I mistakenly clicked Approve on an edit, where I intended to click Improve. Now, even clicking edit on the answer won't let me fix the mistake I had noticed. What should I do?
2 Answers
If the edit was truly bad and needs to be reverted entirely, you can view the post's revision history by clicking the text "edited ** min ago" to view the edit history, and then "rollback" on the revision you want to roll back to.
If it just needs minor changes, then edit the post again and make the changes. You can also do this from the review queue by using the Improve button.
If you weren't the last to approve the edit, such that it finally went into effect, remember that others also have to review the suggestion, so it may be ultimately rejected by others. If it's truly horrible, you can flag the post for moderator attention as a last resort.
answered Aug 7, 2014 at 13:31
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It was not a truly bad edit. It was a good edit correcting some outdated or incorrect information, and added a citation from an official source. There just happened to be a small mistake in the citation. I know about the
Improvebutton, which is why I said I intended to clickImprove. Had I usedImprove, then saving my edit would have approved the previous edit and applied mine. But since I clickedApproveit entered a state, where that option was no longer available.– kasperdCommented Aug 7, 2014 at 14:13 -
1The edit did have to be reviewed by one other person before anything else could happen to it. That other person did not notice the minor mistake in that otherwise good edit, so it got approved with the mistake. I went and fixed the mistake just now. It just feel like there should have been a simpler way for me to correct the mistake than wait for somebody else to approve the mistake, such that I could go and edit it.– kasperdCommented Aug 7, 2014 at 14:17
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Not much you can do in that scenario. And it's been that way since forever. You can always drop into chat; there's usually a moderator or two hanging around.– Michael Hampton ModCommented Aug 7, 2014 at 23:19
It appears the answer in my particular case was:
- Wait for somebody else to approve the edit.
- Then click on edit to correct the mistake I had previously approved.
It might be the particular corner case I ran into is rare enough that it is ok to let mistakes slip through in that case, even though it could have been corrected before it got applied.
Approve. I could not start a new edit either because the previous had still not been reviewed by more people.Improverather thanApprove.