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I have noticed one particular user's activity is only adding tags to questions, nothing else. I see them almost daily in review queue.

The user adds mostly irrelevant tags. I reject the edits. Others accept some and reject others.

My opinion is that tag-only edits by low rep users shouldn't be accepted, because it make only noise and isn't really helpful.

Also this kind of activity as the only one is really weird.

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  • I've thought about this myself - and also finds it rather odd. Some of the tags are sometimes relevant, but others are not.. I think I'm around 50/50 in approving and rejecting the suggested tags.
    – Artur Meinild
    Commented Jan 27, 2023 at 14:28
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    It was discussed years ago that tags-only edits is recommended to reject. Otherwise new users keep doing it. There is no much value in this activity.
    – Pilot6
    Commented Jan 27, 2023 at 14:29
  • That's fine for me if this is the guideline. 👍
    – Artur Meinild
    Commented Jan 27, 2023 at 14:30
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    Well, it was years ago. Maybe someone won't agree ;-)
    – Pilot6
    Commented Jan 27, 2023 at 14:31
  • How would you evaluate this post history? askubuntu.com/posts/1447264/timeline The user in question added tags, got approved, then 15 minutes later someone else removed them.
    – Levente
    Commented Jan 27, 2023 at 17:48
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    See also What to do with tag-only edits? and When is an edit too minor? and Should single tag edits be approved?. In this specific case, I'd custom flag a post and let a mod know. In general, I think that edits should fix all issues with a post, and so updating tags on an otherwise bad post would be a fair reason to reject. I'm happy to do whatever consensus is though
    – cocomac
    Commented Jan 27, 2023 at 17:50
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    I'm not sure if it's appropriate to talk about specific users in meta. Perhaps, this could have been discussed in chat with mods.
    – Random Person
    Commented Jan 29, 2023 at 8:54
  • @RandomPerson why not? It's not like user activity is a secret? Also this just raises questions about a users activities. If said user wanted to reply and give an explanation, they could very well do so. In the spirit of openness, I don't see any problems with this, as long as it's done in a civilized manner.
    – Artur Meinild
    Commented Jan 30, 2023 at 12:00
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    @ArturMeinild The user is new to the network I suppose and might not know about meta.
    – Random Person
    Commented Jan 30, 2023 at 12:05
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    If editing tags only is approved in Ask Ubuntu guidelines then it is approved. If it is not approved in Ask Ubuntu guidelines then either approve it or change the guidelines. We have enough rules here without making up new ones.
    – C.S.Cameron
    Commented Jan 30, 2023 at 14:18
  • It is approved to reject useless edits, isn't it? So if it is approved to reject them then either reject or change the guidelines ;-)
    – Pilot6
    Commented Jan 30, 2023 at 14:19
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    @RandomPerson You have a reasonable point about targeting a specific user on Meta; I have edited out the user details from the question itself. The question works well enough as a general question of editing and usage rather than an investigation of a specific user I think.
    – andrew.46 Mod
    Commented Jan 31, 2023 at 3:14
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    @andrew.46 The link to a user was am example. There is another one too. I didn't want to be offensive.
    – Pilot6
    Commented Jan 31, 2023 at 10:38
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    @Pilot6 I see no offense and you have a legitimate question...
    – andrew.46 Mod
    Commented Feb 1, 2023 at 2:58

1 Answer 1

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My own view of an Ask Ubuntu user whose participation is mostly in making minor changes (in this case tag edits) is that we already have mechanisms in place to deal with such occurrences.

I borrow heavily from MSO and Braiam's excellent answer to say that there are two paths to follow:

  1. Look at each one of the edits in isolation and decide whether to approve the edit, improve the edit or reject the edit. This is basic to editing work across SE and needs no modification in this case
  2. If there is an emerging pattern of poor edits from a particular user the system may very well catch this; if not flag for Elected Mod attention: we have tools to deal with this.

As a third point I would encourage some patience with users who are perhaps still working out where they can best contribute to Ask Ubuntu.

Some will end up becoming great editors, some will ask great questions, some will create incredible answers, some will become great tag editors, and a very small number will become great all rounders.

But in the beginning there may be some flailing around that ordinarily should respond to gentle guidance.

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