I know this was from good motives (and I agree that the new title is better), but I think that changing somebody else’s post as you promote it sends off bad signaling, compared to saying “Really want to promote this, but the title looks wrong for the post. How about...?”
You know, you’re right. I felt bad for not having promoted the post already and felt the title needed to be changed before it was promoted, and worried that Swimmer wouldn’t have seen the request for a while; but in retrospect I should’ve posted the proposed change first and then waited 4 hours to see if there was a reply.
If you’re making changes before receiving permission, regardless of waiting period, I’d suggest that a quick editor’s note at the TOP of the article would be appropriate. In the case of minor grammar fixes and other touch-ups, a footnote or a comment letting the author know about the changes seems sufficient, but an actual content change (such as rewriting the title) seems like it needs a clearer disclaimer.
Looking at the current post, there is no such indicator of editing, which is my primary discomfort with the activity.
I’m also curious how you decided on “4 hours”, since it seems like an unusual value. I would normally expect “24 hours” / 1 day, and I’m curious what lead to this instead. I think that clear signalling is the more important aspect of this, though (but I do appreciate your willingness to compromise and wait in the future!)
Seconded. I don’t go as far as Mitchell Porter because I’m not into protests. To take another example, Barkley Rosser told me he’s boycotting the comments at EconLog to protest censorship, but I just assume I’d stray too far and get banned again if I had my privileges reinstated.
I know this was from good motives (and I agree that the new title is better), but I think that changing somebody else’s post as you promote it sends off bad signaling, compared to saying “Really want to promote this, but the title looks wrong for the post. How about...?”
You know, you’re right. I felt bad for not having promoted the post already and felt the title needed to be changed before it was promoted, and worried that Swimmer wouldn’t have seen the request for a while; but in retrospect I should’ve posted the proposed change first and then waited 4 hours to see if there was a reply.
If you’re making changes before receiving permission, regardless of waiting period, I’d suggest that a quick editor’s note at the TOP of the article would be appropriate. In the case of minor grammar fixes and other touch-ups, a footnote or a comment letting the author know about the changes seems sufficient, but an actual content change (such as rewriting the title) seems like it needs a clearer disclaimer.
Looking at the current post, there is no such indicator of editing, which is my primary discomfort with the activity.
I’m also curious how you decided on “4 hours”, since it seems like an unusual value. I would normally expect “24 hours” / 1 day, and I’m curious what lead to this instead. I think that clear signalling is the more important aspect of this, though (but I do appreciate your willingness to compromise and wait in the future!)
Seconded. I don’t go as far as Mitchell Porter because I’m not into protests. To take another example, Barkley Rosser told me he’s boycotting the comments at EconLog to protest censorship, but I just assume I’d stray too far and get banned again if I had my privileges reinstated.