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I love to see things organized and tidy, especially at somewhere I like to be there, for example this site. Math which does not expressed in proper $\LaTeX$ format makes me weird so I often edit posts which is not in appropriate $\LaTeX$.

I think most of you agree that edits should be done on some "serious" cases such like even not using MathJax and $\LaTeX$. But some minor things also makes me have a mind to edit it, etc. use (mod $m$)(mod $m$) instead of $\pmod m$$\pmod m$, or $\Rightarrow$$\Rightarrow$ instead of $\implies$$\implies$, $|$$|$ instead of $\mid$$\mid$...

But sometimes such edits is looking like something aims at earning reputations, especially when I edit both the question and the answers below based on the same problem. But I aims at helping this cyber community.

I don't know whether it is appropriate. So any ideas?

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    $\begingroup$ Why do you think your opinion of whether \implies is better than \Rightarrow should trump the opinion of whoever first typeset it? There is no consensus on what is optimal. We have had edit wars when somebody felt that $\int f(x)\,dx$ has the wrong kind of d $\endgroup$
    – Jyrki Lahtonen Mod
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 9:36
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    $\begingroup$ @JyrkiLahtonen sometimes it does when expressing logical connections. $\endgroup$
    – BAI
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 9:37
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    $\begingroup$ According to whom? $\endgroup$
    – Jyrki Lahtonen Mod
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 9:38
  • $\begingroup$ The war I participated in was when somebody replaced $R$ in the OP with $\Bbb{R}$, and I had used $\mathbf{R}$ in my answer to denote the set of real numbers :-) $\endgroup$
    – Jyrki Lahtonen Mod
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 9:39
  • $\begingroup$ @JyrkiLahtonen According to the one who reviewed and accepted my edits. And, well, isn't the command 'implies' designed for logical notation? $\endgroup$
    – BAI
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 9:41
  • $\begingroup$ @JyrkiLahtonen well~ if it is expressing the set of all real numbers, it should be $\mathbb R$ or $\Bbb R$ according to general habit╮(╯▽╰)╭ $\endgroup$
    – BAI
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 9:43
  • $\begingroup$ Also \pmod m has been designed to look good for congruences. $\endgroup$
    – Jyrki Lahtonen Mod
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 9:43
  • $\begingroup$ @JyrkiLahtonen yup, this one is not appropriate. $\endgroup$
    – BAI
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 9:43
  • $\begingroup$ @JyrkiLahtonen yup it is, in number theory. $\endgroup$
    – BAI
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 9:44
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    $\begingroup$ Unless you go on an edit spree of doing more than five minor edits to old posts per day you can probably get a way with it. Personally I view changes like the ones you listed as TeX-policing, and react to it the same way I would to Fashion-policing and/or Grammar-policing (often police is replaced with a word loaded with very negative connotations, but I won't use it here). $\endgroup$
    – Jyrki Lahtonen Mod
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 9:55
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    $\begingroup$ Note. This is just me. And, in all my lecture notes from more than five years ago the set of real numbers is $\mathbf{R}$. I switched very recently. THERE IS NO UNIVERSAL FAITH AND TRYING TO FORCE YOUR WAY ONTO ME IS VIOLATING MY FREEDOM OF RELIGION :-) $\endgroup$
    – Jyrki Lahtonen Mod
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 9:57
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    $\begingroup$ @Jyrki Surprised by your sine-of-x-over-two example (why choose a size of parentheses which makes that they do not match the chain of characters they enclose, I wonder). $\endgroup$
    – Did
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 10:43
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    $\begingroup$ @Jyrki Indeed I am afraid we will be forced to conclude that this is just you... :-) $\endgroup$
    – Did
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 12:22
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    $\begingroup$ By the way, dear BAI, you need to be humble enough to consider the different contexts in which various notations are used. Functions are usually formatted, as per this example by f: \mathbb R \rightarrow \mathbb R or f: \mathbb R\to\mathbb R which shows up like this: $f: \mathbb R \to \mathbb R$. And in this context using implies is inapproriate. And in logic, the conditional connective is usually written as ` \rightarrow`. But there is no RULE that dictates that. So please, do not tamper other's posts with trivial edits. $\endgroup$
    – amWhy
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 19:07
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    $\begingroup$ @Jyrki: Just as a side note, $\implies$ has a longer arrow and proper spacing for the implication, whereas $\Rightarrow$ does not. I generally agree with the notion that some notational leeway should be given, but sometimes it's just sloppy craftsmanship or ignorance about proper $\rm\LaTeX$. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Commented Jun 13, 2017 at 5:55

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$\begingroup$

I would include a consideration of whether the potential Editor has any interest in answering or reading an answer to the Question at issue.

I am called upon to review a certain percentage of edits which are in themselves not objectionable but which fail to address the more important problems of the Question in its current form.

When Big Problems with a Question are not resolved (and perhaps not resolvable without input/clarification by the OP), then changing sizes of parentheses is akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Substantial edits to poor Questions with some potential for redemption are useful, if only for the sake occasionally of showing the OP a better way to do things. Subtle edits that do not move the Question towards a state of being answerable (or even readable) are eschewed.

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  • $\begingroup$ Could not have said it better, myself! $\endgroup$
    – amWhy
    Commented Jun 12, 2017 at 18:59

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