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I just discovered a user editing his own answers on old, inactive questions to have his posts on the first page of the "active" tab. That means more people stumble across the Q&A, and many of them then vote on the user's answer, so he gains reputation.

Is repeatedly editing my own posts for activity and for gaining reputation a good practice? Is the user allowed to do this?

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    related meta.gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/7472/…
    – Dragonrage Mod
    Jun 21, 2016 at 19:25
  • If you want to give your posts more attention, set a bounty. If you're making minor edits to just bump your posts, then you're abusing the system.
    – Frank
    Jun 21, 2016 at 20:57
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    what makes you think the user is just trying to bump old questions, to begin with?
    – user106385
    Jun 21, 2016 at 21:06
  • @Timelord64 He's repeatedly gaining reputation from Q&A's with only his answer asked long ago. In his "all actions" user tab, he has from 90% only edits of his old posts.
    – user143228
    Jun 22, 2016 at 8:12
  • @Rudolf L. Jelínek, which only tells us the user is looking back on old posts, and seeing suitable changes. Perhaps if you provide links to these edits, it would be clearer?
    – user106385
    Jun 22, 2016 at 8:27
  • @Timelord64 I don't think a post can be improved by an edit after 10+ edits of the same post from the user.
    – user143228
    Jun 22, 2016 at 8:29
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    Impossible to say without looking at the post. But it certainly is possible. Regardless, without looking at the edits you are referring to, all we can do is speak theoretically, and theoretically, any edit could be a good edit, or a bad edit, no matter the significance or iteration.
    – user106385
    Jun 22, 2016 at 8:42
  • Could you please provide a link to the user in question? We need examples.
    – angussidney
    Jun 22, 2016 at 11:39
  • @angussidney sorry, after some investigation I went away, and I don't remember the user's name (something like user349872). If I stumble across him again, I'll tell.
    – user143228
    Jun 22, 2016 at 12:14
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    For what its worth, I had a play with the edit stats, and found a few questions that fit you criteria of "10 meaningless edits". Of the big contenders in the top three over the various categories, they are mostly users trying to have their questions reopened. One is a user clarifying their question, Another one is a bunch of users making edits. Of the final two, one is a community wiki (ergo no rep awarded to original poster) and one is a rollback war with a mod. Both of these users are currently suspended. Evidently, these things do get picked up.
    – user106385
    Jun 22, 2016 at 16:05

2 Answers 2

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No (it depends)

Editing just to gain rep is... not a good idea. I don't know if there are rules against it, but you might gain personal dislike of others (which might lead to downvotes). You might be suspended from editing or participating in the website, or your posts might be locked if you do so.

You need to make edits that improves the post. You might make major edits (for example, when the method no longer works) or you might do minor yet good edits (for example if the UI changed, you can change the images. You can also fix the grammar etc.). These are acceptable ways to edit a question.

If you just want views on that question, put a bounty on it. Your question is nearly guaranteed to get more views, and you might get more upvotes. You don't have to ask for new answers with a bounty- just stating that you'll give the bounty to one of the answers (because it is good etc) is an acceptable reason too.

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    Please don't leave issues in the question/answer just to edit it later too. It is more likely to have consequences if and when detected.
    – ave
    Jun 21, 2016 at 19:27
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If you improve your posts, then it's only fair that the post score goes up, and with it your reputation.

If you make edits just for the sake of making edits, hoping for fresh pairs of eyeballs to see your old stuff and upvote it anyway, then we have a problem.

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    Is there any method of finding this type of user activity? Is this bannable?
    – user143228
    Jun 22, 2016 at 8:15

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