Recently, an issue has been raised about this portion of the rule. 

Specifically, changing what others have written for the purpose of misquotation is equally unacceptable.

What the rule means is you can't go in and change a quote, when using the quote function, to make it seem that a person said something they didn't. You highlight a passage and hit the quote button, or the hit quote at the bottom of the post. You can only edit to remove extraneous material — no changing of the words.

It also applies, though less rigorously, to quotes where the information is typed in by hand. However, we are not going to cite someone for a violation if they make a typo, or if they are paraphrasing, but in a way that does not change the overall message. So if someone uses "&" instead of "and" (or vice-versa) or something similar, the answer is no, we are not going to call them out for that as an infraction, unless it can be shown that this materially changed the meaning of the quoted passage.

In either case, if the context or meaning is changed by a paraphrase or by removal of text, we expect a calm, civil response explaining how the meaning has been changed by the phrasing or omission. 

Feel free to discuss and ask questions.

 

I don't see the point misquoting because people can  just look at the original to see if it's been taken out of context. 

Do you have access to the edit history (what has changed) of a post? Because I can imagine someone (*) changing their own post after being quoted in order to accuse someone else. 

(*) not thinking of anyone in particular!

42 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

I don't see the point misquoting because people can  just look at the original to see if it's been taken out of context. 

I agree. But if it's typed in and in error, it's simple enough to point it out and explain why it's a big deal.

If a person writes superconductor and a response says semiconductor, that's important and should be corrected; they are not remotely the same thing. But if a person writes semiconductor and the response says semi conductor (or semi-conductor), you'd better be prepared to explain why this is a big deal if you are going to complain about it.  

30 minutes ago, Strange said:

Do you have access to the edit history (what has changed) of a post? Because I can imagine someone (*) changing their own post after being quoted in order to accuse someone else. 

(*) not thinking of anyone in particular!

As far as I know, no. Not at the mod level, anyway. But there is a limited window to edit a post, so this would have to happen within that window. And I don't recall any such an accusation happening.

30 minutes ago, Strange said:

Do you have access to the edit history (what has changed) of a post? Because I can imagine someone (*) changing their own post after being quoted in order to accuse someone else. 

(*) not thinking of anyone in particular!

I bet the Admins can check that. 

This reminds me of something one poster did, with the permission of staff at the time. He started a thread with one title, and got a bunch of responses, then had Sayonara^3 switch to a different title, which made all the posts turn out hilariously. It was sort of a one-off joke though, and was never repeated. 

I don’t believe admin can see the edit history, but I will endeavour to check in the morning.

2 hours ago, Phi for All said:

I bet the Admins can check that. 

This reminds me of something one poster did, with the permission of staff at the time. He started a thread with one title, and got a bunch of responses, then had Sayonara^3 switch to a different title, which made all the posts turn out hilariously. It was sort of a one-off joke though, and was never repeated. 

Was that on or around April 1? (I have a vague recollection of a script that switched words after the post was made, but that may not have been here)

2 hours ago, swansont said:

Was that on or around April 1? (I have a vague recollection of a script that switched words after the post was made, but that may not have been here)

Not sure about the month, but it was probably 2004 or 2005. I think it was bloodhound, a math student at uni, that PMd Sayo with the prank. I don't remember the exact gag, but it was something along the lines of asking Where Do You Shop Most?, getting a bunch of replies, and then changing the title to Have You Ever Been Naked in Public? 

On 10/29/2018 at 4:42 PM, Phi for All said:

Not sure about the month, but it was probably 2004 or 2005. I think it was bloodhound, a math student at uni, that PMd Sayo with the prank. I don't remember the exact gag, but it was something along the lines of asking Where Do You Shop Most?, getting a bunch of replies, and then changing the title to Have You Ever Been Naked in Public? 

Wish I'd been able to talk at that time....