Complete revisions of posts

Question

Occasionally I see in the suggested edits section that someone made an edit that completely revises the whole build and writing style of the OP (whether it's a question or an answer). It's not just adding sources or correcting spelling; sometimes it could come out to doubling or tripling the length of the post, completely or almost completely erasing the personal style of the OP. That never seemed to me quite right. If the question makes sense, why "write-off" (pun unintended) the OP, so to speak?

Anyway, I was more wondering what others think of this and/or if there's some sort of policy on this.

Answer 1

I think it would depend what the original writing style was. If it was written unclearly (whether due to the English phrasing, or with obscure references, or what-have-you), there is a great benefit to future readers if someone takes the time to edit it to clarify, so long as the original meaning is not changed. (And even that is not an absolute no-no. For example, the question can be generalized even though that changes its meaning.)

But I don't think one should change the style for no good reason, and would reject any such edit suggestion. In fact, I have reverted edits that changed the author's transliteration scheme, so long as the original one was clear.

See also https://judaism.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/edit

Answer 2

One of the reject edit reasons directly addresses this:

This edit deviates from the original intent of the post. Even edits that must make drastic changes should strive to preserve the goals of the post's owner.

I see that this was invoked today on a suggested edit that seems precisely like what you are describing here. If an edit indeed deviates from the original intent, excepting, perhaps, where the original intent is not on-topic, suggested edits should be rejected and actual edits should be rolled back.