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Some edits, such as those adding information about an OP's system, should only be made...

  • by the OP, or
  • at the OP's explicit request, or
  • by someone who is merely putting the information into the question, from what the OP has actually said (usually from comments).

It's not, generally speaking, safe to assume that anonymous edits are faithful to this. Wrong edits, adding "me too" information, are pretty common. Such edits should generally be rejected since information from someone else's system may not be true of the OP's system.

But I doubt it's common for someone to maliciously edit a post to add incorrect system information. Given that, what should I do when someone claiming to be the OP suggests an edit as an anonymous user?

That situation currently pertains to this question, but I'm also interested in knowing how to respond to this in general. (I don't plan to post a new meta question every time this happens.)

Should I:

  • ...accept the edit?
  • ...reject it?
  • ...flag the post for moderator attention so that the user can be helped to log in, or heuristic factors (like if the anonymous user's IP is the same) can be assessed?
  • Something else?

This question has since been asked on other child metas, too:

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1 Answer 1

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I approve if they aren't obviously a vandal. We can't do a IP check, or anything like that so its a little difficult, but again, if it isn't vandalizing (and adds value to the question) then by all means, approve it.

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  • 10
    It can always be rolledback later. Jun 28, 2012 at 18:24
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    Supplementary Comment: If the user does not have 2k reputation, all their edits need reviewing. My advice is to review the changes themselves, and not focus on a user saying "oh, I'm the original poster.", but rather focus on the content of the edits being done.
    – Thomas Ward Mod
    Jul 2, 2012 at 17:46
  • @LordofTime very true.
    – jrg
    Jul 2, 2012 at 18:42

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