I don't make them sign a contract or anything. It's part of the coaching that we do with YC founders on HN (example here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22808556). Most of that is at https://news.ycombinator.com/launches. We act as the editors of those posts and work closely with the founders for quite a while beforehand. Today was different, but it's a similar relationship.
I wouldn't make a major edit without letting them know. In the present case, I just let the whole community know, because the edit was a substantial one. Had it been a trivial one, I wouldn't have bothered. The priority is interesting discussion, not punctilious bookkeeping, and you can't necessarily have both.
In the flurry of these threads, the founders are focused on responding to substantive questions. That's what they should be doing: satisfying community curiosity in their area of expertise. It's my job, not theirs, to prevent the discussion from getting derailed by things like the unfortuitous use of a buzzword which they have no clue the community has been tired of hearing for years already.
If the users weren't YC founders that we have an explicit coaching relationship with, I'd always consult with them before offering help. That would happen by email. By the way, if anyone wants this sort of coaching, we're happy to help as much as we can via hn@ycombinator.com. I give this sort of advice to startup founders, project creators, and article authors all the time, and everyone is welcome to it. Just don't worry if you don't hear back right away. The inbox has gotten to the point where it piles up regularly.
I would not love it if he improved my post, so I am glad to have the clarification that this is only done to YC-affiliated commenters and with at a minimum some kind of implicit buy-in from them.
