I recently learned that it is possible for a moderator to edit somebody else's posts, which is not something that I think should happen for any reason.

For the record, Orrdos altered the spelling of a poll choice in the cartoon character thread and also added his thread to the official thread list. Neither are an abuse of the power.

In the case of an official thread that is there for the community (as in the latter case), it actually doesn't matter, but I really don't think that mod's should be altering spelling or content of ordinary posts that represent the person who posted it. If I mis-spelt a word, and a mod corrected it, I'd feel like the post was no longer my own. Call me weird, but I would.

If a mis-spelling irks someone enough, then they can simply ask for me to edit it.

I would prefer that this power is removed, or if it can't be without affecting the ability to delete spam posts, then it should be part of the moderator's code that it shouldn't be used.

It says somewhere that a post represents the posters opinion and not that of the board's owners (as is only sensible), an edited post means that is also represents the editor's opinon.

(Playing blind Pictionary, me drawing)
Ella: Is it a giraffe?
Me (stops drawing): No
Ella: Star Trek?
Me: Yes!

In other boards and forums I am/have been on, editing someone's post is mostly used to take out offensive content, such as a link that [i:5d8d9531d0]really[/i:5d8d9531d0] ought not be there. This may happen here. Now, if such a thing happens here, do we shoult at the perp until he edits his post, while said offensive content (such as a picture, which is an even better example), is still left around, or do we edit it out?

And to answer the question to follow, sometimes it's best to leave the post as evidence of what happened, but to edit out that specific bit of offensive content that is, quite frankly, too damn offensive.

As for editing posts for spelling etc, that I disagree with. Editing posts should be done only in a truly dire case, as described above.

Anticipate charity by preventing poverty. - Rabbi Moshe ben-Maimon

I don't think posts should be edited for spelling mistakes without the owner's permission, it was the wrong thing to do in my opinion. I'm sure plenty of people would have pointed it out if it was a big mistake and the owner could have corrected it themselves, if they wanted to.

Dragon's Kingdom - Stop typing "alot" when you mean "a lot"! - Disappointed

I think spelling, or misspelling, is part of the writer's personality and shouldn't be fixed by anyone but the writer.

In the past, on the HC board, we have dealt with offensive links, signatures, avatars, etc. by requesting that the poster remove them. I think the poster should always be asked first, and be given the opportunity to correct things himself. He should also have the opportunity to explain why he doesn't believe what he posted should be removed, if that's how he feels.

Cat Clash

I'm with Marica on this one.

I don't think that mods should edit posts, if there is a problem we should ask the poster to change it.

I'm not sure if there would ever be a sitution where that would be needed. Possibly if someone posted pornographic material?

Exactly, Rinso! That happens! Sometimes, talking and debating about it is *not* a good idea, because the pic or link is still there while we're doing it. Edit first and ask questions afterwards *is* a valid way of doing things in drastic cases. Hopefully, there won't be such cases.

Anticipate charity by preventing poverty. - Rabbi Moshe ben-Maimon

I think in such cases the pic shouldn't be completely removed only made into a link with a warning. I dunno, though. I assume most of us would be happy to have strict no porn rule. In which case if people are breaking these our rules mods can act without consulting people?

Also, I'm more inlined to delete pictures than inappropreicate language is that fair is one worse than the other? Is this a minor freindly board or just one that has certain smutt standards?

Smut standards is the way to go, I feel.

Anticipate charity by preventing poverty. - Rabbi Moshe ben-Maimon

I agree, all smut must be up to standard.

Seriously though: I would say remove the picture and make it a link if you feel it's inappropriate. (Or if someone decides to post a 6 Mb picture of their guinneapig....)

Language, including spellingmistakes and even racist remarks* should be left alone. It reeks too much of censorship.

As for Doors changing the spelling of he Poll question.... I think it wasn't nescessary. A request to change it would have been enough.

*Racist remarks can be discussed and if needed, changed by the original poster. If only because I feel we should be able to discuss EVERYTHING.

_Light moves faster than sound. That is why some people appear bright, until you hear them speak._

[quote:1ecee90988="Tephlon"]

Seriously though: I would say remove the picture and make it a link if you feel it's inappropriate. (Or if someone decides to post a 6 Mb picture of their guinneapig....)

[/quote:1ecee90988]

I agree. Also, include a warning with the link, as some people are at work when they look at the board.

Cat Clash

I'm mainly with Ben on this, and others following the same vein, but there are exceptions. First of all, there are two issues here.

Correcting someone's spelling by just editing their posts is both patronizing and counterproductive - patronizing because it is just taking a superior attitude and counterproductive because they may not notice it and therefore will not learn.

On the matter of censorship, I have always beenn opposed to any curtaillment of freedom of speech - [i:4e02e95e6f]but[/i:4e02e95e6f] - we have to take into account outside factors - as an example - if someone were to start posting paedophile porn, then just in self-protection and for legal reasons let alone personal opinions on the matter the first person to spot it with the rights to chop it should do so - and I would point out that this is an area where I am still trying to reconcile my opposition to censorship with with a natural civilized child-protective state of mind - but then, whoever said moral issues were easy?

Right.

This comes down to a matter of trust. If you trust the mods not to make sweeping changes to your posts, then whether they have the ability to edit posts or not is irrelevant.

Now, I for one would not be happy doing so.

I corrected the spelling on a poll choice as I happened to be looking at it just when someone posted that it was spelt wrong. So, I just fixed it while I was there.

I honestly didn't imagine that it'd blow up into anything. Nor do I want to spend my days going through peoples posts looking for spelling errors I can fix. Rinso alone would keep me going full time.

It was a spur of the moment thing to fix a poll choice. I didn't edit the guys post in anyway, just changed a single letter in a poll and left a wee note to say that I'd done it.

I don't see a huge problem with that, I don't think it's patronising to the poster nor do I think that I'm holding back his learning process. Correcting one word that's in a prominent place that was misspelled isn't the worst crime ever.

In saying that, it's not something I'd normally do, out of laziness if nothing else. As I said, it was just a spur of the moment thing.

If it has upset the poster, then he has my apologies.

But, fuck it. I'll never do it again. I certainly don't agree with the censuring of peoples posts, but if I'd posted a poll and mispelt one of the options, I honestly wouldn't mind if someone edited it so it was spelt right.

Perhaps it would be the first step towards the end of free speech and society as we know it, but I can't imagine one letter having that much of a effect.

I would also point out that mods being able to edit posts is the norm for message boards. It's normally only used for family friendly boards, or boards that have legal obligations not to say things.

But the ability is always there.

I think it's easier if the mods retain the power to edit things, so we can alter thread lists or official threads and other stickies if the need arises.

Why are pirates called pirates?

Doors: I don't think what you did was that big a deal to be honest, even less so if you left a note about it, I didn't know that.

I think it's just brought up an issue that some people might be paranoid about: that mods might alter their posts, which of course none of the mods here would do unless it had something terrible in it like unconsenting donkey pron links. And even then the mod in question would leave a note to say what's been done.

People make spelling mistakes all the time here, like Smoking_Gnu who 'fell so stupid', unless you were being ironic? So, like Doors says, it would be more than a full time job to keep correcting everything so it's obviously not going to happen for whatever reason.

Dragon's Kingdom - Stop typing "alot" when you mean "a lot"! - Disappointed

No one's actually blaming Doors. They just saw that this sort of thing needed a policy. That the policy is against what Doors did should not be seen as a condemnation.

Exactly.

Dragon's Kingdom - Stop typing "alot" when you mean "a lot"! - Disappointed