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This is a general question regarding the editing of the questions.

I see that recently many old question on Mathematics Stack Exchange are modified by the a single user and hence are shown at the first page of the site. The edits are definitely time consuming and are meant for good. I understand that. I was, however, wondering if this procedure facilitates the search mechanism on the website?

If the edit comes as a comment to the OP then the OP will learn how to set up a question. In the comment it makes sense to explain why the editor thinks such an edit is required.

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  • $\begingroup$ Somewhat related older discussions: Editing Binge Etiquette or How much bumping is too much? (and probably some other posts linked there). $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Jul 26, 2016 at 9:44
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    $\begingroup$ My take on this may not be mainstream. I feel that the editing badges (such as archaelogist) should come as a consequence of stumbling upon old posts in need of improvement. Like, once a week or something, depending on how much time you spend perusing old questions. When a search engine is used to look for a specific problem in old posts, it feels unnatural to me. The search is then not about math but about something to edit. Anyway, what I find unnatural need not be so for others, but this is why I occasionally jump on cases like this. I'm not alone, yesterday there was a flag about this. $\endgroup$
    – Jyrki Lahtonen
    Jul 26, 2016 at 9:52
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    $\begingroup$ @JyrkiLahtonen Personally I do not have anything against searching for posts to edit. If you know that some combination of tags is very likely to indicate incorrect tags or that some words in the title indicate a bad title, I think it is ok to search for such posts; of course, only a few at the same time. And ideally, the main motivation should be improving the site and not badges. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Jul 26, 2016 at 10:09
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    $\begingroup$ Mat-fun: I you have a look at this older discussion, you will see that with the exception of very specific cases it is better not to name specific users. If possible, the discussion should focus on some type of behavior rather than on a specific user. For this reason I have edited your post, I think it serves the purpose even without naming specific user. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Jul 26, 2016 at 11:50
  • $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak I see your point. your are right. Many thanks. $\endgroup$
    – Math-fun
    Jul 26, 2016 at 13:05

2 Answers 2

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A user is notified of substantive edits to their posts.

Each edit has an edit-summary that can be used to explain the rationale behind it. You can see it in the revision history of the post (accessible from the link in the middle of your post).

In the specific case the user explained that the purpose of the edits was to make the titles right-clickable.

The issue is that some users would like to "right-click" on the title to open it in a new browser-tab. However, right-clicking a formula will open the MathJax menu instead of the usual effect it has when clicking a link.

Thus, there is a recommendation not to use titles that (almost) entirely consists of a formula.

In that sense the edits seem in principle reasonable. In the details there seem to have been some problems (too many, sometimes not needed as already right-clickable).

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    $\begingroup$ I agree with you. $\endgroup$
    – Display Name is missing
    Jul 26, 2016 at 9:41
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    $\begingroup$ @quid many thanks I did not know about right-clicking. I learned something new :-) $\endgroup$
    – Math-fun
    Jul 26, 2016 at 13:42
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I've edited these posts too, why?

"Nothing wrong with these posts, but genuinely, I want to achieve the archaeologist". So, I've edited the post with "right clickable" only for those posts which has LATEX title. It's became simple to right click of mouse.

Anyhow, I was forget that, if I edited many posts at a time, these all will be on "active" queue of the site, which is not good for new post compare to old edited posts, since these posts occupied unnecessarily space.

A respected Moderator, reminded me this fault yesterday by a comment. I got that, gave thank to him. Today, I've edited only 5-6 old posts again but many to save space of active queue.

If, you feel, there is my fault, so I'll be stop editing old posts. Although, Today is 258th consecutive day to access Mathematics Stack Exchange.

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  • $\begingroup$ We realized that you want to help, that's great. The problem is mostly with the frequency. Today you did a string of 7 such edits and in such a time span that all seven of those were (due to the bump effect) simultaneously on the front page. Other will notice that and yesterday's spree was longer. $\endgroup$
    – Jyrki Lahtonen
    Jul 26, 2016 at 9:41
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    $\begingroup$ Some badges are meant to take a lot of time to earn. At least I feel that way. Happy hunting. $\endgroup$
    – Jyrki Lahtonen
    Jul 26, 2016 at 9:44
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks to you again, you have notified me for that unnecessarily occupied active queue space. However, I should stop such editing at a time. $\endgroup$
    – Display Name is missing
    Jul 26, 2016 at 9:45
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    $\begingroup$ Just don't make a lot of edits right after each other. Edit one or two, then take a break to give them time to roll down the front page. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel Fischer
    Jul 26, 2016 at 9:47
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, only one or two posts are enough at a time. $\endgroup$
    – Display Name is missing
    Jul 26, 2016 at 9:50
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    $\begingroup$ @MithleshUpadhyay This nice effort that you put in and this is great that you re willing to edit less stuff in row :-) many thanks :-) $\endgroup$
    – Math-fun
    Jul 26, 2016 at 13:43

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