I recently wondered about the nature of editing answers and when should one avoid doing so.
I believe that editing questions is something really positive that can help OP receive better attention to the post. However, it is my perception that this is done more frequently than editing answers on posts. It is also of my experience that (at least for me) it's harder to see/approve a good edit to an answer, as many of them are attempts to reply, superfluous, conflict with the author's intent, or even are worthy of an answer on it's own.
This may suggest that editing answers is a more delicate procedure (as each user has it's own style and tone), and that it may be less useful than opting to improve the question instead.
I would like to know what the Community thinks about the process of editing and improving answers. When should we do it? When should we try to avoid doing so and instead leave a comment or similar? What should we look when considering editing an answer and go over the author's style and phrasing?