# Jonathon Chance, what are you on about here?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathon-chance-what-are-you-on-about-here/695470>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [August 13, 2014, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathon-chance-what-are-you-on-about-here/695470 "2014-08-13T22:38:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathon-chance-what-are-you-on-about-here/695470/2 "2014-08-13T22:58:59Z")

</div>

Based on the way the quote rule has been enforced throughout my time here, at least, this was not a rule violation.

The text inside a formal, board-generated quote box, leading with “Originally posted by…” is considered sacrosanct. Any other use of quotation marks, italics, etc. to quote ( or misquote) a poster has never been considered to be the same thing. [Here is just one example](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14076821#post14076821)of dozens that I can find right away, where TPTB reinforced the idea that text outside of a formal quote box can be edited.

This came up recently in [another thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=719450), and despite a few mods indicating they thought “a quote is a quote” initially, the final decision as posted by Colibri was that it is only a rules violation if using the quote box with attribution.

> [@Clarification request, re: Rules about changing text within quote tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clarification-request-re-rules-about-changing-text-within-quote-tags/684746/112):
>
> Sorry, we’ve been having some discussion about this in the mod loop, since there was some ambiguity about whether what you did constituted attributing a quote according to the rules. Not everyone has been on line so it took a little while. Apologies to all for the delay in responding.
> 
> Our consensus is that what you did does not constitute a violation of the rule on altering quotes. The warning is hereby rescinded. (Note that **RickJay** did not actually enter the warning in the automated system, so that has not appeared in your profile.)
> 
> To clarify:
> 
> -The rule applies to altering texts within the quote tags, which is attributed to another poster on the board (“Originally posted by”), in a way intended to change the meaning.
> 
> -You may quote just relevant parts of a post. If you take out parts within the post, normal editing rules apply. Deletions should be indicated by ellipses (…), [snip], or something similar; and any editorial additions should be in square brackets. We’ll be the judge of whether a change of meaning was intentional or not.
> 
> -To avoid misunderstandings, it’s better not to “fix” typos or omissions, unless they change the meaning (and in such cases use square brackets to indicate the change).
> 
> -Unattributed text within the quote tags is OK. However, this shouldn’t be abused as a way to insult another poster outside the Pit.

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathon-chance-what-are-you-on-about-here/695470)._