Correction of answer on AskUbuntu

Question

I have followed an answer on Create OpenSUSE bootable USB stick from Ubuntu?. I have copy-pasted the command and found out that there is a typo zenity --into --text="DONE" instead of zenity --info --text="DONE". So I tried to edit the answer to correct it. But it says that the edit must be at least 6 characters. So what should I do?

p.s. I have found out about typo after running the command and waiting for the popup DONE.

Answer 1

Errare humanum est - it is human to err, and some times errors do sneak into our answers.

There's a few things you can do if you find an error in an answer.

1. Leave a comment. Chances are the person whose answer contains errors is high reputation user and is frequently visiting this site ( like myself . . .and sometimes visiting too frequently :) They will see your comment and edit the answer.

2. Request assistance from high reputation users. You can do so in AskUbuntu chatroom or here on Meta site.

3. If you have sufficient reputation on the site and have editing privilege, you can correct the post yourself.

4. If you have flagging privilege, flag for moderator attention. That's least preferred solution, since our dear moderators are busy swinging ban hammers at misbehaving users as well as moving questions that are not related to Ubuntu :) and it would be shame to trouble them too much with trivial things ( at least IMHO ). However, as a last resort that's as good solution as any.

As for the 6 character limit, there's always a way to paraphrase a sentence, change grammar, and use synonyms for words to add up to the character limit without loosing the meaning. Remember: as long as your edit doesn't damage the meaning of the answer, your edit is good to go.

Answer 2

This frequently happens. There is an issue in a post, and the edit just won't line up to 6 bytes or more. Here are several ideas:

1. Check for grammar and spelling. You can nitpick in this situation. Put two spaces between sentences, even though it doesn't show. Check for missing apostrophes.
2. Check formatting. Is there somewhere where the user used bold where back-ticks would have been more appropriate? Look for trailing new lines.
3. Change wording. If nothing else works, simply in-obstructively change the wording; you can always find something that could be improved, even slightly.

Please do do one thing, though.

Let people know what you're doing.

Don't edit out a critical error and then mark in the comment, Fixed grammar and formatting. Mark that you edited out the critical error, and even, if it's not very obvious, drop a friendly comment to the author. It can't hurt, and it will prevent potential roll-back wars.