TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Making Edit Reason Mandatory

Go To

battosaijoe Since: Jan, 2010
#1: Apr 13th 2012 at 9:11:24 PM

It's as simple as the title. I'm of the belief that edit reasons should be made mandatory or highly encouraged. Either make it so edits aren't able to be entered without reasons, or have an "Are you sure?" page come if no edit reason is entered. Is this feasible? I know that some people will just put reasons like "asdf" or "blah", as things like that happen already. But hopefully this would encourage people to explain what they're doing and thus help resolve disputes easier.

ArcadesSabboth from Mother Earth Since: Oct, 2011
#2: Apr 14th 2012 at 10:56:12 AM

Seems reasonable.

Oppression anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere.
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#3: Apr 14th 2012 at 10:58:02 AM

I already use edit reasons all the time. However, when namespacing, the time lost for an edit reason is pretty significant. I suggest there to give a few default edit reasons for these cases in addition to the ones you can just type in.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
ArcadesSabboth from Mother Earth Since: Oct, 2011
#4: Apr 14th 2012 at 11:03:02 AM

Yeah, like:

Namespacing/Disambiguation
Natter/Word Cruft/Thread Mode
First Person/This Troper
Complaining/Bashing
YMMV Moved to YMMV Tab
Typos
Page Renamed/Cut
Examples Are Not Recent
Examples Are Not Arguable
Deprecated Markup
Disputed Example Moved to Discussion

edited 14th Apr '12 11:07:54 AM by ArcadesSabboth

Oppression anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere.
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#5: Apr 14th 2012 at 11:05:30 AM

[up]These should be additional to one you choose, but not replace them however.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
ArcadesSabboth from Mother Earth Since: Oct, 2011
#6: Apr 14th 2012 at 11:07:03 AM

[up]Of course.

Those are just the common ones I dislike having to type over and over. Even without making edit reasons mandatory, a drop-down menu would be a nice luxury.

edited 14th Apr '12 11:08:49 AM by ArcadesSabboth

Oppression anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere.
Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#7: Apr 14th 2012 at 11:25:40 AM

Last time this came up, a mod (possibly Eddie himself) pointed out that people will just put random crap in the edit reason, like randomly pounding the keyboard or whatever. Then someone pointed out that's a great way to spot trolls, and...I don't remember what the reply to that was.

Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.
SilentReverence adopting kitteh from 3 tiles right 1 tile up Since: Jan, 2010
adopting kitteh
#8: Apr 14th 2012 at 11:31:44 AM

With the possibility of predefined edit reasons, it shouldn't be too bad to have mandatory edit reasons. As for the trolls thing, while it shouldn't be too hard to enforce that the edit reason text has, for example, "at least two words", I'm not sure it'd be 1.- convenient for the server and 2.- worth it.

Fanfic Recs orwellianretcon'd: cutlocked for committee or for Google?
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#9: Apr 14th 2012 at 11:39:25 AM

Trolls that troll by their edit reasons can just be banned. It makes no difference whether the system requires an edit reason or not.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
troacctid (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#10: Apr 14th 2012 at 12:23:28 PM

Edit reasons should not be mandatory. That's not going to do what you want it to do.

Bookyangel2438 from New York City Since: Jul, 2011
#11: Apr 14th 2012 at 2:28:46 PM

Yeah, I'm not a fan of making them mandatory.

Alt account of Angeldog 2437.
CrypticMirror Cryptic Mirror from Scotland Since: Jan, 2001
#12: Apr 14th 2012 at 4:25:00 PM

I support them being made mandatory. In addition to all the positives added above, it also means you can cut down on confusion over what someone meant to do, so enhancing the quality of communication over alterations to the wiki. Also, as someone who suffers (at times) from a cognitive processing disorder, it can be very hard to spot what is changed at times if the edit is to modify a large chunk of text. It can leave you scratching your head as to whether it was some sneaky vandalism hidden in a block, or just fixing a typo. Making people leave a real edit reason (my preference would not be a drop down menu, since its too easy for people just to pick the first option regardless —although people doing that could be a candidate for the edit banned thread so they can learn to document properly— of what they've done). I know how easy it is to mean to leave an edit reason over a particularly complicated situation and then forget, thus accidentally make it worse. Certainly I've done that myself more than once, and I know I'd appreciate the help staying on track and helping to increase wiki communication and coordination, I can't see how people would not want the wiki helping to keep them communicating effectively.

BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#13: Apr 14th 2012 at 4:59:10 PM

If you're going to make this mandatory, then you're going to have to increase the character limit for edit reasons. What about pages that undergo Example Sectionomy, like Nightmare Fuel, for a number of reasons because the pages are just that bad?

Do not obey in advance.
captainpat Since: Sep, 2010
#14: Apr 14th 2012 at 5:23:15 PM

So what if I just wanna add to the page?

CrypticMirror Cryptic Mirror from Scotland Since: Jan, 2001
Bookyangel2438 from New York City Since: Jul, 2011
#16: Apr 14th 2012 at 5:54:16 PM

What if I correct spelling or grammar or something?

Seems like a ton of hassle to make edit reasons mandatory. sad

Alt account of Angeldog 2437.
CrypticMirror Cryptic Mirror from Scotland Since: Jan, 2001
#17: Apr 14th 2012 at 5:57:39 PM

[up]"fixed typo/grammar"

The small amount of hassle that it causes is outweighed by it ensuring we don't have the big screw ups like the one on Ask The Tropers that prompted this thread. Its a small inconvenience for a big payoff. Actually, its a small inconvenience for several payoffs of multiple sizes ranging from small all the way to big. How is typing a half dozen characters a hassle anyway?

edited 14th Apr '12 5:58:45 PM by CrypticMirror

troacctid (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#18: Apr 14th 2012 at 6:02:40 PM

Have you ever tried editing a wiki that requires a CAPTCHA confirmation on every edit?

Me neither, because that's annoying and nobody would do that.

CrypticMirror Cryptic Mirror from Scotland Since: Jan, 2001
#19: Apr 14th 2012 at 6:12:10 PM

Who is proposing reading a captcha? Certainly not what I'm proposing, which is just tagging your edits so people can see what you did and not get confused or end up in edit wars. We are rolling out tags on YKKTW and making sure clear reasons are given in image pickin and TRS, this is just extending the same principle to the wiki itself. Really, just firing stuff in with no reason given was fine when we were a smaller site with a tightly defined group of tropers, but the wiki is now bigger than that and hosts a much more diverse group of editors and as such there is an increase of confusion and conflicts. This would cut that down, and make it easier to keep editing consistent across the wiki.

edited 14th Apr '12 6:15:31 PM by CrypticMirror

Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#20: Apr 14th 2012 at 10:56:30 PM

Need to make sure that when you don't give an edit reason, and it prompts you to do so, it's friendly about it so it doesn't scare off new tropers.

That's the only real downside I could see; it might freak people out if they're not familiar with the wiki, and think it means their edits will be evaluated or whatever.

Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.
HersheleOstropoler You gotta get yourself some marble columns from BK.NY.US Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Less than three
You gotta get yourself some marble columns
#21: Jun 2nd 2012 at 2:36:28 PM

I don't think they should be mandatory but I do support making not leaving an edit reason be a deliberate decision. People who don't want or feel the need to leave a reason should be made aware of what they're doing.

What I would do — easy for me to say, since I don't have to code it — is have a "no Edit Reason" checkbox, and have the system reject attempts to edit unless there's a reason or the box is checked.

It wouldn't do anything about people who are just thinking "fuck you, I don't have to explain myself," but nothing really will, anyway, and I don't think there are a significant number of people like that.

The child is father to the man —Oedipus
troacctid (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#22: Jun 2nd 2012 at 5:34:46 PM

On some other wikis, there's an option in your profile that you can toggle that asks you for confirmation every time you submit an edit without an edit reason. Like you click "Save" and it's like "Wait a second, you didn't leave a reason. You sure you don't want to leave a reason?"

I think that is a good solution. And I do like having it togglable too, although I guess an "Opt-out" system might be preferable.

HersheleOstropoler You gotta get yourself some marble columns from BK.NY.US Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Less than three
You gotta get yourself some marble columns
#23: Jun 2nd 2012 at 5:41:15 PM

I don't like the idea of letting people permanently turn it off; even if it were opt-out I think most people would.

The child is father to the man —Oedipus
Stratadrake Dragon Writer Since: Oct, 2009
Dragon Writer
#24: Jun 3rd 2012 at 8:53:01 AM

A dropdown list of 'stock' edit reasons could be useful to have... and let's limit it to the good stuff:

.
.
.

edited 3rd Jun '12 8:55:46 AM by Stratadrake

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.
Telcontar In uffish thought from England Since: Feb, 2012
In uffish thought
#25: Jun 3rd 2012 at 9:00:31 AM

For small things, it's probably faster just to type than select from a menu. The commonest things that I can think of, however:

  • Small changes
    • Italics/bold
    • Namespacing
    • Typo
    • Formatting
    • Potholing
    • Removing incorrect trope
    • Indentation

edited 3rd Jun '12 9:01:33 AM by Telcontar

That was the amazing part. Things just keep going.

Total posts: 35
Top