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https://superuser.com/posts/663103/revisions Edit #3 (as of currently) is the edit I proposed, but the edit was not credited to me, but to someone else. I don't mind horribly, because it was only 2 reputation, and the question is still improved through the (my) edit. But something seems "off" about how it happened.

[edit] Things to consider: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism

[edit-mk2] If this isn't an issue, then maybe the community is less credible than it should be, since true sources of thought are lacking the credit they deserve.

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    Seems like your edit was rejected by one user and the other user improved upon your edit and didn't mark your edit as helpful: superuser.com/review/suggested-edits/168967
    – Oliver Salzburg Mod
    Commented Nov 8, 2013 at 17:14
  • Indeed. When reviewing suggested edits the user has a choice to accept, reject, or improve. Normally when using "improve", the original suggested edit is approved and then another edit is added with the changes. It looks like this user may have failed to do that properly. I would not say this is "typical," no.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Nov 8, 2013 at 19:19
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    @nhinkle Ok, so it is conceded to be non-typical. Could it be considered abusive? When I put effort into editing a post to make it from some damaged thing into a relatively shining thing that people should look at, I kind of like to get credit for that, even if it is briefly because someone else comes along later and does better than I did. In this specific case, I kind of feel cheated. I wouldn't care if he had "one-upped" me 5 seconds after accepting the edit I proposed. I still would have been credited with the valuable edit. And he would be credited with... spelling? Still not sure...
    – killermist
    Commented Nov 9, 2013 at 4:35
  • @killermist see my answer below. It looks like the user incorrectly unchecked the "was this edit helpful" box.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Nov 9, 2013 at 5:47
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    Hello, I am guilty. My thought process was "I do not want to accept this proposed edit 100% as-is, so I can either reject it or press the improve button." You had removed a couple of tags that I wanted to remain on the question. I decided not to reject it, but to press improve, then add those tags back. I also unchecked "this edit was helpful" which apparently has the side effect of removing credit from your name. I did not realize it would be that way, and after it was done, there is no way to undo it. Now I know this for next time.
    – Kevin Panko
    Commented Nov 9, 2013 at 14:53
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    @KevinPanko Thanks for taking responsibility. I'll accept that it wasn't done with malice. And it's good that we're both learning from it.
    – killermist
    Commented Nov 9, 2013 at 15:42
  • @killermist I think similar thing just happened to me. I've made an edit, then it got rejected by another user and added again as his own. stackoverflow.com/review/suggested-edits/18159674 Or am I missing something here?
    – Alan
    Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 13:05

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Check out the official FAQ on "how do suggested edits work," specifically the section on "What does the "Improve" button do."

When the reviewer marks the edit as helpful:

  • The change history records the suggested edit and the improved edit as separate events.
  • The original editor still gets +2 reputation for their suggestion.

When the reviewer marks the edit as not helpful:

  • The change history records the improved edit only and the suggested edit is not shown.
  • The original editor does not get any reputation for their suggestion.

It appears that in this case the editing user unchecked the "this edit was helpful" box. Given that their edit has only minor changes compared to yours, I would indeed consider this to be moderately inappropriate use of edit review privileges, although it's certainly not the worst thing ever.

I'll leave a note for the user asking them to use the "was this edit helpful" box properly in the future. There's nothing we can do to change the history for this particular question, but let us know if you see a specific trend of edits being rejected and then "improved" with only minor changes, and we can take a closer look at whether specific users might need a more direct intervention.

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  • Your link and information back up what I was pretty certain the rules were. Thanks for looking into it. If it happens again, I'll make sure to bring it back to someone's attention.
    – killermist
    Commented Nov 9, 2013 at 15:21

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