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I have seen many people edit questions and answer just for trivial matters like capitalizing small letters at the start of a sentence, removing words like "Cheers" or "Thanks in advance", or simple grammatical errors (the question can be easily understood with those errors), etc.

Also we get this before editing any stuff:

Screenshot of request for constructive edits

Can something be done about these trivial edits?

See the edits this question has gone through. Does the third one make any sense? This is just for clarification.

Edits this question has gone through

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  • 10
    If posts include less errors they are easier to read and understand.
    – N.N.
    May 2, 2012 at 16:02
  • 2
    It think the third edit show that trivial edits can be meaningful. As mentioned it may mess up search. Also it by writing the site's name in the correct way make the question slightly clearer. Could you please state any argument against trivial edits rather than just stating that screenshot?
    – N.N.
    May 3, 2012 at 14:57
  • k i got your point in the 3rd one but the 4th one is completely unnecessary cheers and Cheers makes no difference.it doesnt help the answer at all
    – Ashu
    May 3, 2012 at 15:19
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    I did the edit partly for humor, but there are good reasons still. You don't seem to have noticed I fixed a sentence fragment. People that commonly make these errors don't see the need to avoid them. If you don't see the need (as you have stated above) for capitalizing sentences, there's no point in explaining that here. You can ask these questions at one of the English-related Stack Exchange sites. May 4, 2012 at 9:38
  • I have found that I sometimes have to make trivial edits to get the edit accepted. Adding spaces and new lines to format code as code do not count towards the 6 character minimum for edits, so I find myself making other 'trivial' edits just to get the edit through
    – Carl H
    Jun 10, 2015 at 7:19

2 Answers 2

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Trivial edit suggestions are discouraged for users with fewer than 2000 reputation points, because it imposes a burden on other users to peer review them. Editing questions in small ways to remove forum-like miscellanea is otherwise encouraged.

Seem harsh and depersonalizing? Kinda. To explain, Ask Ubuntu strives to be a Wikipedia of Long Tail Ubuntu Answers. Reducing questions and answers to their bare informational value is an important part of that goal.

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  • 3
    +1 - doubt I could have said it better myself.
    – jrg
    May 2, 2012 at 17:08
  • I think the link to "Wikipedia of Long Tail Ubuntu Answers" is very informative and should get prominent display. It makes me better understand what Ask Ubuntu is about.
    – user25656
    May 7, 2012 at 7:49
  • If the trivial edit restriction only applies to users with less then 2000 rep, why is this text on the description of the 2000 rep permission ?
    – josinalvo
    Jul 26, 2012 at 21:05
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simple spelling errors

You may call me a nitpick but those errors can be vital... Spelling errors mess up searching. For instance: millennium, millenium, milennium, milenium. If it is not the 1st one you are never going to find the topic when searching for it.

I have wasted time on AU ending up finding the topic because it eventually ended up at the top of the stack and not by finding it through searching. Very frustrating.

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    "never going to find the topic" -- unles yor a bad speler wen yur serching! ;)
    – bstpierre
    May 11, 2012 at 17:20
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    I'd really have to agree here. Not everyone on here's first language is English either. If they use bad (grammatically speaking) language, even if understandable when read, it can make searching impossible, which means the question will pop up again. i.e. "I can't make sond stopp" is supposed to mean "I can't mute my sound" or something.
    – reverendj1
    May 25, 2012 at 21:06
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    Not to be a nitpick (but enjoying the irony of being one in this topic) but your example is of spelling errors, not grammatical errors. Nitpicking aside, I completely agree that even simple spelling and grammatical errors can make it harder to find via search. May 27, 2012 at 12:36
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    I just edited grammatical to spelling. I think minor edits that result in better clarity and more rapid understanding of both questions and answers are vital to the quality of the site.
    – Elder Geek
    Jun 9, 2015 at 21:45

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