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I have recently been able to start reviewing suggested edits for posts. Most are not an issue to process.

One type I have come to simply skipping at this point is an edit which seeks to add additional solutions to an existing answer. Often these are answers which have been accepted and are now being edited by, often, lower level users to include some addition to the existing answer or provide an additional method.

This has been done against accepted answers from users with a good amount (+20k) of reputation.

I am stuck to know if I should accept these suggested edits. While they may be technically correct it would be more acceptable to post their own answer. There may have also been a reason why the original answer didn't include such information. Since it doesn't fall into a specific reject reason I have taken to skipping them.

What would be an acceptable method of dealing with these posts?

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  • 8
    Additional solutions should be their own answer.
    – Ramhound
    Apr 3, 2014 at 11:24
  • I've seen a variant of this where a lower-reputation user edits a question to add to it. Like @MatthewWilliams, I've just tended to skip those.
    – Heptite
    Apr 6, 2014 at 6:00

2 Answers 2

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Reject them.

As Ramhound pointed out, a new solution should be a new answer. Editing an existing answer to add an alternative solution, however good or correct it may be, is not acceptable.

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  • Under what grounds would you reject the answer? Since it is technically correct and not really vandalism. Would you put this under other? Apr 3, 2014 at 11:53
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    @MatthewWilliams "Invalid edit: This edit is incorrect or an attempt to reply to or comment on the existing post." Apr 3, 2014 at 11:56
  • If the edit should be an answer instead, is the (rejected) editor notified of this somehow? I always wonder about that when I reject edits like this; it seems kind of like throwing away useful content just because it was put in the wrong place.
    – Excellll
    Apr 22, 2014 at 14:38
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    @Excellll No, he isn't notified. Personally, I check my suggested edits on sites where they aren't automatically accepted. Apr 22, 2014 at 15:11
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While I agree with Oliver, editing an answer to give a small variation of an existing solution might be acceptable. For example, if I answer a bash question and my solution does not deal with file name with spaces, I would consider an edit that adds a similar approach that can deal with spaces correct.

If the new solution is completely different, then yes, reject it. If it is just a small variation of the existing one, then it might not merit an answer and the edit could be appropriate. This is not usually the case though.

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  • I'm interested in what people think of this particular answer. Is it also frowned upon?
    – PsychoData
    Apr 16, 2014 at 15:32

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