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I don't understand why users are allowed to (and why they would) do edits like this: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/posts/15623/revisions

He changed the picture.... into the same picture

That doesn't seem like a good reason for an edit. And all it did was bring up an old post from 3 months ago.

Users are allowed to edit their own posts which makes sense, I just think there should be some kind of restriction or something to prevent people from changing something to the same thing and unnecessarily reviving old topics like this. Maybe have someone check the edit, before it gets processed?

Most importantly though, I would like to know why would people do this, what does he gain from changing the picture into the same picture?

PS- same guy did the same thing here: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/posts/6130/revisions Now here he just bolded his words, didn't add anything though. Altough it could have some merit (he wanted to add more emphasis for example), I just thought it was slightly unnecessary to bring up an old, and answered, question for the sake of some formatting, but that's just me.

PPS- I'm not spreading hate or anything, Thaddeus is probably a really cool guy, and he's not the only one I've seen, just the only one today. It's just I saw him do it twice in the same day, and that's what prompted me to let someone know this is going on.

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  • "I just think there should be some kind of restriction or something to prevent people from changing something..." - I agree. I wish you could restrict posts from being edited. Most people are nice but a few people (editors) would change the meaning and have closed posts when they didn't understand the question. I've been so disturbed by it I've left SE for months.
    – 1.21 gigawatts
    Commented Jul 26, 2012 at 0:58
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    @1.21gigawatts If you find that happening (especially the closing), raise a question on meta - that's what it's here for. Usually that'll result in the question being re-opened.
    – dlanod
    Commented Jul 27, 2012 at 3:04

1 Answer 1

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He didn't change the image into the same image, he added an image description to that image. The revisions page does a terrible job of displaying alterations to meta data, it's similarly unclear when your edit just takes existing text and makes it a link. I recommend using the source links to see the underlying markdown in the affected areas in the future, it's how I determined what changes he made here.

To speak to the general question you're asking, instead of just that specific example, this is already built in to the Stack Exchange system. You need to accumulate enough rep to show that you're a dedicated member of the community before you're allowed to make unchecked edits. This doesn't mean that everyone with the rep to make unchecked edits will do so wisely, but the site has numerous mechanisms that allow abuse to be prevented and/or minimized.

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    Ohh, use the source links! , alright thanks. :) Yeah I guess the rep system works in helping, and you're right, nothing is perfect. Well you answered all my problems, thanks!
    – hammythepig
    Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 20:04
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    Additionally he probably should have made a comment as to what the edit was. Although I am guity of abusing my editting status by just leaving the box blank.
    – Jack B Nimble
    Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 20:39

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