Edit Note

Edit notes are comments left by users on an edit and are an important form of communication between users on the site. They can either be entered at the same time as an edit, or can be added to an existing edit.

Note: All users are expected to follow the Code of Conduct when entering an edit note.

What to use them for

Common uses for edit notes are to:

• provide supplementary information (e.g. a URL that contains the source information)
• ask for clarification on an edit (e.g. if no source was provided)
• discuss the changes being made and/or whether they're appropriate changes (e.g. perhaps the change doesn't follow the Style Guidelines)
• enable a more experienced user to help answer another user's questions (e.g. questions on how to correctly perform an edit)

Edit notes can be as long or as short as you like, but keep in mind that others will have to read and understand what you are saying. See how to write edit notes for more information.

Email notification

Any edit notes that are made will always be displayed when viewing the edit they're left on. Additionally, they will also be sent via email to:

• the user that made the edit
• others users who have entered a note on the edit
• any user who has voted on the edit

Note: Any vote, be it "Yes", "No" or "Abstain", will cause you to receive notes (previously, that was restricted to only "Yes" or "No" votes).

When to do it

It is good practice to enter a note whenever you make a non-trivial edit, to explain the edit to other users. Entering a URL link to supporting information is particularly helpful. It is also important to enter a note if you are making a contentious edit such as adding a standalone recording or removing anything from the database, otherwise users are likely to vote against the edit.

If you are voting against an edit it is important to enter a note explaining why. Such a note serves several purposes: it explains to the editor why you believe their change to be incorrect (so that they won't make the same mistake again, and can even cancel the edit in question), it and warns other voters that they should not vote "Yes" to the edit. It also allows an editor to contact you to explain why they feel their edit is correct, and perhaps convince you to change your vote.

Edit note syntax

HTML syntax is not supported, but URLs are automatically displayed as clickable links and there is some basic wiki syntax markup available.

Notes

• There is no syntax to use when entering in a URL, any entered URLs will turn into links automatically.
• URLs may break if there are special characters in the URL, and unfortunately, there is no way to adjust/correct this when creating/editing the Edit Note. Someone reading the Edit Note can extract the intended URL as follows:
  • Grab the portion of the URL that was made clickable (usually by right clicking on the link)
    • Simply grabbing the text of the clickable link may not work, because the displayed text may be a shortened (and non-usable) version of the URL.
  • paste this URL into a new window or tab
  • now copy the remaining portion of the URL that was left out of the clickable link.
• Long URLs will be shortened when displayed, don't worry the link will still work.

Modifying or removing edit notes

You can modify the content of your edit notes or remove (blank) them if the following conditions apply:

• It's your own edit note
• The edit note hasn't already been removed
• The edit note isn't older than 24 hours
• The edit note hasn't gotten a reply by anyone else than yourself or ModBot (which leaves automatic notifications)
• You haven't had your edit note privileges disabled by an admin

To modify or remove your notes, click the pencil or cross icon, respectively, on the edit note heading (next to your username). You can leave a reason for your change if you want. Modifying an edit note is mostly intended for cases such as typos or wrongly pasted data, rather than entirely replacing the content; as such, emails will not be sent for edit note changes. If you want editors/voters to be notified, leave a new edit note instead. Also, keep in mind that removing an edit note only removes the content - other editors will be able to see that you left a (now empty) edit note and the reason, if any, for removing it.

Admins can modify and remove any edit notes at any time. If you really need something removed from your own edit note (for example, you wrongly pasted a password or other private information) and you cannot modify it anymore, contact us. If something should be removed from someone else's edit note (such as spam or offensive remarks), please report the user and link to the edit(s).