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I have noticed there are a few users who consistently use inappropriate scaling in their post titles and edits they make, and not all of these users are new. I have edited those posts previously, and added comments like removed display style from title since it is unnecessary in a title, but they still do this.

Additionally, I have read Guidelines for good use of $\LaTeX$ in question titles and Why no use displaystyle in titles? so it appears that the consensus is not to do this.

Should I continue to correct these edits or just let it go?

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    $\begingroup$ Have you tried pinging them? It works (sometimes)! $\endgroup$
    – Aditya Hase
    Dec 30, 2014 at 17:22
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    $\begingroup$ @Iuʇǝƃɹɐʇoɹ I leave comments to them so if they check their post or see the one they just edited they should read the message. $\endgroup$
    – dustin
    Dec 30, 2014 at 17:24
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    $\begingroup$ There's possibility that they aren't notified. Why not comment on posts by that specific user or pinging them in chat. $\endgroup$
    – Aditya Hase
    Dec 30, 2014 at 17:26
  • $\begingroup$ @Iuʇǝƃɹɐʇoɹ I will give it a try in my next encounter to see how it is accepted by said user or users. $\endgroup$
    – dustin
    Dec 30, 2014 at 17:29
  • $\begingroup$ Flagging such a post will alert the moderators. $\endgroup$
    – Antonio Vargas
    Dec 30, 2014 at 17:53
  • $\begingroup$ @AntonioVargas I think flagging might be overkill. Need to hear from a mod on that option though. $\endgroup$
    – dustin
    Dec 30, 2014 at 17:56
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    $\begingroup$ @Iuʇǝƃɹɐʇoɹ Why not just ping the editor on the post they edited? $\endgroup$
    – quid Mod
    Dec 30, 2014 at 17:59
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    $\begingroup$ @Iuʇǝƃɹɐʇoɹ Sure. While editors are not proposed as ping-targets, they can be ping-ed. // dustin: I think this is fine. $\endgroup$
    – quid Mod
    Dec 30, 2014 at 18:05
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    $\begingroup$ I am not sure what you refer to. If it is just about the typing, you could copy-paste the name. (Also the first three letters suffice, if there is not collision, which avoids the issue sometimes.) $\endgroup$
    – quid Mod
    Dec 30, 2014 at 18:10
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    $\begingroup$ @quid Thanks I didn't know about that! $\endgroup$
    – Aditya Hase
    Dec 30, 2014 at 18:10
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    $\begingroup$ @quid what I mean is look at integrators name. I can only type the first letter I. With names that have nonstandard symbols, how would they get pinged without autocomplete? $\endgroup$
    – dustin
    Dec 30, 2014 at 18:21
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    $\begingroup$ @dustin: You can copy and paste, e.g., Iuʇǝƃɹɐʇoɹ. $\endgroup$
    – Jonas Meyer
    Dec 30, 2014 at 18:27
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    $\begingroup$ @dustin Re "flagging might be overkill": It may be overkill if you do it before addressing the editor, we should assume that they're well-meaning and just don't know they shouldn't do that (if there's a history telling you it wouldn't be wise to address the editor yourself, things are/may be different). If addressing them in a comment doesn't lead to a change in behaviour, flagging becomes the necessary thing to do at some point. Whether that is after the first time telling them to stop, after the second, third ... should be judged on a case-by-case basis. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Fischer
    Dec 30, 2014 at 18:47
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    $\begingroup$ I much rather see $\lim \limits_{x\to a}$ than $\lim _{x\to a}$, so what if it takes up space on the front page? $\endgroup$
    – Git Gud
    Dec 30, 2014 at 22:40
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    $\begingroup$ I'm bumping this question, since I've been getting annoyed by people using \displaystyle or \dfrac in titles. I'm also imploring people who come across this to remove these whenever they come across it in a question's title. $\endgroup$
    – J. M. ain't a mathematician
    Mar 7, 2018 at 12:16

1 Answer 1

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As long as you have the energy to do so, please continue to correct such edits/titles.

Unless you have reason not to, assume the editors are well-meaning and just don't know that \displaystyle should generally not be used in titles, and address a comment to them - editors of a question can be @-pinged, although their username does not appear in the auto-complete list unless they commented on the post - asking them to stop adding it to titles. Linking to the meta posts about that issue in the comment is a good idea. If these requests don't lead to a change in behaviour, there comes the time to raise a flag describing the problem (if you happen to have a list of incidents handy to include in the flag message, that would be great; if not, the moderators will look for themselves).

A general remark about editing (not addressed at the OP of this question):

Whatever common mistake one fixes in posts, be that retagging wrongly tagged questions, fixing spelling mistakes, eliminating \displaystyle from titles or something else, please don't do that in rapid enough succession to flood the front page with such edits. Take your time - and look over the post whether there is more in need of improvement.

(It frequently happens that somebody compiles a list of posts with a specific mistake to fix and then edits them in quick succession, without improving anything else. That is suboptimal.)

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