# Okay to change the content of a cite when quoting?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-to-change-the-content-of-a-cite-when-quoting/663440
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [July 14, 2013, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-to-change-the-content-of-a-cite-when-quoting/663440 "2013-07-14T01:15:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2013, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-to-change-the-content-of-a-cite-when-quoting/663440/1 "2013-07-14T01:15:21Z")
From[this page](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=690547&page=14) of a long train wreck on Pit Bulls. **cougar** , as pointed out in my post 696 was pasting in expanses from a cited article and had edited one portion, eliminating one fact and placing a different phrase in instead with some significant different implication in the context.
The ruling was that “changing text in a cite isn’t against the rules.”
It is really okay to say, cite, say the Encyclopedia Brittanica, and intentionally write down something different than what is in the article cited? We are not talking about a bracketted comment, or bolding added (with a comment after making such clear that bolding was added), but _a change in the content_ of the quoted material.
Really?
In this context the point is minor. But that being within the rules for this board surprises me.
Is that a consensus among all the mods?
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2013, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-to-change-the-content-of-a-cite-when-quoting/663440/2 "2013-07-14T01:43:54Z")
I can make up whatever I want and then just link to any random website and claim it says whatever I want it to say? Sweet!
[
> [@](#):
>
> Recently the POTUS signed into law a bill that was passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate that requires all taxes collected by the federal government in 2014 to be given to “Snowboarder” Bo Snoarder so he can get that really kick-ass guitar amplifer he’s been wanting.
]([Gullibility - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullibility))
ETA: Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there!
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-to-change-the-content-of-a-cite-when-quoting/663440/3 "2013-07-14T01:50:22Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> ETA: Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there!
In my copy of the 1813 edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica it says:
> [@](#):
>
> President Abraham Lincoln was fond of saying, “Let’s go to the quarry and throw the Whigs down there.”
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-to-change-the-content-of-a-cite-when-quoting/663440/4 "2013-07-14T02:03:50Z")
If it’s not against the rules, we need a new rule.
I suppose it would be possible to do an end run around such a rule by editing a Wikipedia page to say what one wanted, but I doubt many people would bother to go that far just to make a point here.
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### Author:  [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2013, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-to-change-the-content-of-a-cite-when-quoting/663440/5 "2013-07-14T06:25:46Z")
My two cents worth on it is, if it’s not against the rules maybe that rule should be revisited. Especially since it has been brought up in such a public way.
.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2013, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-to-change-the-content-of-a-cite-when-quoting/663440/6 "2013-07-14T08:31:31Z")
> [@White SIFL](#):
>
> Fuck you, autocorrect.
**Dumbwaiter Note:**
If you have a problem with another poster, take it to the Pit.
Not a slam on moderators. Just a funny rhyming word.