That's not what I am saying. I am saying that if you look at Wikipedia history you can find plenty of places where an anonymous user/occasional editor fixes a spelling mistake that was then reverted. That history sticks around far longer than anyone one version. And for that user all they see is that their effort is pointless.
"if you make an edit which is good-faith reverted, do not simply reinstate your edit – leave the status quo up" ... "propose your reverted change on the article's talk page or pursue other dispute resolution alternatives." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reverting
I am not saying the policy is unreasonable, but it combined with the interface does discourage people.
As to an improvement, if Wikipedia sees the same edit applied twice it could detect this and walk someone through the policy.
"if you make an edit which is good-faith reverted, do not simply reinstate your edit – leave the status quo up" ... "propose your reverted change on the article's talk page or pursue other dispute resolution alternatives." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reverting
I am not saying the policy is unreasonable, but it combined with the interface does discourage people.
As to an improvement, if Wikipedia sees the same edit applied twice it could detect this and walk someone through the policy.