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Recently we have seen quite a few instances of users editing questions that are closed to add their answers to the body of the questions themselves.

That is a clear subversion of the rules and an abuse of the editing powers that come with reputation. Questions that have been closed have been closed —in the immense majority of cases— by votes of the users of this site, and it is doing a disservice to the site to sidestep that decision.

If someone thinks that a question should be reopened, then posting in the meta thread dedicated to precisely that purpose is a correct way of proceeding. Voting to reopen is of course also good, and going into chat to campaign is quite fine too. Flagging for moderators to reopen questions is rarely ok.

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    $\begingroup$ It cannot be done by new users, because new users do not have the power to edit other people's questions. $\endgroup$ – Mariano Suárez-Álvarez Feb 2 '15 at 22:34
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    $\begingroup$ I'd rather not add links to examples. I think it is rather obvious that this behaviour is against the rules, irrespective of examples. And there is no need to name names. $\endgroup$ – Mariano Suárez-Álvarez Feb 2 '15 at 22:35
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    $\begingroup$ @Meelo: If it is being done by <2K users (without the edit everywhere privilege), then the edit has been approved by higher rep users (and the approvers should be temporarily banned from the review queues for this). After gaining 2K rep they no longer need to have edits accepted by others, but it is expected that they edit responsibly. $\endgroup$ – user642796 Feb 2 '15 at 22:41
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    $\begingroup$ I am describing that. :-) Randomvariable, that is why I wrote that the answers are added to the body of the question itself. $\endgroup$ – Mariano Suárez-Álvarez Feb 3 '15 at 2:35
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    $\begingroup$ Has anything been done to those who did it? I would have thought that this was a clear enough violation of basic decency (maybe that isn't the right phrase...) to warrant a modest ban. $\endgroup$ – user1729 Feb 3 '15 at 12:52
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    $\begingroup$ Two related question: a) What should be the course of action if one notices this? Flag, rollback, both, neither, something else? b) What about full answers given in comments well after closure? $\endgroup$ – quid♦ Feb 3 '15 at 14:00
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    $\begingroup$ @quid My ideas: (a) editing an answer into a question should be rolled back, as an invalid edit; (b) nothing to be done there. Overall, I don't expect this to become a major trend: there is no rep to be gained from edits or comments. $\endgroup$ – user147263 Feb 3 '15 at 14:41
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    $\begingroup$ @quid Okay, there is also a difference between (a) improving the presentation of the question that was asked; and (b) replacing it with another question. In any case, the issue of edits is always going to remain subjective: they should not deviate "too far" from OP's intent, but how far is too far depends on whom you ask. I had some of my edits rolled back by another user who felt they changed too much of the question; this is normal disagreement about the desirability of a particular edit. $\endgroup$ – user147263 Feb 3 '15 at 14:59
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    $\begingroup$ @quid There are finer points, but I think everyone can agree that adding the whole answer in the question (closed or not, but here the goal was to be able to answer a closed question; the user bragged about it on meta recently), even with a "Is this correct?" to keep up appearances, is too drastic an edit, and an abuse of the system when the goal is to answer a closed question. IMO even adding a half-baked answer is a too drastic change, but I don't expect everyone to agree (some people think it's the only way to add context to a question...). $\endgroup$ – Najib Idrissi Feb 3 '15 at 16:27
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    $\begingroup$ @Pp..you may disagree allyou want,and you may argue here and elsewhere about closures and what not.What you may not do is to override the policies of the site. $\endgroup$ – Mariano Suárez-Álvarez Feb 3 '15 at 19:28
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    $\begingroup$ @quid There are fewer constraints on what an edit can be vs. what a comment can contain. As far as I'm concerned, users are free to put whatever they want in comments (and many do put complete answers there), as long as they don't fall into the rude/offensive/too chatty/not constructive categories. With the understanding that comments may be deleted for any reason, of course. $\endgroup$ – user147263 Feb 3 '15 at 20:34
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    $\begingroup$ @Pp.. You may think it is bizarre, you in fact may think anything you want. On the other hand, you surely appreciate that it is inacceptable for you to impose your views on the site. To be honest, there are very few things I care less for than whatever it is you seem to believe «the true nature» of the site is. $\endgroup$ – Mariano Suárez-Álvarez Feb 3 '15 at 20:34
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    $\begingroup$ Well, that will result in suspensions and so on. No one appointed you «shower of extreme forms» of anything. As you clearly realize (in fact, you do this on purpuse), that is disruptive of this site, and will not be accepted. $\endgroup$ – Mariano Suárez-Álvarez Feb 3 '15 at 20:39
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    $\begingroup$ @quid It's not better (to add full answers in the comments). I'm on mobile right now, but there have been a few meta threads about this issue, and the community has been critical of answering closed questions in the comments every time (I'm still waiting for a certain user to explain to me what could justify adding the answer in the comments instead of waiting for reopening, but as usual it was a fruitless exchange). $\endgroup$ – Najib Idrissi Feb 3 '15 at 21:55
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    $\begingroup$ @GitGud, I am criticizing editing closed questions to add answers to the body of the question, as I hoped would be evident from what I wrote, which is quite not the same as «criticizing all edits»... $\endgroup$ – Mariano Suárez-Álvarez Feb 5 '15 at 20:04

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