Re-writing someone's post - against the rules?

I re-wrote this post into normal English so I could understand it, but I didn’t want to post it because of the rule against changing what someone else has posted. Can I post it for anyone else who wants it interpreted, or is that not cool?

I believe if you don’t change any text inside the quote box, it may be OK. As long as you make it clear that you are cleaning up the grammar and spelling and not changing the meaning of the words. I’ve seen other members do it in the body of their post below the quote box and I don’t think it’s been a problem as long as they don’t change the text within the quote box.

Of course, I am not a mod and it’s possible I may be wrong and that a mod will step in with the correct answer.

cochrane has the right of it. So long as you’re not doing it within a quote box, you’re okay.

Ah, okay. That makes sense.

Here’s a question I’ve been wondering: If I clearly indicate that I’m modifying it, is it okay to use an attribution-less quote box? I personally think it looks better than offsetting the text or using quotation marks.

I don’t know if it’s within the rules to modify text within an attribution-less quite box, but I prefer not to quote that way. The reason is that the stuff in quote boxes doesn’t get copied when you reply with quote, but it will be copied if you use quotation marks.

Modifying in what way? If you’re editing to remove extraneous material – e.g., you only need one paragraph of a seven-paragraph post – that’s already legal. If you’re editing to change the intent or significance of what was said, you shouldn’t used a quote box.

[INDENT][INDENT][INDENT][INDENT][INDENT][INDENT][INDENT][INDENT]Here’s a question I’ve been wondering: If I clearly indicate that I’m modifying it, is it okay to use an attribution-less quote box? I personally think it looks better than offsetting the text or using quotation marks.[/INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT][/INDENT]

I know you said quoting looks better than offsetting (which I agree with), but a bunch of indents does a decent job.

All of those indents might do the job, but personally, I don’t think it “does a decent job.”
I dunno… It just looks… weird to me.

FWIW, I vote for the quote box style.
With quotation marks being next best.

The problem with using the quote box, with or without attribution, is that is gives the appearance that the quote was taken from some post verbatim by the software. This would be misleading for modified quotes.
Italics, CODE boxes, offsets and indentations, quotation marks, and other techniques do not give such an immediate perception that the quote is a direct copy. It is not that any form is utterly free of confusion, but keeping the QUOTE boxes sacrosanct for unmodified quotes imposes a certain consistency of application that provides a level of expectation for any reader at any time.

Just so that I haven’t misunderstood the rules… If I click on the quote button in someone’s post, is it permissible to remove text from the quote box that is not pertinent to what I’m about to post?

In the past, I’ve made the assumption that it is okay to do so.
Upon reading this thread, I’m not so sure now. :frowning:

Clarification, please.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7697048&postcount=11

[quote]
Text inside

[QUOTE]
tags is sacrosanct. Normal editorial rules apply: that is, you may indicate omitted portions of a quote by the use of ellipses “…” and 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

Thank you, Crazyhorse. :slight_smile:

It seems that my suspicions were correct. I was omitting parts of others posts, that I inserted as a quote. (Only for the reason that it didn’t seem to pertain to the reply that I was posting.)
I didn’t realize that I was doing so incorrectly. :frowning:
For that transgression, I humbly apologize.

Uh, I think you misread that. You can delete all the text you like - you just cannot add commentary, additional text, nor change the meaning of a text (i.e. changing “Bob thinks Joe is an asshole” to “Bob … is an asshole”).

Hmmm… I think you could be right, it does say “you may indicate omitted portions”.
Not, “you must indicate omitted portions”.
Does that make any sense?:confused:
I’m just tryin’ not to step on any toes!:stuck_out_tongue:

If I’m quoting a sentence or a couple of contiguous lines, I may not put ellipses afterwards.

If I’m deleting a segment in the middle of a quote, I do.

Example:

No ellipses.

Ellipses. It indicates something was removed, which isn’t necessary when I’m just taking one string by itself.

Thank you very much, Irishman! :slight_smile:
Ignorance, successfully fought! :smiley:
Now I’m confident that I understand exactly, how it should be done.

This seems pretty clear to me.

Sorry-meant to post in another thread.

The intent of the rule was that quote-boxes were to be treated like quotes in academic or literary or similar papers. You can edit as you please, as long as it’s clear what you’ve done – that is, use of … to indicate omission, additional words in square brackets, etc. and as long as you’re not substantively changing the meaning. In short, exactly as cited by CrazyHorse in post #12 above.

[quote=Rules of Straight Dope Message Boards]
Falsely attributing a quote to another user, or modifying another’s post in order to cast him/her in a bad light, even if meant in jest, is grounds for revocation of your posting privileges.

This does not apply to parodies to which no name is attached.

Text inside

[QUOTE]
tags is sacrosanct. Normal editorial rules apply: that is, you may indicate omitted portions of a quote by the use of ellipses “…” and 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