# A major error in every single edited post! Please fix! **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 24, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467 "2014-03-24T19:16:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/1 "2014-03-24T19:16:42Z")
OMG! I just noticed it. I’m flabbergasted, and gobsmacked, if I can take a stab at understanding what Brits mean by that word. How long has this been going on? What does this say about SD’s COMMITMENT TO QUALITY CONTROL? :dubious: Well? Extra period after each date stamp in “Last edited by…” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/2 "2014-03-24T19:20:02Z")
Let’s talk about what “major” means. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/3 "2014-03-24T19:22:36Z")
Would that be Major Hissyfit? Or is it just Private Obsession? It’s minor. Very minor. Invisibly minor. But that kind of stuff does bug me over time, too, and it looks like it’s just a configuration field entry glitch, so… ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/4 "2014-03-24T19:22:50Z")
Hey, it got you here in two minutes…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/5 "2014-03-24T19:26:47Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Let’s talk about what “major” means. In the U.S.A.F. it’s the next rank above “Captain” and below “Lieutenant Colonel”. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/6 "2014-03-24T19:30:33Z")
Oh, god. I’ve seen it. Now I can never unsee it. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/7 "2014-03-24T19:31:49Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Would that be Major Hissyfit? Or is it just Private Obsession?.. [What I look like thinking about those to whom I have pointed out an error that everybody, and I mean everybody, has seen so often for so long but ONLY I am That Guy who knows something everybody else didn’t know.](http://coolaggregator.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/ap_2371.jpg)Because _someone’s_ got to. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/8 "2014-03-24T19:34:29Z")
That’s a feature, not a bug. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/9 "2014-03-24T19:44:45Z")
I thought it a hypercorrection. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/10 "2014-03-24T19:44:50Z")
[Aaron Donovan](http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/01/us/c-a-correction-welcome-to-51254-000005.html) still holds the crown. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/11 "2014-03-24T19:55:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Published: January 1, 2000 > For those who believe that in the good old days – before calculators, before computers – people were better at mental arithmetic, The Times offers a sobering New Year’s message: Not necessarily. Gaudere’s Law strikes again. What’s with the double hyphens? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/12 "2014-03-24T20:36:15Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Gaudere’s Law strikes again. What’s with the double hyphens? _Consecutive_ hyphens are used to replace em or en dashes, which are delicious candy-coated punctuation marks. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/13 "2014-03-24T20:43:05Z")
dot dot… dot dot… dot dot… dot dot… ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/14 "2014-03-24T20:44:07Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > _Consecutive_ hyphens are used to replace em or en dashes, which are delicious candy-coated punctuation marks. Surely not in print, whether on paper or on the intertubes, especially at the New York Times and in 2000, when a typewriter would have been on display next to a Linotype in the paper’s museum, if it had a museum. How the mighty has fallen. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/15 "2014-03-24T21:14:28Z")
I’m not quite sure how to parse that. I’m also sorry that I got distracted and didn’t get to change “em or en dashes” to “Em & En Dashes” to get on the edited post bandwagon. Though I’m sure there’s an ASCII code or keyboard shortcut, there is no keyboard-based way to insert an em- or en-dash in the Dope’s reply box; consecutive hyphens are a widely accepted substitute (in Word, I use CTRL-hyphen for – and CTRL-Alt-hyphen for —). ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/16 "2014-03-24T21:21:34Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Though I’m sure there’s an ASCII code or keyboard shortcut, there is no keyboard-based way to insert an em- or en-dash in the Dope’s reply box; consecutive hyphens are a widely accepted substitute (in Word, I use CTRL-hyphen for – and CTRL-Alt-hyphen for —). ## Windows: Alt-0150, en dash. Alt-0151, em dash. I think there are equivalent code-entry modes for Mac and most Linux implementations as well. – — Some of us also have macro keyboards and program the dozen or so most common punctuation and special symbols into them. Yay, Logitech G11’s. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/17 "2014-03-24T21:42:56Z")
Hmmmmm. Let me try. _Last edited by elmwood; Today at 05:44 PM…_ ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/18 "2014-03-24T22:03:37Z")
Can you edit it out? Apparently not… ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/19 "2014-03-24T22:13:30Z")
What about: ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467/20 "2014-03-24T22:16:21Z")
Harrumph. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-major-error-in-every-single-edited-post-please-fix/684467.md?page=2)