A few days ago, I came across a question on serverfault with an answer I thought good, but could be improved.

And indeed, the software asked me to improve the question. So I did. I clarified and gave details on how to make the solution secure.

https://serverfault.com/suggested-edits/3502

This edit was rejected with the vague (and very arguably incorrect) reason being "This edit changes too much in the original post; the original meaning or intent of the post would be lost."

Wow. Imagine how much that makes me want to contribute to questions in the future that ask me to improve them.

So first, I would like to ask moderators to err more on the side of being generous, than on the side of being stringent.

And then, I would also suggest there be someway to notify and discuss the various issues back and forth.

Post the edit and let others correct it later, especially if it's a community edit.

We all here work for free. The reward is in acknowledgement.

I understand how small and petty this minor grief is. I am posting this now to see how serverfault and its policies might be improved in the future.

I posted the following at http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/05/a-theory-of-moderation/#comment-62507

A few days ago, I found an answer on serverfault that I thought was good, and that asked me for my improvement. So I added a good chunk of answer to it. Since I don't have edit privileges there, it went into some queue, where a moderator rejected it with the somewhat strange claim "that my edit would change the answer too much." But the edit didn't change the answer at all, which was left completely intact, but clarified it, and added some important details regarding how to secure the answer. I was not notified of this rejection. And yes, since I am unpaid just as much as the moderator, it somewhat rankles that this obviously good faith and correct edit is just rejected. I will remember this anytime stackoverflow or one of its sites ask me to improve an answer. The response will be no. It's a waste of time. So I think it's a shame that there seems to be no way to directly address/email/im/notify a moderator or anyone that can reject an edit, and nothing in the community that suggests a moderator should directly communicate with the user he is moderating.