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I edited the answer to this question with information which is a complement what the user already answered. I could have provided the additional information in a separate answer, but since the existing answer was already pretty good, I opted to add to it rather than trying to gain some rep out of a simple answer.

However, my edit was rejected, and the reject reason mentions "This edit was intended to address the author of the post and makes no sense as an edit. It should have been written as a comment or an answer". My edit was not a comment, and was useful information.

I did post a comment to the user who provided the answer, to let him know he could remove my edit if he felt it wasn't appropriate though.

2 Answers 2

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I believe the reject reason here is inappropriate, as I would've rejected it as "clearly conflicting with author's intent". The edit adds information that is not just supplement to the provided answer, but another trick or strategy that the author had not included, either because they didn't believe it is a good strategy, or because they hadn't thought of it.

From the edit help page, a post should be edited

  • To fix grammar and spelling mistakes
  • To clarify the meaning of the post (without changing that meaning)
  • To include additional information only found in comments, so all of the information relevant to the post is contained in one place
  • To correct minor mistakes or add updates as the post ages
  • To add related resources or hyperlinks

To your comment about "trying to gain some rep out of a simple answer", there's nothing wrong with posting your own simple answer if it adds something that wasn't already mentioned, unless it's literally a single line which would be better as a comment.

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  • I'm usually more active on SO, and we are used to add information in an edit rather than simply commenting. I will take note of this for the next time, thanks for the precision ;)
    – Laf
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 14:02
  • @Laf yeh I agree with you, that it would make more sense to add to the answer but it is the consensus of this site that it shouldn't be as danmaku explained, so although I think it makes it harder for people to find the full answer, you can just post what you edited into the answer as a comment or even simply as a seperate answer, saying something like; "I agree with the other answer but just to add to it a little bit... etc."
    – Aequitas
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 1:06
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    @Laf The help page for SO has the same policy, so you shouldn't do it there, either, even if you're "used to" it.
    – mbomb007
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 21:51
  • So if he firstly posted it as a comment then the edit would've been accepted ??
    – Иво Недев
    Commented Mar 17, 2017 at 9:56
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    @ИвоНедев No, posting a comment and then suggesting an edit with the same information is no different from just suggesting the edit. I believe the help page is implying that information from the author's comments can be edited it, or comments that the author has explicitly agreed with.
    – Wrigglenite
    Commented Mar 17, 2017 at 13:47
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    @Laf No. If you think that, you grossly misunderstood SO's editing policy. You should 'never* put words into the authors mouth. your edit is wrong, its rightfully rejected. you added things the author never said.
    – Polygnome
    Commented Mar 20, 2017 at 12:36
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I would suggest that if you wish to add something to an existing answer you can add it as a comment, which you have now done:

I did post a comment to the user who provided the answer, to let him know he could remove my edit if he felt it wasn't appropriate though.

What this means is that this can be addressed/reviewed/discussed (if required) by the original author and wider community. Following which, you can then make amendments to the answer based on:

From the edit help page, a post should be edited:

...

  • To include additional information only found in comments, so all of the information relevant to the post is contained in one place

When editing the answer you can detail that you are adding info from the comments. This will allow reviewers to see the source and reason for your edits.

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  • Can you clarify a bit on how this should work? Are you saying that if he first adds a comment and then edits it that it is okay? or only after discussion or some amount of time? Should edit reviewers be checking comments for discussion on the bit being added? I've always only edited in comments from the OP into a post (or comments which the OP agreed with/ said they tried, etc.), for cases where they are too lazy or lack the knowledge to edit the post themselves.
    – Bob2Chiv
    Commented Mar 15, 2017 at 13:10
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    Generally, "To include additional information only found in comments" means to add information that the original poster put in a comment, not someone else. The critical question here is whether the original poster agreed with that section or not. Posting as a separate answer is often the better option in that case, as that doesn't require agreement.
    – Brythan
    Commented Mar 15, 2017 at 23:26
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    @Bob2Chiv - If you review an edit, and someone has pushed a comment into the answer, then in order to accept the edit you need to be okay with the change. To do that you need to verify the change. If the comment has upvotes, responses etc (or perhaps from the answer's author) then this should be straight forward. If not then you are entitled to reject on the basis it deviates from the author's intent.
    – user101016
    Commented Mar 16, 2017 at 11:58
  • @Bob2Chiv - If the comment has no responses/feedback but you can verify the info yourself then I don't see why you cannot accept the edit.
    – user101016
    Commented Mar 16, 2017 at 11:59
  • @Brythan - Not sure I agree. This may be the pattern (for obvious reasons) but I don't think there is a hard rule saying you cannot accept someone else's comment as an edit (see my responses above). Posting a separate answer would be my preferred route. However, as the OP here stated, the answer may just be a tweak to an existing answer (so may be better as part of an existing answer, rather than an alternative).
    – user101016
    Commented Mar 16, 2017 at 12:04

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