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I had an odd thing happen a month or so ago when I answered some question, (unfortunately I forget which) but the OP was one of those user's that does not seem to accept what people are telling them.

I logged in to discover a pending edit on my answer from the OP trying to change the context of the answer to his mistaken beliefs of how it worked.

Sort if like "I reject your reality, and substitute my own.."

I was sort of shocked he was even able to do that.

Should the owner of a question be able to edit the answers to said question?

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    \$\begingroup\$ It's not really clear that this is usefully distinct from defending against bad edits in general (which will always be an issue...) One could say that someone involved in the question automatically deserves more scrutiny (should edits by those who have also posted an answer be banned?), but at the same time those participating in a page are more likely to be paying attention and so perhaps to catch a typo and seek to correct it. \$\endgroup\$ – Chris Stratton Jan 15 '18 at 23:38
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    \$\begingroup\$ The editing system is open to all, even anonymous users can propose edits. These edits have to be voted on by the moderation system, if there is a failing in the system, it is with the moderators. If you don't like an edit, you can always roll the edit back or propose a new edit. If you feel there is a conflict or get into an editing war bring it up with a diamond moderator. \$\endgroup\$ – Voltage Spike Jan 18 '18 at 16:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ Great advice @laptop2d \$\endgroup\$ – Trevor_G Jan 18 '18 at 18:03
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There is already a mechanism that requires sufficient rep to edit answers. If your rep is too low, then edits go onto a review queue instead of just happening. That lets others who presumably know the system more than someone with low rep decide whether the edit is something that should be allowed.

This apparently worked, since you said it was a pending edit. In other words, the system didn't let him edit your answer. The person was only able to propose an edit. Apparently this happened recently enough before you logged in that the edit hadn't been resolved (rejected or accepted) yet. You as the post author can single-handedly reject a proposed edit. It looks like everything worked to properly deal with a bad proposed edit.

I don't think we need more than we already have to handle edits from new users. This really has nothing to do with whether the user is who asked the question the answer is for is the one proposing the edit. Some other moron could have proposed a bad edit too.

Bad edit proposals that alter author intent get rejected pretty reliably. I've seen a few of those on my posts over the years too. Often they are rejected before I even realize the whole thing happened.

In the rare case where a new user manages to edit one of your posts to say something you don't want to say, just roll back the edit. If it persists, call it to the attention of a moderator.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ +1 valid points as always Olin. It just seems like an odd thing to allow. \$\endgroup\$ – Trevor_G Jan 13 '18 at 18:19

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