# What should I do if I encounter an edit from a 2k+ rep user which degrades the quality of a post

Today, I came across this edit to one of my posts. The edit changed the formatting in an acceptable way, but then it changed

Assuming $x\ne0$

to

Assuming $c\ne0$

While this may have been a typo, if it had been made by a < 2k rep user, it likely would have been caught in the review process. Other that rolling back to the last correct edit, what, if anything, should be done when next time I encounter an edit like this?

Note: The example used is not really a great example of this, I only used this because it directly included me and happened recently. This question exists outside the bounds of the particular example I used.

• People make mistakes and minor typos. Unless you see someone making habitual crappy edits (and there are several of those people here), I would just roll back or manually edit and let it go. You can @-ping them as editors in the comments if you're sufficiently bothered. If you see someone doing this routinely, comment on it and/or flag for a moderator. – user296602 Nov 3 '17 at 16:57
• It's cute that you think that having an edit suggestion reviewed ensures that there are not mistakes in the edit. Sure, it helps, but it doesn't nearly ensures anything. – Asaf Karagila Nov 3 '17 at 17:22
• Travis says "it likely would have been caught in the review process". @Asaf Karagila says "It's cute that you think that having an edit suggestion reviewed ensures that there are not mistakes in the edit". Let's not misrepresent other people's posts. – Acccumulation Nov 7 '17 at 22:02
• @Acccumulation Refer to revision history – Travis Nov 7 '17 at 22:02

Since the edit is done by me I feel obliged to explain it to you. Firstly I admit that I didn't make a typo but did it on purpose.

$$\frac{a+b}{c} = \frac{a}{c}+\frac{b}{c}$$

Assuming $x\ne0$,

$$\frac{x+1}{x} = \frac{x}{x}+ \frac{1}{x}$$ Because $x\ne0$, we know that $\frac{x}{x}=1$, so $$1+ \frac{1}{x}$$

I changed $x$ to $c$ because I thought you made a typo for the following reasons

1) : In the first line you introduced fraction and naturally I expect the next line to be about denominator not equal to zero.

2) : In the fourth line you wrote $x \ne 0$, this suggests me that you were referencing the second where you intended to write $c \ne 0$. Why would you write $x\ne 0$ twice, doesn't make sense to me.

3) : Mentioning $c \ne 0$, in my opinion, is only helpful to the post since you should mention $c \ne 0$. If nothing it does not degrade or cause any damage to the post.

I apologise for my edit, and I will take care not to edit based solely on my assumptions.

However I am surprised by your over exaggeration over a harmless edit, you could rollback to previous revision, no need to create a issue over it.

• I wasn't outraged, although I may have exaggerated the effect, the purpose of the question was not about your particular edit but it was meant to be a general question about what to do with edits that don't match the intended post. I used you're an example because it involved my own post. – Travis Nov 3 '17 at 21:21

I am not sure if I really understand your question because the answer seems to be clear to me: If a post contains errors and you are willing to spend time on this post then improve it. Because the post you are asking about is one of your answers I assume you are willing to spend time on it. Either you roll it back and incorporate the improvement of the last edit or you correct the errors introduced by the last edit. If something is unclear you can write a message to the editor of the last edit. It is possible to comment-notify editors, even though they are not proposed by auto-complete. Thus a comment with @editorsname under the relevant post will notify them.

Note that user John Ma noticed the difference between yours and user A---B's interpretation and used this to edit and improve the answer.