Etiquette when quoting

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Bmblbzzz
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Let's see.
Jdsk wrote: 7 Jun 2023, 3:13pm This is a valid point. I can’t remember when it changed but in the past it was possible to select a valid portion of a post then hit the quote marks and that was then quoted and identified.
I selected Paulatic's words from the post immediately above this one, where they were quoted by Jdsk, and they have been misattributed to Jdsk.
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by Jdsk »

Confirmed.

Jonathan
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Just to make the etiquette more complicated, replies can be ambiguous too, with even the best of intentions misinterpreted as aggression. Or is it the other way round?
The unfathomable thumbs up reply (is it a yes or is it passive aggression?).
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ade-phones
mattheus
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by mattheus »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 8 Jun 2023, 2:45pm Just to make the etiquette more complicated, replies can be ambiguous too, with even the best of intentions misinterpreted as aggression. Or is it the other way round?
The unfathomable thumbs up reply (is it a yes or is it passive aggression?).
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ade-phones
Without a good example, I have no idea how a thumbs-up could be interpreted badly. But I'm with the write on this gripe:
The gratuitous misuse of ellipses (it’s supposed to represent an omission of words for impact! What is the impact of “Ok… I’ll come and collect you…” other than communicating that you are in fact a murderer?).
Sadly that ship has long since sailed ... and I even find myself doing it ...
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by Bmblbzzz »

mattheus wrote: 8 Jun 2023, 4:18pm
Bmblbzzz wrote: 8 Jun 2023, 2:45pm Just to make the etiquette more complicated, replies can be ambiguous too, with even the best of intentions misinterpreted as aggression. Or is it the other way round?
The unfathomable thumbs up reply (is it a yes or is it passive aggression?).
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ade-phones
Without a good example, I have no idea how a thumbs-up could be interpreted badly.
It surprised me too, and I agree an example or two would have made it clearer. But perhaps it already is clear to some people. I'm similarly surprised at applying the concept of copyright to everything written on a forum such as this, but clearly some people feel strongly about that.

Anyway, giving it some thought, I suppose the thumbs up could sometimes be taken as sarcastic. As in:
But I'm with the write on this gripe:
The gratuitous misuse of ellipses (it’s supposed to represent an omission of words for impact! What is the impact of “Ok… I’ll come and collect you…” other than communicating that you are in fact a murderer?).
Sadly that ship has long since sailed ... and I even find myself doing it ...
:thumbsup:
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by mattheus »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 8 Jun 2023, 5:00pm ... I suppose the thumbs up could sometimes be taken as sarcastic.
ANYTHING can be used (or interpreted as) sarcastically! There's probably a "Law" about it somewhere ...
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by mjr »

mattheus wrote: 8 Jun 2023, 5:08pm
Bmblbzzz wrote: 8 Jun 2023, 5:00pm ... I suppose the thumbs up could sometimes be taken as sarcastic.
ANYTHING can be used (or interpreted as) sarcastically! There's probably a "Law" about it somewhere ...
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by Jdsk »

Just came up elsewhere... quoting should not be taken to imply disagreement. It can be simply continuation of the same topic.

Jonathan
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by Bmblbzzz »

mjr wrote: 8 Jun 2023, 5:11pm
mattheus wrote: 8 Jun 2023, 5:08pm
Bmblbzzz wrote: 8 Jun 2023, 5:00pm ... I suppose the thumbs up could sometimes be taken as sarcastic.
ANYTHING can be used (or interpreted as) sarcastically! There's probably a "Law" about it somewhere ...
✌️
The Law of Unmeant Meanings.
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by Jdsk »

Carlton green wrote: 7 Jun 2023, 12:30pm
Jdsk wrote: 7 Jun 2023, 10:55am This has just come up elsewhere, specifically about showing or removing the name of the poster of the quoted text.

My first thoughts:

1 Pruning the quoted post is generally good practice because it allows the reader to concentrate on the specific issue.

2 Removing the name was criticised in the other discussion. But removing the name can be used in a constructive attempt to avoid personalisation and feuding.

Thoughts, please.
Following your format and in answer to your points.

1) Pruning a post might allow focus but it might also take away context. Wilfully quoting someone out of context is, as far as I’m concerned, unreasonable behaviour. Something that I occasionally do is add bold or underlining to someone else’s text (to highlight a specific point) but I also note (advise) that that is what I’ve done.

2) Generally I think it best to leave the name. There are occasions when I don’t, sometimes that’s due to convenience and sometimes that’s to defuse arguments; in my opinion discussions are helpful but arguments are not.
More on 1.

Emboldening can be very helpful, and, as you say, the quoter should say that they have done it.

We see occasional posts along the lines of Fixed that for you where the quoter changes part of the quoted text. I guess that it is sometimes meant in humour but it's also sometimes done aggressively. It's best avoided.

And then there's deliberately changing the content of the quoted text. This should never be done. If you want to frame the development of a line of reasoning it can be done by sequential paragraphs with each quote being what was actually written. Any editorialising should be done outside the quotation.

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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by mjr »

Jdsk wrote: 19 Jun 2023, 11:43am Emboldening can be very helpful, and, as you say, the quoter should say that they have done it.
Emboldening is discriminatory because it is difficult for some people to read and almost invisible (inaudible) on some screen readers. In almost all cases, it would be better to either trim the quote more or to requote the relevant phrase at an appropriate point in one's own comment.
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by thirdcrank »

mjr wrote: 19 Jun 2023, 12:32pm
Jdsk wrote: 19 Jun 2023, 11:43am Emboldening can be very helpful, and, as you say, the quoter should say that they have done it.
Emboldening is discriminatory because it is difficult for some people to read and almost invisible (inaudible) on some screen readers. In almost all cases, it would be better to either trim the quote more or to requote the relevant phrase at an appropriate point in one's own comment.
I wonder if this has had no replies because the subject "Etiquette when quoting" is low on people's priorities. (A roundabout way of saying few forum members could care less.)

Commenting both as an IT numpty and as somebody who sometimes uses the "bold" facility in this way I'd say that this practice constitutes only a tiny part of the bold script appearing on the forum, a large part of which is dictated by the forum software.
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by Carlton green »

mjr wrote: 19 Jun 2023, 12:32pm
Jdsk wrote: 19 Jun 2023, 11:43am Emboldening can be very helpful, and, as you say, the quoter should say that they have done it.
Emboldening is discriminatory because it is difficult for some people to read and almost invisible (inaudible) on some screen readers. In almost all cases, it would be better to either trim the quote more or to requote the relevant phrase at an appropriate point in one's own comment.
Surely an act really need to be a wilful, informed and targeted act for it to be discriminatory, obviously a group of people can be unintentionally disadvantaged but that’s just life.

Trimmed quotes risk - and to often have - loss of original context.

Would underling work better than emboldening? Do nothing disadvantages everyone equally, nobody gets the benefit of better communication.
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by Vorpal »

Carlton green wrote: 20 Jun 2023, 1:04pm
Surely an act really need to be a wilful, informed and targeted act for it to be discriminatory, obviously a group of people can be unintentionally disadvantaged but that’s just life.

IMO, most discrimination is neither willful nor informed, but merely neglectful, and sometimes just ignorant.
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thirdcrank
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Re: Etiquette when quoting

Post by thirdcrank »

I didn't intend to start a discussion about types of discrimination. My point is that if there's a problem with bold text, it goes a lot further than quoting etiquette.
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