I've become confused by two meta posts:
In the first, a diamond user made substantial editorial changes in an effort to remove backstory distraction and clarify the question. This invalidated a top-voted answer (which had become caught up in the distraction), which started an editing war leading to @MartinBonner's post (or, more precisely, Martin's post was trying to head off the editing war, but it was too late).
In the second, a standard user was inviting people to reopen a question stating that she disliked the VTC reason and that the core question did not fall under its mandate. I did not vote to close that question, but posted an answer to postulate why the question was closed. She subsequently edited the question to remove the issues I pointed out which, IMO, changed the meaning of the question. When I expressed my outrage, user @RichardU directed me to the Code of Conduct and thanked her for what he believed was a good edit.
One of these two users, @MonicaCellio or @Kyralessa, is wrong.1 However, this site's meta is filled with questions about editing and it's made identifying the site's actual editing policy difficult. Three of my personal concerns are these:
Are users allowed to remove factual information from a question solely for the purpose of reopening it?
Are users allowed to remove backstory in an effort to reduce distraction?
Are users allowed to modify the tone, voice, or emotional context of a question?
They are concerns to me because I do not believe people have the right to put words in any OP's mouth (or to remove them), but I understand that questions should be clear.
Unless specified elsewhere in Meta, the current policy as stated in Help -> Editing should be our guide
- To fix grammar and spelling mistakes
- To clarify the meaning of the post (without changing that meaning)
- To include additional information only found in comments, so all of the information relevant to the post is contained in one place
- To correct minor mistakes or add updates as the post ages
- To add related resources or hyperlinks
Based on these guidelines, it appears @MonicaCellio was correct to make the changes she did and @Kyralessa was wrong to make the changes she did, but I am seeking community input and consensus.
What is this site's editing policy if it differs from the Help Center?
1 Honestly, they could both be wrong. But they cannot both be right.