Question

Is there any way to stop edit wars where people keep un-doing and re-doing edits like on Wikipedia?

Answer 1

Yes, there are ways to avoid edit wars on Socratic—and I think we should avoid them.

Why? Edit wars add extra "noise" to answers, which can distract from their true purpose: helping someone learn.

Explanation:

Here are few strategies I really like for avoiding edit wars:

• Apply the same principles and intuitions you'd use when working together with someone in real life, like being friendly, flexible, and focused on the task
• Bring an open mind; ask yourself if their edit truly does make your answer easier to understand, even if through means you didn't expect
• Be prepared to apologize
• Give praise when due

Finally (and perhaps most importantly): assume good faith. Until you're proven wrong, assume that when someone edits your answer, it's because they, too, are trying to make learning easier.

Please add other useful strategies to this list!

Many of the above are inspired by Wikipedia's editing ettiquette; you can find their (long, but quite interesting) guidelines here.