This question especially applies to questions which query syntax errors
I've noticed an increasing number of edits by people changing syntax in questions to remove extraneous syntax. Edits are frequently single character and include other (even less obvious) edits to get over the minimum character limit.
For example. The most recent edit I saw, someone carefully deleted a useless semi-colon and space from a shell script changing:
if foo ; then echo bar; fi
if foo; then echo bar fi
As another example I've seen people re-indenting SQL code from one well known and used standard to another standard (one I've only seen in college, not industry).
-- frequently seen in oracle code and very effective for BIG queries SELECT foo FROM bar WHERE x = y;
-- Seen where? SELECT foo FROM bar WHERE x = y;
Also removing tags because the answer is general to all of shell, not just Bash ... so the bash tag removed from the question... is that not something which should get edited into the answer, not out of the question?
In questions where the code illustrates an abstract point this is not a problem. But there are questions where the OP can't understand a syntax error or can't understand some syntax they found; editing these questions can diminish the point of the question.
Are these people just making the edits for the sake of the +2 rep, are some people so terribly irritated by unusual syntax or is there some more useful reason to these edits that I have not seen?