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In the recent few days I've reviewed dozens of tag edit proposals made by a single user.

Some of his edits really improves the quality of the question. Although majority of them, despite adding relevant tags are not really improving the total value / searchability (like in the one below). And there are also a few clearly bad edits.

I've the feeling he's doing that just for gaining reputation. This way he forces also reviewers to spend time checking his edits, instead of working on higher quality ones. Should / can we do something with this situation?

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    Tough call, but as long as people are approving the edits, they seem to be acceptable. If people start rejecting them as too minor, the issue would resolve itself.
    – Oliver Salzburg Mod
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 11:01
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    Just approve or reject he edit on each individual suggestion. One should not even look at whom is making the suggestion, often times, this name will be changed during a audit so its a good habit to get into. In the example you provided I would agree, the suggested tags, don't really help find the question easier.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 12:03
  • As for the reason @ElektroStudios is submitting tons of edits, I suspect he has the mistaken believe, that edits restore his ability to ask questions ( it won't ) since those edits are not factored into the equation ( based on what I know about the system itself ).
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 12:08
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    A lot of his tags are inappropriate or useless and I'm surprised they're being approved. People may be approving them based on his prior Meta post, thinking it will help get him get out of the question ban. The review queue doesn't serve much purpose if people don't use it as intended.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 19:12
  • @fixer1234 - I am not approving those edits, and honestly, I am also shocked its being done. Of course what it takes to have me approve something is extremely high.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 11:04

3 Answers 3

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Some background here. The user's currently trying to work his way out of a question ban, and well, he's being somewhat enthusiastic about it. There's a few questions here by him on the topic.

I strongly suggest that such edits are treated the same as any other edit, and you consider the quality and/or appropriateness of the edits, whether they're useful tags and so on. I chose to improve one (which was re-edited to add tags I felt were inappropriate), and ended up rolling back to my edit.

If you're like "meh, these edits don't add anything", feel free to reject.

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  • Thanks! Yes, I won't discriminate him based on that, although I think I'll be more strict in the future when I review edits to educate users, instead of just approving small edits thinking "it doesn't really changes the quality, but I appreciate his willing to improve".
    – Máté Juhász
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 14:11
  • It might be useful to educate him about how to tag appropriately. He seems to be under the impression that all tags are good tags and the more the better. I rolled one back and tried to explain tagging practices on one or two (not sure he would have been alerted to the comment being just a prior editor). His enthusiasm is great, it would just help if he understood how to do it correctly.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 19:03
  • Seems his ban was lifted since he's asking questions again.
    – Insane
    Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 6:25
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    @Insane - Based on the quality of new questions I now regret voting on his questions resulting in his ban being lifted.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 11:05
  • What do you mean by "I chose to improve one (which was re-edited to add tags I felt were inappropriate), and ended up rolling back to my edit."? Are you saying you started to add tags but decided to roll that change back?
    – Trisped
    Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 18:09
  • @fixer1234 Can you clarify "He seems to be under the impression that all tags are good tags and the more the better." a little more? For example, as a user it is my assumption that the existing tags are Ok to use (where appropriate) and adding more (relevant) tags is better then leaving them off since they help people find the question.
    – Trisped
    Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 18:11
  • @Trisped: The main purposes of a tag are to attract answerers who follow the subject (and people follow broad subjects like "excel" rather than "columns"), to assist searchers with a similar problem looking up key words, and to readily differentiate certain factors, like the OS, without having to read the whole question. The site has accumulated a lot of tags that aren't useful for those purposes. Good example: [applications]. Almost every question that isn't about hardware is about applications, so it serves no useful purpose. We're trying to deprecate manufacturer meta tags, (cont'd)
    – fixer1234
    Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 19:08
  • like [HP] (nobody is an expert in HP). Another: a general tag, like [excel], should be used if the question applies to any/all versions. A version-specific tag should be used if it applies only to that version. If you need a version-specific tag, you shouldn't also use the general tag. Tags should highlight key elements of the question, not words that are mentioned in passing that don't categorize or differentiate the question in any useful way. They should be specific to the question and not added bread crumb hints for possible answers. Is that enough to explain the gist?
    – fixer1234
    Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 19:08
  • To continue fixer's thought. Most people use the wrong tags to begin with. Also it takes relative low amount of reputation to create a tag. This results in the creation of a bad tag, by people who really don't know what makes a good tag, and then people use such bad tag because it exists. This is the reason I almost never look at tags of a question when attempting to answer it.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 26, 2015 at 17:03
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I've the feeling he's doing that just for gaining reputation. This way he forces also reviewers to spend time checking his edits, instead of working on higher quality ones. Should / can we do something with this situation?

You are applying way too much psychology here. Honestly who cares? If the edits are good, approve them. If you disagree with them, reject them. Same like everything else.

FWIW, there is no way for us mere mortal users (even moderators) to “manage users” here because the site is all about content, not users. And if a user participates positively with their interaction with that content, they get rewarded. If they engage negatively, they lose reputation and privledges.

Also, if you ever notice a user that is supposedly “just editing for the reputation” then don’t worry about that either. I’ve met a few very good editors who have earned up to 2,000 rep points for good edits. The idea that somehow someone who is a good editor should avoid contributing misses the point of the Stack Exchange sites. Everyone is allowed to contribute in their own way to help the site improve.

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IMHO this question more about tagging rules (every process to be manageable needs positive and negative feedback):

  • how to tag precisely: my suggestions are to define object-action-subject-environment (in this case everything seem ok: filesystem - store - hardrive - w8,1

  • how to punish for errors

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