Correcting and explaining corrections without sounding superior

Question

So, I am a moderator on a forum dedicated to scientific exploration, the specifics of which I will not get in to.

The main point of this forum is to correct other's incorrect assumptions and ideas about this particular science.

However, when I make changes to someone's post and explain why, I inevitably start sounding like a douchebag. Such as, 'blank is incorrect, here's why:'. This sounds very harsh.

How do I phrase changes to make them sound less rude?

Answer 1

Sentences like this sound less harsh:

Hi, I edited your post because blank is actually not correct, because [enter reason here].

This is less harsh because:

• You use a greeting.
• You state that you edited the post. It might be that the user has not yet noticed that (and only noticed your comment), so I think it is a good idea to explicitly state that.
• "actually not correct" looks kinder than "incorrect". Or, as Nick Wilde mentioned, "not quite correct" is also nice here.
• "because" looks kinder than "here's why"