# ...I don't understand this guidance at all **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 6, 2021, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161 "2021-08-06T16:56:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [August 6, 2021, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/21 "2021-08-06T17:33:51Z")
If you don’t think pulling that one sentence out of that long post change the context, there is nothing left to be said. To me it was very blatant. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/22 "2021-08-06T17:35:08Z")
It was right below the post he was referencing. # _ **Right** _ # _ **Below** _. And he quoted just the part that made his point. I definitely saw his point. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2021, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/23 "2021-08-06T17:35:19Z")
BTW: We discussed. the Modnote won’t be elevated. **(as in no warning will be issued)** The modnote stands. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/24 "2021-08-06T17:35:47Z")
The comment that this is bad moderation stands, too. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/25 "2021-08-06T17:37:30Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > If you don’t think pulling that one sentence out of that long post change the context, there is nothing left to be said. To me it was very blatant. …but you are ignoring the context of the conversation. I asked two questions. Bump didn’t answer the first question. Just ranted. None of it was either relevant to my question or on topic. I had asked for a cite. Bump chose not to provide a cite and responded with an off-topic rant instead. That’s fine with me. I ignored it. But he answered the second question. And that part was the part I quoted. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/26 "2021-08-06T17:40:14Z")
As I understand it, the rule is like this: It’s okay to partially cite when the cite doesn’t distort the meaning of the poster, but you must quote the whole thing if the whole thing is what captures what the poster meant. So for example, suppose that I wrote: _“When it comes to corruption and scandal, Trump has set records by a mile. He uttered 13,000 false statements, had scandals every week, called for an election to be rigged in his favor, and caused the death of half a million Americans. What about Obama in comparison? Obama did nothing in his presidency.”_ Now, if someone were to only quote the last part, **“Obama did nothing in his presidency,”** that could run afoul of the rules, because it could have totally different meaning - it could make it sound as if I were saying Obama were a do-nothing lazy bum, when in fact I was speaking specifically in context of committing scandals. But on the other hand, if I quote a long list of statistics, “Pearl Harbor was in 1941, Vietnam ended in 1978, the Gulf War was in 1991 and bin Laden was killed in 2011,” there’s nothing wrong with selectively snipping out one part only and saying, “errr, Velocity, I think you’ve got it wrong - Vietnam ended in 1975, not 1978.” ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/27 "2021-08-06T17:56:08Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > As I understand it, the rule is like this: It’s okay to partially cite when the cite doesn’t distort the meaning of the poster, but you must quote the whole thing if the whole thing is what captures what the poster meant. I don’t think he distorted the meaning, but since you understand it better than I do, could you go back to that post and quote the parts that would be necessary to make it an acceptable quote? That might help my understanding of what should have been done. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/28 "2021-08-06T17:57:20Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > As I understand it, the rule is like this: It’s okay to partially cite when the cite doesn’t distort the meaning of the poster, but you must quote the whole thing if the whole thing is what captures what the poster meant. > > So for example: > > _“When it comes to corruption and scandal, Trump has set records by a mile. He uttered 13,000 false statements, had scandals every week, called for an election to be rigged in his favor, and caused the death of half a million Americans. What about Obama in comparison? Obama did nothing in his presidency.”_ > > Now, if someone were to only quote the last part, **“Obama did nothing in his presidency,”** that could run afoul of the rules, because it could have totally different meaning - it could make it sound as if I were saying Obama were a do-nothing lazy bum, when in fact I was speaking specifically in context of committing scandals. …I’ve quoted your entire post just in case. This was the question I originally put to Bump: …cite? And I’m specifically talking about black and marginalised communities here. I’m well aware of politicization of vaccination and COVID mitigation measures by the Republican party/conservatives. But the cite I provided from the WP, and many others that I’ve read clearly indicate that this **isn’t** the main driver for these communities for why they aren’t getting a vaccine. So what is it you want to do? Do we call it a day? Close up shop? You’ve given up on practically everything else. You’ve hit 70%, you’ve given it your best shot, time to move on? And: So I’m back to my question. What does this mean? Is it time to stop? Vaccine passports yes or no? Mandated vaccines yes or no? I get it: you think they are crazy and they are stupid. But thinking they are crazy and stupid is a suitable thing for a rant, but doesn’t solve the current public health crisis. So what next? This was the response: > [@Won't "vaccine passports" affect poorer/"blacker" people more (a la Voter ID)?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wont-vaccine-passports-affect-poorer-blacker-people-more-a-la-voter-id/947986/165): > > What HAVEN’T we done with respect to marginalized communities? Here in Dallas, we’ve put vaccination centers in all sorts of places- community centers, rec centers, ethnic-centered churches, various public events, and even gone so far as to provide free transportation to and from these places/events. They even have people going door to door now. > > Why is that necessary? At this point, six months in, literally EVERYONE has had ample time and opportunity to get vaccinated. Anyone who’s not vaccinated by now has made a choice not to get vaccinated, and they need to accept the consequences of that act. If their communities are ravaged by COVID, that’s totally their own fault, and IMO, their problem. > > Doesn’t matter to me if it’s South or West Dallas and mistrust of the government, or if it’s politically motivated in Bell County (between here and Austin) where they only have a 30% vaccination rate. All these people have effectively chosen to NOT get vaccinated for six months. If they wanted to, they would have been by now- it’s been inexpensive enough (i.e. free) and accessible enough if they were willing. So if they choose not to, then tough luck. > > If they want to make it about choice, fine. They can spread it around among themselves and get sick and die all they like. Their choice. Just like wearing masks and getting vaccinated is their choice, or not trusting the government is their choice. **My not giving a shit if they live or die at this point and not wanting to throw more resources at them is MY choice.** I’ve bolded the part that I quoted. In my humble opinion, all the rest of the words in that post do not address either of my questions, and the only relevant part was the part that I quoted. I invite @What_Exit or one of the other moderators to be specific and explain how I’ve been misleading here, or how the parts that I snipped added any additional context. Because to me none of it was relevant to the questions I asked. I don’t see how I’ve distorted their message. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/29 "2021-08-06T18:16:03Z")
You quoted yourself as saying: “So what do you want to do? Call it a day? Close up shop?” **Bump** had a long post describing all the things that his area is doing to reach the unvaccinated. Then, you pulled out one line that said: “My not giving a shit if they live or die at this point and not wanting to throw more resources at them is MY choice” …as if that answered your question. HIs whole post answered your question – all the things they are doing in his area. I read his comment as “this effort is sufficient and we don’t need to do still more to try to convince them”, but your selective quoting made it seem like he said to stop doing anything. I think it distorted his meaning to the point of dishonesty. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/30 "2021-08-06T18:34:36Z")
FWIW, I’m all for a series of graduated “tripwires” for both mask mandates AND lockdowns, but in my state, our elected leaders have completely drunk the kool-aid, and have outlawed both for any public entity or location- schools, governments, city halls, etc… So with that in mind, we’ve done pretty much everything I think reasonable at this point as far as carrots go, and we have no recourse to sticks, so I’m essentially done. I’m at the point where I’m sick and tired of conspiracy theories, crazy-assed appeals to liberty, the general “You can’t make me.” attitude of the right-wingers, and what seems to be indifference on the part of most minority groups. So yes, I say let’s just keep the vaccination places open, but let’s stop trying to convince or cajole people at this point. It’s theirs to deal with. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/31 "2021-08-06T18:36:54Z")
fwi, the mods are discussing this. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/32 "2021-08-06T18:43:21Z")
---
**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:** [August 6, 2021, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/33 "2021-08-06T18:46:40Z")
The modnote has been rescinded on further discussion by the mods. It is not felt that the context was removed or meaning changed by the mods collectively. I will go on record to say I did not agree, but did agree that if they felt I should rescind it, I would. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2021, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161/34 "2021-08-06T19:00:38Z")
Also, the mods are discussing the conflict between the wording of our rules re quoting other posters and the way the Discourse software encourages posters to quote. There’s no question that the snip violated the letter of the rule. But for better or for worse, so do the vast majority of partial quotes made since we moved to this software. In practice, we have been moderating based on the spirit of the rule, not the letter. The key question here was whether leaving out “here’s all this stuff we’ve already done” significantly modified the meaning of the final sentence. As What\_Exit? said, the mods disagreed, but decided that with the split decision the ruling should go to the poster. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-this-guidance-at-all/948161.md?page=1)