If you’ve read a published article on Stack Overflow and have an idea about how it could be improved, you have several options to provide feedback; in some cases, you may even be able to edit the article yourself.
Provide private feedback to the author
You can submit feedback to the article’s author by clicking the "Provide feedback" button (an icon of a speech bubble with a pencil next to it), shown below the voting buttons:
Once you have hit this button, a dialog box will open:
You can select the appropriate category for your feedback here, choosing from the following categories:
- Out of date: Choose this option if the article needs to be updated or is no longer relevant due to product updates, new versions, etc.
- Incorrect: Choose this option if you think some of the information in the article is inaccurate, or if there are typos or errors in the article copy that need to be fixed.
- Needing more detail or context: Choose this option if something needs to be clarified, reworded, etc.
After you select the feedback category, you can enter the details of the updates you are suggesting in the text area labeled "Feedback" if necessary. When you are ready to send, click the "Submit feedback" button.
The article author and editors will receive your feedback, and can make edits to the article if appropriate. Your profile will be associated with the feedback.
Post a public comment
As with questions and answers, you can also leave a public comment on the article. Your profile will be associated with the comment, and the author or other users may reply to you. In general, comments should be used to suggest improvements to the article, provide guidance to the author, or ask clarifying questions about the subject matter of the article. They should not be used to add noise or carry on extended discussions.
Edit the article yourself
Articles associated with some collectives can be edited by any Member with the “edit posts” privilege. (For collectives that do not enable this feature, only Admins and Recognized Members can edit articles; for articles associated with decommissioned collectives, anyone with the privilege can edit them. The original author of an article can always edit it, as can anyone who is specifically granted edit permissions for it.) If you are able to edit an article, you will see an Edit article button at the top-right of the page.
Editing is important for keeping articles clear, relevant, and up-to-date. If you see an article that needs improvement and are inclined and able to edit it yourself, you are encouraged to do so. All edits are saved and tracked in a public revision history with attribution to each editor.
Some common reasons to edit an article are:
- To fix grammatical or spelling mistakes
- To clarify the meaning of the article (without changing that meaning)
- To include additional information only found in comments, so that all of the information relevant to the article is contained in one place
- To correct minor mistakes or add updates as the article ages
- To add related resources or hyperlinks
Tiny, trivial edits are discouraged; try to make the article significantly better when you edit, correcting all problems that you observe.