my most recent attempt wasn’t downvoted or closed, instead I got an ‘typo edit suggestion’ - or something to that effect - where someone had gone through and edited in about 5 false corrections to imagined typos. I did have the option to decline the edit, but it’s another example of the weird moderation culture does anyone have insight into the moderator process that’s encouraging these behaviours?
Edits provide reputation when accepted and on SO specifically are about the only reliable way for new users to get reputation. Answering new questions that don't get closed is difficult, anything "easy" is mobbed by people and a single answer gets reputation and the other largely ignored or even deleted. Asking is also difficult for the reasons commonly cited elsewhere in comments. Edits are also further gamified to be accepted through review queues that give badges for stamping enough things.
Technically, trivial edits are discouraged, but there's nothing enforcing that publicly.