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When reading such answers, I find it useful to:

  • have the answer edited when an obsolete link is dead (the second link is dead)
  • have screenshots to quickly see how the GUI looks like (the question is precisely about GUI tool).

That's what I did with this edit. NB: I used screenshots provided by the authors of the different tools, not my own.

However it was rejected (there was 1 approve vote though) because:

This edit does not make the post even a little bit easier to read, easier to find, more accurate or more accessible. Changes are either completely superfluous or actively harm readability.

In order to improve my future posts/edits, what was wrong in editing when a link is dead and by adding screenshots that help to figure out what the GUI tools are (that was the core of the question)?

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  • The problem was that the question is long dead and off-topic. It's off-topic because it's the kind of question that attracts horrendous answers like the one you tried to improve, which is nothing but links. Answers recommending software should follow the guidance here for each product: meta.superuser.com/questions/5329/…. Basically, that entire thread should remain buried; it received too many upvotes to delete any time soon. Your edits made the answer only a little less horrendous, and we really don't want to bump that to the main page.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 10:05
  • On a basically good post, your edits could have made it better. But in the context of that answer, nothing you could do short of writing an actual answer would be an improvement.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 10:11
  • @fixer1234 Yes, but even if it's closed as off-topic (and similar questions no longer wanted! I understand that), it is useful (thus the upvotes and favorites), and I think its answers could/should be updated. If not, why not go further and even delete them? (this would be a shame imho)
    – Basj
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 10:16
  • @fixer1234 By the way, do you really think my edit does not make the post even a little bit easier to read, easier to find, more accurate or more accessible. Changes are either completely superfluous or actively harm readability.? I don't understand why this was mentioned.
    – Basj
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 10:16
  • In this case, those edits don't make the answer better because it is still horrendous. Just posting an image doesn't begin to turn it into an acceptable answer. One of the things that makes software rec questions off-topic is that the information becomes dated quickly. One of the recommendations is obsolete, and who knows whether the other products are still good recommendations today. "why not go further and even delete them?" That's what we should do with the thread, but it was popular 7 yrs ago, and it's harder to delete threads with high upvotes.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 10:33
  • @Basj - Your edit did not address any of the problems that made the answer bad. You simply put lipstick on a bad answer. It’s still a bad answer at the end of the day. Don’t take the rejection personal, it has nothing to do with you, everything to do with the low quality answer you tried to improve.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 11:38
  • @Ramhound Thank you for your answer. No problem (I never take things personal online, no worries), but I personally felt it helps users a bit more. When I came to this topic, I would have appreciated to see screenshots, it would have saved me 3 minutes to see how these solutions look like.
    – Basj
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 11:45
  • Well you also submitted a literal answer in multiple comments despite the fact the question was closed nearly 4 years ago. It’s done, edit was rejected, question shouldn’t even still exist since it’s out of scope.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 11:49
  • @Ramhound I spent nearly one hour to write the details in these comments about the Python solution, you removed them, where in the superuser interface can I find them to at least copy/paste them for myself? Thanks in advance.
    – Basj
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 12:07
  • @Basj - I want to make something clear, I didn't remove anything, only community moderators (diamond) can see deleted comments.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 13:42

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