I asked two questions, one about C and one about Objective C. I got answers to both, relatively quickly. The answers worked.
But, in the C question, I provided some more information by adding a comment instead of editing my post. Result? Comment deleted with a snotty note. In the Objective C question, I called the language "Objective C" instead of "Objective-C". Result? My question edited to fit someone else's idea of good style: http://stackoverflow.com/posts/2669817/revisions
It's that last one that really gets me. Someone with more karma gets to put words in my mouth? And my name gets left on the edited post? Wow. Done.
I get why they allow it, they want the site to be more searchable. And in a way I'm glad, because I get a lot from reading answers to things other people ask, but I will never again write anything there myself.
Clarity is a good thing, and uniformity and standards definitely help with that. Looking at the revision page you linked, I don't see anything there that's offensive. I may have made similar edits myself had I seen it (at least, if it were a question in an area I'm familiar with).
Keep in mind that StackOverflow isn't just about answering your question; it's about providing a large searchable knowledge-base so others with similar questions can easily find ready-made answers.
Like it or not, collaborative editing of this kind is a cornerstone of the site, and is explicitly addressed as part of the FAQ[1].
Clarity from changing "Objective C" to "Objective-C", whatever. The rest of the changes didn't add clarity, they were totally stylistic.
People are not computers, and we're touchy about stuff we write. If you want to add a tag to my question to make it more searchable, fine. If you want to let me know I have a typo, or used the wrong word or something, whatever. Just editing someone's question, especially for subjective writing style, comes across as rude.
If it's not supposed to, or if the rest of that community doesn't mind, I'm happy for them. But it's not for me, and it's not for a lot of other people either. So, I agree with the OP.
FWIW, I agree with you here. The other style changes were pointless (the "If I'm.." to "For example, if I'm.." nonsense). You can always roll back a change to your own question though. In the editor's defence, a lot of low-rep users post really unreadable questions. Maybe he saw you had less than a few hundred points and got a bit trigger happy.
I would roll it back, if I cared at all about the site. This all happened about a year ago, I'm only pointing it out now because it's relevant to this thread.
It's a really poorly-thought-out feature: new users who can't write coherently get taught that they don't have to, because someone will come along and fix it for them; new users who can write are more likely to be annoyed by other people playing copyeditor on their posts. Guess which group sticks around?
Stack Overflow is a wiki — that's part of its design. If you're so attached to your words that this pains you, then a wiki site really isn't a good fit for you. But that's a matter of your personal idiosyncrasies, not a problem with Stack Overflow.
But just to be clear: When somebody edits your post, it's noted on the post and anybody who's curious can click to see what they changed. They are not "putting words in your mouth." They are cleaning up the question so it is more useful to others (and will get you better answers as a bonus).
But, in the C question, I provided some more information by adding a comment instead of editing my post. Result? Comment deleted with a snotty note. In the Objective C question, I called the language "Objective C" instead of "Objective-C". Result? My question edited to fit someone else's idea of good style: http://stackoverflow.com/posts/2669817/revisions
It's that last one that really gets me. Someone with more karma gets to put words in my mouth? And my name gets left on the edited post? Wow. Done.
I get why they allow it, they want the site to be more searchable. And in a way I'm glad, because I get a lot from reading answers to things other people ask, but I will never again write anything there myself.