What I fell is, why can't the moderators send a message to the user asking them to format it

We do. You'll often see considerations saying "Add code tags. OP messaged."

or if the post is not formatted don't approve it?

Lots of them are newcomers. We don't want to discourage them. The posts do tend to get approved slower. And if they keep it up, they eventually start losing XP and get less of our ear. Most learn at this point if they didn't before.

But of course, there's always a fresh batch of newcomers.

If the formatting is not done, then the moderators can apply some default formatting.

Just about everyone is a moderator. It's the Janitors that have the ability to edit, and only under some conditions.

And it's not a good idea. You're rewarding poor behaviour.

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