votes
Are questions being excessively edited?
From what I can infer you are saying that the edits are too trivial. Personally I don't necessarily agree with that - in my opinion edits should be substantial in the sense that they fix everything ...
- 71.1k
11
votes
Editing/presentation of chemical structures (to chemdraw or not to chemdraw)
Benefits of editing posts to add computer-drawn structures:
The structures are clean, perfectly legible computer-drawn images.
They have no shadows on the margins or otherwise irrelevant content.
...
- 67.3k
11
votes
Accepted
Adding your Ideas as Edits to a Question
In general I would edit, if and only if these two criteria are fulfilled:
the edit improves the question (in this case, especially in terms of clarity)
the edit does not distort the meaning of the ...
- 71.1k
10
votes
Editing/presentation of chemical structures (to chemdraw or not to chemdraw)
I am probably responsible for the edits you are talking about. The only reason I edit is because it looks better, just like how MathJaX looks better, and as you correctly guessed, it depends mainly on ...
- 71.1k
10
votes
Borderline self-promotional edit
Assuming one does not have time to improve a suggested edit, should this type of thing be accepted or rejected?
This type of edit, regardless of the actual intention of the editor, is spam being ...
- 2,957
10
votes
Accepted
Non-English posts: Should edits that offer a translation be entertained?
Yes, that was a strange one, but I decided it does no harm in accepting the edit. The history itself is preserved for anyone who wants or needs to know.
As far as it goes with the authors intention, ...
- 43.8k
10
votes
Non-English posts: Should edits that offer a translation be entertained?
Such edits should be allowed; they preserve the original intent of the author in the purest way possible while promoting the question from close-worthy (‘unclear what you’re asking’ — aka I don’t ...
- 67.3k
10
votes
Accepted
Converting decimal comma to an English dot
I would say: Yes, convert to English-language numerical punctuation.
The official language of the Stack Exchange network is English, save for sites whose mission is specifically to provide content in ...
- 17.3k
10
votes
Accepted
Your edit gets rejected, then the reviewer who rejected the edit does essentially your edit...?
I went through your suggested edits. First of all let me say that there are not enough of them to make a generalisation; there are four rejected ones, and there is good reason for that. Also the later ...
- 43.8k
10
votes
How appropriate it is to improve typography of quoted text from the third-party source?
I suggest let's look to journalism
(no, not the tabloids - but the concept)
First, editing another users post for typos and typesetting is... working as intended I would say. The issue is when we ...
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10
votes
How appropriate it is to improve typography of quoted text from the third-party source?
Looking at the Chicago Manual of Style, there are a couple of sections on permissible changes to quotations. Section 10.7.4 says that in a passage quoted from a modern book, journal, or newspaper, ...
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