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Just of curiosity, I checked the site and I found that there are 20 posts (4Q, 16A) contain spelling "Kiev" for Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

According to UNGEGN (United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names), the only possible English-language transliteration is "Kyiv".
The same source confirms the proper spelling for Donets'k, Luhans'k, and several other toponyms mentioned in posts at Politics.SE.

I quite realize that "Kiev/Kiew" used to be a widely popular Romanization during the times of occupation, and many people around the world are familiar with this incorrect spelling.

I also realize that mass edit is likely to:

  • "bump" the respective questions on "Active Q's" tab;
  • trigger overreaction by users of erm, a certain affiliation, and
  • unlock the "unupvote" feature for some answers

How do I correct the spelling without triggering the side-effects I worry about?

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    @Rathony, because of improved searchability → improved quality of posts → higher search engine ranking → page hits → helping StackExchange grow. I could even stop at the quality of posts argument because it is an ultimate value at StackExchange. – bytebuster Sep 5 '16 at 19:11
  • @Rathony, Wikipedia is wrong; UN commission seems to be a more credible source. StackExchange search engine has no aliases; you can't find both Kyiv, Kijow, Kiew, 基辅 [ji-fu], and Kiev unless you craft an explicit search. – bytebuster Sep 5 '16 at 19:31
  • edit the posts 1 at a time. – Sam I am says Reinstate Monica Sep 5 '16 at 22:03
  • The American spelling of the city is Kiev... I wonder if it could be a data entry issue as the french spelling is Kiev. by spanish is Kyiv. I think that another source consulted be found before such a radical edit is performed on what could be nothing more than a data entry error. – SoylentGray Sep 9 '16 at 20:48
  • @Chad, this article (PDF) at the UN site has some insight, and it does not look like a typo: „Various other circumstances could lead to more than one name referring to a place, for example […] the recognized romanization system used might have changed (as with Kyiv replacing Kiev, Ukraine);“ – bytebuster Sep 10 '16 at 9:39
  • Maybe ask the question of should we make the changes. – SoylentGray Sep 12 '16 at 14:01
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  • "bump" the respective questions on "Active Q's" tab;
  • trigger overreaction by users of erm, a certain affiliation, and
  • unlock the "unupvote" feature for some answers

How do I correct the spelling without triggering the side-effects I worry about?

Unfortunately, the answer is that you don't. There is no way to avoid the side effects of editing. They are in place for specific purposes.

The vote removal is probably the least harmful to remove, but it's also the least impactful. I don't know that there are many people who will remove their upvote or downvote just because they can. Most active posters have enough reputation to do trivial edits without review. The posters who don't often aren't active enough that they'd even notice the edit.

Bumping the questions is to draw more eyes to the edit. And while some may overreact, the greater danger in general is underreaction. If there was a way for people to hide their edits, it would be easier to do harmful stealth edits. Spam, vandalism, etc.

And of course overreaction is the province of the individual, not the platform.

The general advice is to either do them all at once or spread out over a long period of time such that only two or three are on the front page at the same time. Given how low traffic we are, I would think spread out would be better. The oldest question on the front page is currently ten days old. It would take a week or so for a big block of edits to move off the front page.

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