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There is an answer to an old community wiki question that was edited about 45 mins ago to make it sexually explicit, with a second attempted edit pending approval to make it even more so.

I rejected the proposed second edit and reverted the first one, but it seems odd that an anonymous user was able to edit an answer on a popular, answered question. Further, the edit was listed as being done by Community when viewed from the main site, and it only listed the anonymous user in the answers edit history. Is this functioning as intended?

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    $\begingroup$ That was a brand new user (looking at their user ID) but they might have had an association bonus (the moderators can probably tell). Otherwise, they should not be able to edit even community wiki posts as that requires 100 reputation. $\endgroup$
    – Glorfindel
    Nov 19, 2020 at 8:51
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    $\begingroup$ @Glorfindel Huh, interesting; out of curiosity, how can you tell by their ID that they're brand new? $\endgroup$
    – Alec Rhea
    Nov 19, 2020 at 8:52
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    $\begingroup$ I will add that I have mentioned those two edits also in the MO editors' lounge. A natural guess would be that when a moderator deleted the user, they missed this particular edit. And the reason that the edit was listed as community since at the time when you (and me) looked at the post, the account of the user have been already destroyed. $\endgroup$ Nov 19, 2020 at 9:03
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    $\begingroup$ @AlecRhea mathoverflow.net/users?tab=NewUsers&sort=creationdate - the newest user currently has ID 168953, only 7 more than the perpetrator here. $\endgroup$
    – Glorfindel
    Nov 19, 2020 at 9:25
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    $\begingroup$ @Glorfindel Cool trick, thanks for the explanation. $\endgroup$
    – Alec Rhea
    Nov 19, 2020 at 9:50
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    $\begingroup$ This bud report is perhaps also (marginally) related to the situation here: Edit by deleted user is incorrectly attributed on some pages to anonymous users. $\endgroup$ Nov 19, 2020 at 19:30
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    $\begingroup$ Wow, it's up to 6 digits now! I remember when it was 2 digits... $\endgroup$ Nov 21, 2020 at 22:25
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    $\begingroup$ Anonymous users should not be able to edit, period. I don't understand what on earth the designers thought when they allowed them to, because so far the effects of anonymous edits that I have observed on SE are overwhelmingly negative. $\endgroup$
    – user21820
    Nov 22, 2020 at 7:22
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    $\begingroup$ @user21820 And anonymous users can not edit - they can only suggest edits. The edits referenced here were made by a user with an account - and the account was later deleted. Concerning the question whether or not anonymous edits can contribute something useful - I'd guess this is quite famous: Suggested edit by Anonymous. $\endgroup$ Nov 22, 2020 at 7:30
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    $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak: I was referring to the title of this meta post, not the incident that happened here (which as you said happens to be a later-deleted user). It is true that anonymous users can only suggest an edit, but in my opinion that should not even be allowed, because sometimes trolls use anonymous edits to cause trouble, since some reviewers do not read what they review. $\endgroup$
    – user21820
    Nov 22, 2020 at 7:35
  • $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak: That link you just edited into your comment is quite interesting. =) But I still think that there is little benefit. The fact that one anonymous user did contribute a lot via anonymous edits does not imply that that user would not do so if edits were required to be associated with an account. =) $\endgroup$
    – user21820
    Nov 22, 2020 at 7:36

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