The person in the question stated clearly that it's a russian-speaking one and asked the whole question in russian. The question was about the old site bug with localized downloads for Tor browser. I have answered in russian - the "edit" completely translated it in english with a machine translation - it's 100% clear that it was not done by hand - it's not correct in tiny language details! Russian answer text was completely removed making it less-understandable to russian-speaking asker. Here is the link https://tor.stackexchange.com/posts/14820/revisions
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The reasoning behind the rule for English only is that SE's objective to be a repository of knowledge for future visitors. The questions are what create that knowledge. Having askers getting answers is a side benefit of the process, not the goal. A question asked and answered in another language helps the one, but not the many. It is also debatable as to whether or not you've helped the one by reading and answering the in the Russian language. Will you be on other SE sites when the OP needs more help? Would the practice of using a translator now have helped the OP more later?– user17993Commented Jul 9, 2017 at 10:11
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That is unfortunate. I would hope anyone editing another's post would do so with accuracy. Mistakes will be made, but let's hope the peer review process will help with that.– SDsolarCommented Nov 25, 2017 at 4:15
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2 Answers
As mentioned by @Gerry this is an English-language site. I understand the desire to be helpful and answer in another language for the sake of a user, and this has been discussed and answered as well.
If you're able to answer in English, then users can always use their own Google/Yandex/etc translator if necessary. The main Stack Exchange Meta has a good explanation of why they require English, which applies pretty well here too.
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I'll translate both question and an answer to english, but also leave a russian text - to make it the most-efficient in understanding. It may soud odd, but in Russia after 6 years(!!) of english classes only some rare schools are aboe to get people a real skill in it. There're a lot of texts, excersises - but in practice thay are useless, I know it on my personal experience.– Alexey Vesnin ModCommented May 22, 2017 at 23:17
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To be more clear(and shocking, pehaps) - not even all subcolors, fruits, computer devices, real-life things are studied: yes, many ppl does NOT know/study what are words magenta, peripherial, interconnect, seldom, subconsciousness, cerulean, ubiquitous - and many other words actually mean. So I'll keep russian text in both parts - just in case it will be the same case– Alexey Vesnin ModCommented May 22, 2017 at 23:18
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by the way - the last link of why english is required is a VERY good piece of information - thanks alot!– Alexey Vesnin ModCommented May 22, 2017 at 23:19
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Excellent link to the main stack exchange. I hadn't seen that one. TNX.– SDsolarCommented Nov 25, 2017 at 4:16
The editor (canonizing ironize) is not a moderator, but a user who has the edit privilege by virtue of having 2000 reputation. Incidentally, so do you. If you think their edit made the post worse, you can roll it back: the edit dialog gives you that option.
With the exception of localized sites and language-specific sites, Stack Exchange content must be in English. In the original form, both question and answer violated this rule. The question should have been closed as "unclear what you are asking", and deleted together with the answer. Answers in languages other than English are not acceptable.
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about pt.2 of your answer - It seems that you see the primary goal of this site to confirm to the rules rather than actually helping people. It was defenately NOT UNCLEAR of what the Asker asks about: it's pretty straight and precise. Yes, I know russian, and can read the question. I'm seriously doubt that asker has a knowledge of english - sadly, it's quite a common problem in russia not actually knowing english even after the school. So english answer would be pretty useless. I can translate a question and an answer, but will leave the russian copy as well so it will be useful for QA– Alexey Vesnin ModCommented May 21, 2017 at 14:05