Help:Minor edit
 | This page in a nutshell:
|
A check to the minor edit box signifies that only superficial differences exist between the current and previous versions. Examples include typographical corrections, formatting and presentational changes, and rearrangements of text without modification of its content. A minor edit is one that the editor believes requires no review and could never be the subject of a dispute. An edit of this kind is marked in its page's revision history with a lower case, bolded "m" character (m).
By contrast, a major edit is one that should be reviewed for its acceptability to all concerned editors. Therefore, any change that affects the meaning of an article is not minor, even if the edit concerns a single word; for example, the addition or removal of "not", which can change the meaning of a sentence, is a major edit.
Because editors may choose to ignore minor edits when reviewing recent changes, the distinction between major and minor edits is significant. Logged-in users might even set their preferences to not display minor edits. If there is any chance that another editor might dispute a change, it is best not to mark the edit as minor.
Users who are not logged in to Sarkarverse are not permitted to mark changes as minor because of the potential for vandalism. The ability to mark changes as minor is one of many reasons to register.
A good rule of thumb is that edits consisting solely of spelling corrections, formatting changes, or rearrangement of text without modification of content should be flagged as minor edits.
When to mark an edit as a minor edit
- Spelling and grammatical corrections
- Simple formatting (e.g., capitalization, punctuation, or properly adding italics to non-English words, like folie des grandeurs, or titles of certain works, like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)
- Formatting that does not change the meaning of the page (e.g., moving a picture, splitting one paragraph into two – where this is not contentious)
- Obvious factual errors (e.g., changing "Nixon resigned in 1874" to "Nixon resigned in 1974")
- Fixing layout errors
- Adding or correcting wikilinks, or fixing broken external links and references already present in the article
- Removing obvious vandalism
When not to mark an edit as a minor edit
- Adding or removing content in an article
- Adding or removing visible tags or other templates in an article
- Adding or removing references or external links in an article
- Adding comments to a talk page or other discussion