Last modified: 2011-03-13 18:05:40 UTC
Since Recent changes and Watchlist now show the number of bytes added to/removed from an article, I believe the minor edit function is no longer necessary. And since it is based on the user him/herself considering whether or not his/her edit is minor, it can be wildly inaccurate. For example, [1] is not a minor edit, while [2] is. The only function I can see minor edits having, is the ability to hide minor edits in one's watchlist; however, this could also easily be solved by using the byte diff instead. [1] http://no.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Am%C3%A9rico_Ferreira_dos_Santos_Silva&curid=51262&diff=2102394&oldid=1212403 [2] http://no.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Tinget&diff=prev&oldid=2101513
Sometimes changing a few words can drastically atlter the article "X is true/X is false", and for trusted user, it would be good form to not mark these edits as minor, while marking other such edits as minor.
In theory, yes. But it is used so randomly that you would still have to check anyways.
But if it is a descently trusted user, you don't have to so, so it still has its uses. Also, some wikis may have a more strict/trusted userbase, and it may be more useful on those MW sites. I just don't see the need to remove it.
A minor edit and a small edit are not the same thing. If I erased an entire paragraph and wrote another of the same size, I would mark that as a major edit, but the change size would be relatively small. If I made a change that was small in size but large in meaning to a disputed area of a controversial article, I wouldn't mark it as minor at all - on the contrary, it would probably be accompanied by a lengthy edit summary and a discussion on the talk page (add edit wars, protection, dispute resolution etc. to taste). What counts is the significance of the edit, not the number of characters changed. Furthermore, people don't review the editing history of an article using recent changes or a watchlist. They use the page history - that's what it's there for. If and when it becomes possible to see change size in page histories (and Special:Contributions), this point will no longer be relevant, but the above always will.
I'm curious... reverting a page blanking on your point of view is big or minor? PS: [2] is biased, as you did a large edit marking it as minor ;-)
Closing, per the reasons above.
