Editing Help:Edit summary (section)

== Edits should be explained<span class="anchor" id="Always provide an edit summary"></span> ==
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According to the [[Wikipedia:CONSENSUS#Through editing|consensus policy]], {{Strong|all edits should be explained}} <em>(unless the reason for them is obvious)—either by clear edit summaries, or by discussion on the associated talk page.</em> It is a good practice to provide a meaningful summary for every edit, especially when [[WP:Reverting|reverting]] (undoing) the actions of other editors or deleting existing text; otherwise, people may question your motives for the edit. In appropriate circumstances, a summary can be quite brief ("[[Wikipedia:Wikipedia_abbreviations#C|ce]]" and "[[Wikipedia:Wikipedia_abbreviations#R|rvv]]" for example).

Accurate summaries help other contributors decide whether they want to review an edit, and to understand the change should they choose to review it. Edits without edit summaries are more likely to be reverted incorrectly because they provide no explanation or rationale for the change. Editors should not revert an otherwise good edit because of a missing or confusing edit summary; good editors may simply have forgotten, or a confusing edit summary may have been the result of an [[autofill]] mishap. (If the edit summary itself violates privacy or other policies, see the [[#Fixing|Fixing]] section below.) However, realistically, when a major edit (e.g., addition or deletion of a substantial amount of article text, or a substantial rewrite) doesn't have an edit summary, some busy editors might not [[WP:AGF|assume good faith]] and revert the change without evaluating it properly. Providing an edit summary helps prevent that kind of error. 

Summaries are less important for ''[[Help:Minor edit|minor changes]]'' (which means generally unchallengeable changes, such as spelling or grammar corrections), but a brief note like "fixed spelling" is helpful even then. 

To avoid accidentally leaving edit summaries blank, registered editors can select "Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary" on the ''Editing'' tab of the [[Special:Preferences|user preferences]].

{{Clear}}