Can we get some edit window stats?

February 3, 2013 1:18 AM

How many people have used it, average edits per post, how many the person with the most edits has used, etc (not naming names), how often its used the various subsites, how many flags/complaints you've gotten over editted posts, etc? Just curious how it's working out.
posted by empath to MetaFilter-Related at 1:18 AM (76 comments total)

I edit everything. In fact, this Meta was originally about titles.
posted by Drinky Die at 1:36 AM on February 3 [4 favorites]

I sometimes always use it.
posted by a non e mouse at 1:39 AM on February 3

I can say that as far as flags go, we won't have data on that specifically, because we don't have a dedicated flag for this, and sometimes we've sent people reminders/heads-up notes via Mefi mail, and sometimes we've noted it in-thread, so there isn't a clear way to track actions on that, either. It seems to me that I'm personally sending notes to people maybe around 3-4 times a week or so these days, and we've received very few emails.

Back of the envelope, it looks like there have been around 700 edits made so far in February, so that would suggest around 350 per day across all sites (though, probably more, since Feb. 1 & 2 were a Friday and Saturday, so probably slightly less activity). I'm just looking at our mod admin page list of edits which is set up to show 50 per page, which is why I'm using this shorthand guesstimation for now – it would take a long time to go through all of January this clunky way, and pb probably has a way to access that info and can let us know later.
posted by taz (staff) at 1:55 AM on February 3

This makes 351.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:37 AM on February 3 [1 favorite]

I wasn't even curious about this before I saw the post.

Now I'm desperately hoping there's a precisely calculated answer here when I wake up.
posted by reprise the theme song and roll the credits at 4:43 AM on February 3 [1 favorite]

I edit just about every comment I make, as I always see a typo .5 seconds after I click the submit button.
posted by COD at 6:34 AM on February 3 [4 favorites]

Just curious how it's working out.

Yeah we haven't been keeping stats though we can track/check on edits. From our perspective it's been working out great. Very little abuse, not a lot of contention as a result of edits and a dramatic decrease in "I need you to edit my comment, HALP" emails which were not so difficult to deal with from a work stance, but had this sense of urgency to them that made Contact Form email have a sense of urgency to it that it almost never does otherwise. So I'm not sure about stats other than what taz has mentioned, but the feeling that I have is that it's been a huge win.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:48 AM on February 3 [5 favorites]

I really don't think its made a bit of difference a huge change in the site culture at all, not that anyone cares about my opinion.
posted by Curious Artificer at 7:27 AM on February 3 [1 favorite]

I took a look at the last 30 days of comments. MeFi had 50,491 comments. Of those, 4,568 were edited. Ask had 33,697 comments with 3,180 edited. MetaTalk had 8,159 comments with 653 edited. So we're looking at an edit rate of MeFi: 9%, Ask: 9.4%, and MeTa: 8%.

Most comments are edited once. Of the 8,500 or so comments that were edited, two were edited nine times. 1,216 were edited twice.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:50 AM on February 3 [7 favorites]

I use the edit window moderately often, especially when posting from my phone, where autocorrect plays its hijinx. Regardless, I still make hilarious errors because I am a loser. Fortunately, a hilarious loser.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:54 AM on February 3 [4 favorites]

It baffles me that some people clearly don't use the edit window at all. Two people in particular almost always have typos in their comments. It irks me, dammit.
posted by desjardins at 7:57 AM on February 3

Sorry desjardins, I'll try harder. *hangs head in sham*
posted by arcticseal at 8:03 AM on February 3 [42 favorites]

Your shame is indeed a sham!
posted by Burhanistan at 8:05 AM on February 3 [4 favorites]

*hangs head in sham siam*

There you go!
posted by dubold at 8:19 AM on February 3 [2 favorites]

It irks me that since we got the edit window, now when I post a comment with bad spelling or grammar I'm not not just an idiot, I'm a lazy idiot.
posted by Balonious Assault at 8:32 AM on February 3 [24 favorites]

We're all Bozos stupid idiots on this bus Metafilter.

Thanks! Now I feel better. I always knew that Firesign Theater had it wrong, but couldn't put my finger on it.
posted by HuronBob at 8:56 AM on February 3

Wait, oh cool

Bozos / stupid idiots

that's a promotion, right?
posted by sammyo at 9:08 AM on February 3

It baffles me that some people clearly don't use the edit window at all.

I have sent at least one time-sensitive MeMail along the lines of YOU HAVE FOUR MINUTES TO FIX THAT BEFORE I GO INSANE.

I would like to volunteer to use the edit window on behalf of those who will not or cannot.
posted by carsonb at 9:13 AM on February 3 [8 favorites]

Because, deep down, we are all filthy prescriptivists, no?
posted by carsonb at 9:14 AM on February 3 [2 favorites]

Just assume that any tyop I make in a comment is because I'm doing something amazing in another window and come back too late to fix it myself, while asking the poor overworked moos to do so is something only a cad would do.
posted by MartinWisse at 9:20 AM on February 3 [2 favorites]

It irks me, dammit.

*Drnks sweet, sweet tiers of irksomeness*
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:24 AM on February 3 [7 favorites]

Two people in particular almost always have typos in their comments. It irks me, dammit.

Ahh now, flower. Unless you actually know these people personally and well, it's nice to extend the benefit of doubt to folks. Some people have dyslexia, are using accessibility devices for low vision, are using predictive text, are just crap at spelling, or some combination of these.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:31 AM on February 3 [3 favorites]

Exactly! Also, they may have only two fingers, or be an eagle.
posted by Too-Ticky at 9:38 AM on February 3 [13 favorites]

Some of us are using tablet devices on which you can't turn off auto-"correct".

I love my iPad with an H, for it is Handy; I hate my iPad with an H, for it makes me use UK punctuation (terminal punctuation marks outside the quotation marks).
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:12 AM on February 3

Oh, whoops. I meant to say, "And that is Horrible".
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:12 AM on February 3 [1 favorite]

Two people in particular almost always have typos in their comments. It irks me, dammit.

Random, creative misspelling and inconsistent punctuation placement are how I intoduce noise into my comments for purposes of obfuscation.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:16 AM on February 3

More than once I have noticed a typo in my comment exactly six minutes after posting. C'est la vie.
posted by ambrosia at 10:21 AM on February 3 [2 favorites]

obfuscation is an legal editing tactic.
posted by clavdivs at 10:43 AM on February 3

is a, rather.
posted by clavdivs at 10:58 AM on February 3

b that as it may...
posted by carsonb at 11:01 AM on February 3

I decided at the beginning I’m not going to edit. I try to look over the live preview before I post and if I miss something I just get to delight in the pain it is causing those who are bothered by typose.
posted by bongo_x at 11:07 AM on February 3

Here is where I admit that I edited my earlier typo free comment for comedy purposes.

I am a shallow shell of a man.
posted by arcticseal at 11:12 AM on February 3 [2 favorites]

I've used it once. Once.
posted by cjorgensen at 11:12 AM on February 3

I really want to see one of those comments that was edited 9 times. Actually, I want a twenty minutes long video documentary on "The Making of The Nine-time Edited Comment", where the commenter leads us through them, narrating their mounting frustration as they find yet another mistake, and share their anguish over the tenth mistake, the one the noticed at the 5m04s mark.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:51 AM on February 3 [12 favorites]

I could have been one of those nine-times-editors, because iPad thinks that snugglers are Snuggies and smugglers.

Snuggie smugglers.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:18 PM on February 3

cat on keyboard...
posted by mule98J at 12:28 PM on February 3

I love my iPad with an H, for it is Handy; I hate my iPad with an H, for it makes me use UK punctuation (terminal punctuation marks outside the quotation marks).

Only when the thing quoted isn't a complete sentence.
posted by hoyland at 12:51 PM on February 3

the one the noticed at the 5m04s mark.

*they
posted by desjardins at 12:57 PM on February 3 [1 favorite]

I was working on an edit once when the clock ran out and I missed my chance. And then to add insult to injury, someone mocked me about the typo via MeMail. So cruel.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:31 PM on February 3 [1 favorite]

pb: Most comments are edited once. Of the 8,500 or so comments that were edited, two were edited nine times. 1,216 were edited twice.

I am now wondering if the "edited nine times" comment was mine, as I am unfortunately all too familiar with benito.strauss' hypothetical scenario. This is despite my religious use of the preview window. Sigh.

ThePinkSuperhero: to add insult to injury, someone mocked me about the typo via MeMail. So cruel.

People actually do that?? Good lord.

*presses preview button and proofreads frantically*
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:07 PM on February 3

Many of my typos are because I'm composing the comment while tabbed out of an online game between rounds. So there's time pressure.
posted by Justinian at 2:11 PM on February 3

I took pb's stats listed above and ran some quick chi-squares on them. Turns out that comments on MeTa were edited significantly more than comments on other subsites. Not surprising at all, since people are testing out the feature there, but always fun to get a result no matter what it is.

For me personally, I was very anti-edit window for a long time. I was worried about how it would change the site culture and all sorts of other little things. However, I find that I use the edit window a lot, and I really appreciate it! Also, I still see the occasional typos or linguistic flubs here and there, which bring me so much joy.* So, it's win/win for me. Thanks for this feature, mods!

*Joy not because I relish people's errors, but because I love to notice and analyze linguistic variation.
posted by iamkimiam at 2:26 PM on February 3

I edit just about every comment I make, as I always see a typo .5 seconds after I click the submit button.

It really should be labeled the "Reveal Typos" button.
posted by Drinky Die at 2:27 PM on February 3 [11 favorites]

to add insult to injury, someone mocked me about the typo via MeMail. So cruel.

People actually do that?? Good lord.

Oh yeah. I once had a relatively heavily-favourited answer where I engaged in some comical, over-enthusiastic hyperbole for the purpose of getting my point across. It was quite noticeably a Very Silly comment, and was presumably favourited for that reason.

I had not one, not two, not three but four, or maybe five people I think, all separately memail to... helpfully (!?) point out, "Oh btw, I know this is kinda silly and not really important, but I want you to know that one of your silly metaphors in that completely overwrought/silly comment is actually factually incorrect. Said metaphor does not work they way you imply it would. Just letting you know."

I almost religiously reply to memail, but I confess I was stumped as to what to say in this case: "Uh, thanks?"; "Great, I'll be sure to remove that metaphor from my dictionary of silly metaphors that don't matter"; "I'm glad you reached out personally to correct me, assuming that I a) did not know silly metaphor was not literally correct, and b) that this cut to the substance of silly comment and merited a personal communication solely to correct it" (I can only assume the number of favourites for something incorrect drove these people crazy, or something). The number of people unable to let an inane comment on a website slide surprised me. I don't think I've ever cared that much about any comment here, let alone a joke comment.

But yeah, people memail for funny reasons eh?
posted by smoke at 2:56 PM on February 3 [1 favorite]

Ha. That totally reminded me of Tig Notaro on "no moleste"
posted by iamkimiam at 2:59 PM on February 3 [1 favorite]

smoke, sometimes they don't even bother to memail. :)

I am very thankful for the edit window!
posted by zarq at 3:25 PM on February 3

I will memail you about your grammatical errors but it will cost you $20 SAIT. Per error, to be clear.
posted by rtha at 7:18 PM on February 3

pb: Of the 8,500 or so comments that were edited, two were edited nine times.

Nine times?

Nine times.
posted by themanwho at 9:02 PM on February 3 [3 favorites]

It really should be labeled the "Reveal Typos" button.

Sometimes the typos are in stealth mode. It takes 5:01 for them to appear.
I have noticed.
posted by Mezentian at 9:54 PM on February 3 [2 favorites]

two were edited nine times

"This post has been edited nine times."

"Nine times?"

"Nine times."

"I don't recall fixing nine typos."

"That's because you weren't fixing typos. You were changing your posts! Wake up and smell the coffee. It's a fool's paradise. You're just editing down the primrose path."
posted by malthusan at 10:24 PM on February 3

I thought I would hate the edit window and never use it, but I hate forgetting to close my html tags more.
posted by aubilenon at 10:45 PM on February 3 [1 favorite]

I keep forgetting the Preview button is there.
posted by Mezentian at 12:25 AM on February 4

religious use of the preview window

It is... the Oracle! It shows us the future! The preview window chooses which comments will stay and which will go.
posted by XMLicious at 12:47 AM on February 4

I know I can't proof-read my own writing worth a damn and I'm always embarrassed when I find a typo in past comments. But prior to this thread, had I received an email correction about such an error, I likely would have posted an AskMe re "how should I respond to this", assuming that virtually everyone else would be similarly amused/outraged by the situation.

Given the above, I'm wondering if anyone is interested in setting up an editing/proof-reading group to read over all comments, etc. prior to posting?
posted by she's not there at 1:18 AM on February 4

I once completed an edit with less than :10 on the clock. I felt like Sterling Archer defusing a bomb.

M as in Mancy?
posted by Rock Steady at 8:09 AM on February 4 [1 favorite]

When the edit comment clock starts to count down from :10, the window should play the Mission Impossible theme.
posted by zarq at 8:13 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]

someone mocked me about the typo via MeMail.

Wow, that's kinda nuts. I need to make more tpyos, because my memail is a lonely, hollow, empty void.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:22 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]

Typos . . . Typos . . .

Isn't that one of the moons of Mars?
 
posted by Herodios at 10:07 AM on February 4 [1 favorite]

When the edit comment clock starts to count down from :10, the window should play the Mission Impossible theme.

MacGyver!
posted by headnsouth at 10:25 AM on February 4 [4 favorites]

I wish we had a "Damn the torpedoes!" type button, like speeding up on Tetris. No edit window for me! I do it live!
posted by frecklefaerie at 1:14 PM on February 4

Jessamyn metric sez----> the feeling that I have is that it's been a huge win.

I humbly concur.
posted by Skygazer at 1:17 PM on February 4

Personally I really wish we could get an "Edit other people's comments!" pony ride...

What fun that would be...


And April 1st is just around a coupla corners...
posted by Skygazer at 1:20 PM on February 4

Bit of behind-the-scenes trivia: it took us so long to actually roll the feature out mostly because originally instead of having the edit window be a self-serve process, we were going to just reroute all typo-fix email requests to a small, colorful bird. We spent the last couple of years training it, and the results were actually pretty good, but we eventually had to ditch that plan because it turned out to be impossible to get the little guy to refrain from inserting bits of snarky commentary while he was at it, and we didn't think people would be okay with that Edit Oriole tone.
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:27 PM on February 4 [9 favorites]

THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT
posted by cortex (staff) at 2:28 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]

BOOO! *hiss*
posted by Drinky Die at 2:31 PM on February 4

*slow hand clap*
posted by arcticseal at 3:08 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]

So where is this bird now?
posted by Skygazer at 3:27 PM on February 4

my bad sorry nobody told me the bird was special
posted by rtha at 3:31 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]

...
posted by Skygazer at 4:38 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]

That's such a horrible shaggy-dog pun that I want to acknowledge it in some way, but I can't bring myself to favorite it, and the only action commensurate with its horror would be to rage-quit MetaFilter with the "Close your account" Button. And it's not that awful. But just barely not that awful. So "Congratulations!", I guess.
posted by benito.strauss at 4:51 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]

Stunned silence is really the only proper response.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:57 PM on February 4 [4 favorites]

Now, that's the beer that made Mel Famey walk us!


...said a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.
posted by Sidhedevil at 5:06 PM on February 4

Wait, oh cool

Bozos / stupid idiots

that's a promotion, right?

My mother was a stupid idiotette in high school.
posted by hippybear at 6:15 PM on February 4

Now, that's the beer that made Mel Famey walk us!

Just had a flashback of my father telling me that joke when I was very young. Thanks for the memory.

now I have to go leave no tern unstoned
posted by davejay at 4:49 PM on February 5

Toucan play at this game. I found it hard to Swallow the edit window initially but I think it's Ostrich to expect a change in site culture at the same time, so it's good to see that most of the ranting and Raven about the feature's impact has all but Crowked.
posted by lordaych at 9:57 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]

iamkimiam: "Turns out that comments on MeTa were edited significantly more than comments on other subsites."

Howzzat work, since the overall edit rate for MeTa (8%) is less that the other two sites (9%, 9.4%)? Shouldn't it go the other way?

Statistics bingo question: did you correct for multiple comparisons?
posted by dendrochronologizer at 1:59 AM on February 7