What should I do when I spot someone editing a question to match his answer to it, even though that may not be what the original poster intended?
Here is the example I just spotted.
Those who can see the edits (revision history here) will notice that the original question didn't specify that the centre of the smaller circle lies on the circumference of the larger one. I pointed out that the answer that assumed that to be the case didn't answer the OP's question, so the person who answered it went ahead and edited the question to make his answer correct, even though that may not have been the OP's original intent.
The edit may even have been done without the OP's knowledge or permission.
Edit: To the answerer's credit, he has now changed it back after I argued the error of his decision to edit the question. My question above remains, though, what should be done in situations like this, in particular if the answerer is not as sensible as the person who answered the question I linked to?
Edit: After a fruitful exchange of opinions with another contributor (see Paul Plummer's answer below and the comments that follow it) I thought it might be useful to clarify a few things and summarise the situation.
First, clarifications. My main concerns and the reasons why I posted this question here are 3. In descending order of importance, they are:
- making sure that people asking questions aren't harmed by answers that don't fit their questions
- maintaining consistency between questions and their answers so that future visitors to any given question aren't confused by answers that don't match them
- making sure that people don't "cheat" by editing questions to match their answers
(Note: I'm not claiming that the answerer was attempting to cheat. I have no reason to suspect that. On the contrary, when I pointed out that he shouldn't have edited the question, he promptly rolled it back [after a little convincing].)
Next, summary of the situation as it stands now. The OP un-accepted the answer and the question was rolled back to its original form. Therefore, the question still needs clarification. There is an answer that is correct provided a certain assumption about the question is correct but that assumption hasn't been specified in the question. I believe the OP hasn't been harmed (in the sense above) but appears to have no more interest in the question so I am now concerned with consistency. I have flagged the question for moderator review.
I am satisfied with the answer Paul has provided below but, by all means, feel free to add any opinions you may have.