# Spectre, you are misapplying the rule about quote editing
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-you-are-misapplying-the-rule-about-quote-editing/549587
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [August 8, 2010, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-you-are-misapplying-the-rule-about-quote-editing/549587 "2010-08-08T07:19:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2010, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-you-are-misapplying-the-rule-about-quote-editing/549587/1 "2010-08-08T07:19:01Z")
In this thread: [Bratty kid? Am I over-reacting? - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=573190)
This post
**Spectre of Pithecanthropus** said:
> [@](#):
>
> [QUOTE=Silver Fire]
>
> [QUOTE=Wilbo523]
> [You displayed helicopter parenting] Right here, when you said:
>
> Let your kid work out his own problems. Don’t go SEC on him and stop his trading just because you think he’s getting a raw deal. These are things that kids have to learn themselves.
[/QUOTE]
**Moderator note:**
**Silver Fire** , please keep your editorial comments on other people’s posts outside the quote tags.
[/QUOTE]
That’s not an “editorial comment” like inserting a judgement about what **Wilbo523** said. That’s a simple, **marked** indication of **Wilbo523** was saying. Rather than quoting
> [@](#):
>
> Originally Posted by **Silver Fire**
> Please tell me how that is helicopter parenting or not “staying out of it.”
(see post 60)
She **paraphrased** what her previous comment had been that Wilbo was responding to. That is the formal method I was taught in school for clarifying within quoted material. Same as using ellipses (…) to show omitted material. Are you saying we now can’t use ellipses or “[snip]” to indicate when we shorten a quote? I think you are misapplying the rule about not editing what someone says.
---
### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2010, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-you-are-misapplying-the-rule-about-quote-editing/549587/2 "2010-08-08T11:46:58Z")
For the record, since it’s a lonnnnng thread:
**Wilbo523** ’s original post was #60.
**Silver Fire** ’s tampering with the quote was in post #64.
In Post #69, **Wilbo523** objects that the tampering was distorting the original.
In Post #71, **Silver Fire** apologized for the tampering.
**Spectre of P** ’s moderator comments came in Post #149.
In our [Rules](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=384736), there’s a specific one about [modifying the quotes of other posters](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7697048#post7697048) which includes:
[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
> [@](#):
>
> tags.
Seems to me that **Spectre** ’s call was fine, although it does come perhaps a trifle late, it’s a good reminder to everyone.
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### Author:  [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2010, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-you-are-misapplying-the-rule-about-quote-editing/549587/3 "2010-08-08T12:09:30Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#):
>
> In Post #71, **Silver Fire** apologized for the tampering.
Ummm…no, she didn’t. She apologized IF her editorial clarification misrepresented Wilbo’s intent. The only complaint I can see is that she should have said, “[You said I displayed helicopter parenting]” or “[In response to my request for an example of helicopter parenting]”
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### Author:  [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-you-are-misapplying-the-rule-about-quote-editing/549587/4 "2010-08-09T15:00:19Z")
[quote=“C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven, post:2, topic:549587”]
In our [Rules](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=384736), there’s a specific one about [modifying the quotes of other posters](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7697048#post7697048) which includes:
[quote]
Text inside
> [@](#):
>
> 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
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > tags.
It seems to me that you just quoted a rule that says why Silver Fire’s edit was 100% acceptable. “[Y]ou may add text to clarify a word using square brackets (e.g., “her [the sister’s] friend”).” And that’s exactly what \*\*SF \*\*did: instead of quoting two posts, \*\*SF \*\*summarized the first one.
Now, \*\*SF \*\*may have summarized it _incorrectly_, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was \*not an editorial comment \*and, as such, **Spectre** ’s note was completely off-base.
To use your hypothetical from the rule, if I said “her [the mother’s] friend” because I misunderstood who was being talked about, would I get a note for editorializing?
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-you-are-misapplying-the-rule-about-quote-editing/549587/5 "2010-08-09T15:49:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> 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;
**Silver Fire** was not editorializing. She was attempting to clarify the antecedant of the phrase “Right here”.
Any misrepresentation was unintentional. It was **Silver Fire** ’s understanding of what he said, not a deliberate misrepresentation.
Frankly, I’m confused by **Wilbo523** ’s complaint, because **Silver Fire** ’s comment that he was addressing is
> [@](#):
>
> Please tell me how that is **helicopter parenting** or not “staying out of it.”
**Silver Fire** was equating “not staying out of it” with "helicopter parenting. Wilbo didn’t clarify that he was making a distinction, he just said “Right here.”
I took that to mean he was saying that was an example of her helicopter parenting. **After the fact** he points out that he was making the distinction, saying the “Right here” was only in response to “not staying out of it” and was only an indicator of being _“on the way”_ to helicopter parenting. Like that is a distinction of significance.
**Silver Fire** apologized for any inadvertant misrepresentation, and the distinction was a subtle nuance that was easily missed.
This was not a rules violation, it was a mistake in understanding.
---
### Author:  [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-you-are-misapplying-the-rule-about-quote-editing/549587/6 "2010-08-09T16:19:12Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#):
>
> Seems to me that **Spectre** ’s call was fine, although it does come perhaps a trifle late, it’s a good **reminder** to everyone.
The bolding of “reminder” was mine to ask a question. Where does bolding within a quote for emphasis fall; assuming you admit up front that you did the bolding? I’ve done that a couple times and can’t recall anything being said on it.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-you-are-misapplying-the-rule-about-quote-editing/549587/7 "2010-08-09T16:37:18Z")
> [@kopek](#):
>
> The bolding of “reminder” was mine to ask a question. Where does bolding within a quote for emphasis fall; assuming you admit up front that you did the bolding? I’ve done that a couple times and can’t recall anything being said on it.
As long as you say “emphasis added” or suchlike, it’s not a problem.
---
### Author:  [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-you-are-misapplying-the-rule-about-quote-editing/549587/8 "2010-08-11T02:48:36Z")
Thanks! I was curious about that.
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### Author:  [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-you-are-misapplying-the-rule-about-quote-editing/549587/9 "2010-08-11T14:46:51Z")
Since apparently you all missed my question the first time:
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#):
>
> To use your hypothetical from the rule, if I said “her [the mother’s] friend” because I misunderstood who was being talked about, would I get a note for editorializing?
It can’t be that hard a question to answer.