Suppose we have a new question that needs substantial body edits and some tags. If I do not intend to do the substantial body edits immediately, should I refrain from adding the needed tags?
\$\begingroup\$
\$\endgroup\$
2
asked May 13, 2021 at 13:55
-
1\$\begingroup\$ I've already upvoted this, but also thank you for asking it. \$\endgroup\$– Hey I Can ChanCommented May 13, 2021 at 18:39
-
\$\begingroup\$ Related: rpg.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/456/… \$\endgroup\$– AkixkisuCommented May 14, 2021 at 10:13
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
\$\begingroup\$
\$\endgroup\$
8
Nothing is wrong with just editing tags
Maybe you just doesn't have the time and/or energy to go through editing the entire body of the question and so you only edit the tags, which are, for me, a much less taxing edit.
I honestly can't see anything wrong with such an action. The question was already recently active, so the bump won't do anything. The in-line tag edit function exists solely to make such edits easier to perform. And, it in no way prevents other users from actually editing the body of the question into a more acceptable form.
And I'll point out that this applies to both new and old questions. In fact, if you stumble upon an old, open question that is in need of significant body edits, editing the tags and bumping the question is probably a good thing as it will increase visibility.
Now, should you update the tags of old questions that don't need significant body edits just to organize the site better for search functionality and the like? Probably don't do it to a million questions at once and flood the front page, one question edit won't do any harm, but this is also out of scope for the question asked here and we already have other Meta posts discussing more similar situations.
- Is it irresponsible to bump numerous questions by adding tags?
- What are the guidelines for editing many questions in a short period of time?
Perhaps of note, is that such edits do not progress any badges other than the Editor badge. Do with this information what you will.
Note that if the question is closed then there are other reasons why you probably want to edit just the tags (or at least, there are reasons not to edit the body unless you are making significant changes). This is because editing the body will often put the question into the review queue, while editing the tags does not. So in these cases, avoid minor fixes to the body of the question, but tag edits will work just fine. Some questions/answers about this:
answered May 13, 2021 at 14:09
-
4\$\begingroup\$ I'll just tack on a thought here: the only real issue I'm aware of is the edit interrupting an ongoing edit. They can sometimes take a moment and having to restart it can frustrating. That's not really an issue specific to tag edits though, more multiple users wanting to fix things at the same time \$\endgroup\$– Someone_Evil ModCommented May 13, 2021 at 14:13
-
1\$\begingroup\$ It would be worthwhile noting this didn't progress any badges \$\endgroup\$ Commented May 13, 2021 at 15:02
-
\$\begingroup\$ That's at least partly true \$\endgroup\$ Commented May 13, 2021 at 15:10
-
3\$\begingroup\$ One consideration here: if the recent question is closed, editing can put it into the review queue—and if you just edited in some tags and it’s not the sort of edit that might see the question re-opened, that can cause problems since, IIRC, there’s a limit on how often/how many times a question can go into the review queue (so a more substantial edit later might not). \$\endgroup\$– KRyanCommented May 13, 2021 at 18:51
-
\$\begingroup\$ @KRyan: I don't think tag-only edits actually cause the question to go into the review queue - only edits to the body of the post. See this answer on MSE about the criteria that cause closed questions to be automatically added to the reopen review queue. \$\endgroup\$– V2Blast ModCommented May 14, 2021 at 7:15
-
\$\begingroup\$ You answer: " The question was already recently active, so the bump won't do anything." but the question has a general frame - does that also count for questions that have not been active for e. g. 6 months or longer? \$\endgroup\$– AkixkisuCommented May 14, 2021 at 9:52
-
\$\begingroup\$ @Medix2 would be neat if you add that to the body to adjust it to questions in general and not a specific one. \$\endgroup\$– AkixkisuCommented May 14, 2021 at 11:18
-
\$\begingroup\$ @Akix Well, this answer is certainly a lot longer than it was originally XD \$\endgroup\$ Commented May 14, 2021 at 11:35