# Correcting minor typos within someone else's quote box should be allowed **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 9, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170 "2020-11-09T20:19:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/21 "2020-11-10T13:59:27Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Where do you draw the line on “minor”? It’s easier for all to have an ironclad rule. Right. This is a message board, not a reference book. Minor typos are pretty much irrelevant. The chance of screwing up the “correction” is too great to allow random editing by anyone. If you notice a mistake in your own post, the easiest way to fix it is to just make a follow-up post and note the correction. If the mistake is serious enough (and few are) you can ask a mod to fix it. Note that some editing is allowed, per the rule: > [@](#): > > Normal editorial rules apply: that is, you may indicate omitted portions of a quote by the use of ellipses “…” or devices such as [snip]. You may add text to clarify a word using square brackets (e.g., “her [the sister’s] friend”), but you may not add editorial comments or edit a quote so as to change the substantive meaning; nor may you substitute text such as “some blather” or “more nonsense” inside the [QUOTE] tags or quotation marks. If a reference is confusing, this would allow additions such as “Bob Dillon [Dylan]”, but I wouldn’t advise it. Simply spell the name correctly in your own post. Whatever you do, don’t change someone else’s text; instead, make your own addition within square brackets. There is really no reason to add “[sic]” to someone else’s post when you have directly quoted it. The purpose of _sic_ is to emphasize that the mistake is in the original, and not something that you made. If you have the actual original in front of you, adding _sic_ is pointless. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/22 "2020-11-10T16:47:41Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > Why? The general function of [sic] is to emphasize that the error was in the original. We know quotes are copied. No one is going to think the quoter made the error. Sure, but Joey\_P was talking about newspaper interviews, which I was responding to, not about our message board. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/23 "2020-11-10T16:50:02Z")
Ah. I misunderstood. I thought you meant here on SDMB. Hadn’t had coffee yet! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/24 "2020-11-10T18:26:26Z")
Isnt it also considered a bit of a jerk move to make a big deal out of a minor typo, like developing a whole post to mocking it? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/25 "2020-11-10T18:41:45Z")
^ IMHO, no. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/26 "2020-11-10T19:33:00Z")
Speaking only as a poster, I think it depends. In ATMB or GQ if it is a simple typo, it would likely be jerkish. In the Pit, MPSIMS or IMHO not so much. Not so sure in GD and P&E. Leaning towards jerkish or at least off topic so don’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/27 "2020-11-10T21:11:18Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > if someone misspells Joe Biden as ‘Joe Bidne’ due to fat fingers on the keyboard, there’s no reason that it should be continuously quoted subsequently downthread again and again as Joe Bidne. If it’s obvious that it’s a misspelling, leaving it in causes no harm, if it’s not obvious, you shouldn’t be changing it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/28 "2020-11-10T21:29:43Z")
Just to poke at edge cases… What if it’s not obvious, but the poster clarified later. (I often mistype “now” and “not”, for instance.) Would it be okay for a poster to come along later and incorporate the correction, perhaps with a note in their own text or via something obvious like [poster corrected to: “not”]? I would argue that it should be okay to do that, so long as it is transparent what you are doing. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/29 "2020-11-10T21:41:05Z")
I’d say unless they see a problem with the erroneous part being quoted again and again they should repeat enough of the text then for people to use that to quote. I think trying to make a rule that actually works for all more or less reasonable edge cases, that wouldn’t be more often used improperly, as “non-edge cases” are so much more frequent, is a fool’s game. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/30 "2020-11-11T00:26:00Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > (I often mistype “now” and “not”, for instance. I do the same, sadly. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/31 "2020-11-11T01:23:32Z")
I just quoted someone and it appears to have changed it without my fiddling. Probably because the bit I quoted is within \< \> or something > [@Election Day \[Week\]\[Month\[s\]\] \[Year\] 2020 follow-along thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5413): > > I know. I only noticed that after the edit window. Bah. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/32 "2020-11-11T01:31:31Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Isnt it also considered a bit of a jerk move to make a big deal out of a minor typo, like developing a whole post to mocking it? On this board, I wouldn’t say so. There is just an expectation of being corrected on even minor things as part of the culture. I’ve seen it many times without anyone seeming upset or people getting modded. Only if the remark is clearly mocking or hostile have I seen anyone take offense—and those mostly happen in the Pit. The culture here is just rather pedantic. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/33 "2020-11-11T02:33:28Z")
But he said making a big deal out of it. My experience here is that most corrections to “a minor typo” are done in passing, or politely in a stand-alone post. I do think making a big deal is jerkish, unless it’s in the pit. Of course, sometimes a “minor typo” is repeated enough, and despite being exposed to the correct spelling, or directly corrected, that one can begin to suspect that it’s not just a minor typo anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/34 "2020-11-11T05:20:23Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > As **Pardel-Lux** says, "Let the typos live [their] own miserable lives? If I feel compelled to correct a minor typo, this is how I do it. Enclose the clarification in brackets, either instead of or after the error, as is standard practice everywhere else, as is provided for in the forum rules. But the thing I’m worried about personally is correcting a typo _subconsciously_. This isn’t a problem when I use Discourse’s quote feature, but I worry about it a lot when I write the quote box by hand. I could do something like Bob Dillon → Bob Dylan without even noticing. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/35 "2020-11-11T11:37:25Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > My experience here is that most corrections to “a minor typo” are done in passing, or politely in a stand-alone post. Sure, however, I spit on people who use they’re/their/there or to/too/two incorrectly. A pox on their house. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/36 "2020-11-11T12:41:15Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > I could do something like Bob Dillon → Bob Dylan without even noticing. The problem with assuming a poster made an obvious error, is that there is some possibility that they wrote what they did intentionally and indeed you are wrong. For instance, there is a new, up and coming freestyle rapper named Bob Dillon and the poster meant to use his name. Your “correction” ruins a great post. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/37 "2020-11-11T14:14:09Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > > [@eschrodinger](#): > > > > My experience here is that most corrections to “a minor typo” are done in passing, or politely in a stand-alone post. > > Sure, however, I spit on people who use they’re/their/there or to/too/two incorrectly. A pox on their house. 😢 My phone often changes those, and “corrects” what I typed to something that’s wrong. Sometimes I catch it within the edit window. Sometimes I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/38 "2020-11-11T14:22:49Z")
If you feel compelled to make changes when quoting a post then you are in luck because there are medications to treat that problem now. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/39 "2020-11-11T16:52:17Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Where do you draw the line on “minor”? It’s easier for all to have an ironclad rule. Agreed. This is an example where a bright line rule works and makes life easier for the mods, instead of getting into endless discussions of “minor”. Plus, the poster making the correction assumes an error in the quoted section. I remember once reading something by a well-known writer reacting to a “[sic]”, who said: “When I split an infinitive, I mean to split it, dammit!” ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170/40 "2020-11-11T20:00:55Z")
It can’t be helped if I never read “Dillon” to begin with. I was talking about a transcription error on my part that counteracts someone else’s typographical error. ~Max [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correcting-minor-typos-within-someone-elses-quote-box-should-be-allowed/925170.md?page=3)