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I just noticed that a question asked by a user was edited. (It says 'an edit has been made, click here..'), but it does not say the question has been edited.

The question was edited a few minutes after it was asked, but an answer has already been posted then.

So when/why does an edit not show up?

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    $\begingroup$ I edited... you may be interested in the latest SE podcast "Are we that predictable?" where SE leadership discusses the recent machine learning experiment on identifying low quality posts. Two of the signs of trouble: all-lowercase title and using only one tag. After checking this out with SEDE I see they have a point there... $\endgroup$
    – user147263
    Jul 22, 2014 at 13:34
  • $\begingroup$ @Thisismuchhealthier. absolutely amazing. $\endgroup$
    – Lost1
    Jul 22, 2014 at 13:36

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There is a 5-minute grace period after the question (or answer) was initially posted. During this period edits (by the same user) do not show up in post history; they are not even stored on the SE servers.

Same period applies after edits. If you edited a post, you can edit it again within 5 minutes without generating a new revision; the previous one simply gets replaced.

In order to prevent a series of tiny edits from showing up in the revision history, a single user who edits a post is given a 5-minute grace period. During this period, any additional edits they make are collapsed into the same edit in the revision history, displaying only the final outcome of all their edits within that 5 minute period. The grace period ends after exactly 5 minutes, but also ends if another user edits the post, at which time their grace period begins.

Source

(Demo: this was added during the grade period.) The 5-minute period does not renew with subsequent edits. For example: if you edited a post at 12:00, 12:02, 12:04, 12:06, and 12:08, the revision history will keep 12:04 version and 12:08 version. Here the 12:06 edit is outside the original grace period, so it creates an entry in Post History table. It also begins another 5-minute period.

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  • $\begingroup$ that clears it up, thank you. $\endgroup$
    – Lost1
    Jul 22, 2014 at 13:26
  • $\begingroup$ @Lost1 No problem. Effect demonstrated above. :) $\endgroup$
    – user147263
    Jul 22, 2014 at 13:29
  • $\begingroup$ that explanation is very clear. thanks $\endgroup$
    – Lost1
    Jul 22, 2014 at 13:31

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