Importance of Ellipsis for Accurate and Trustworthy Quotations in Forum Discussions

[Pilgrim9]

(I can't seem to use the Forum software's quoting functionality on edited quotes.)

Me too, possibly because I am using a touch-screen device and the fingertip/screen interface does not facilitate precise selections of text. Or my fingertips are just too fat and clumsy.

Anyway I very much appreciate the feature-rich system Ivar has provided us and don't want any features removed, even though I cannot use all of them myself.

Edit: If anyone has compared the experience of using e.g. a Windows computer and mouse to navigate this forum, VS using a touch-screen device, I would be interested in reading their comments.

 

[chinacat]

Very much so.

It is a shame that the circular presentation almost decapitates you.

@trecile ‘s avatar is one of my favourites

It seems to express much of what I have ‘picked up’ about her through reading hundreds (more likely, thousands) of her posts.

(and there is no way on this earth that her posts could have been written by a man )

 

[David Tallan]

Me too, possibly because I am using a touch-screen device and the fingertip/screen interface does not facilitate precise selections of text. Or my fingertips are just too fat and clumsy.

Anyway I very much appreciate the feature-rich system Ivar has provided us and don't want any features removed, even though I cannot use all of them myself.

Edit: If anyone has compared the experience of using e.g. a Windows computer and mouse to navigate this forum, VS using a touch-screen device, I would be interested in reading their comments.

I'm using a regular computer, so I don't think it is your device or your fingers. I think it is that, when you quote a post using the Forum software, what is imported into the quotation system is the post or its content, not any content from previous posts that are in there as boxed quotes. Any boxed quotes just disappear. The presumption is probably that if you want to include those boxed quotes, you can collect them from their original source using multi quote. I guess the software designers didn't think anyone would be editing the quotes, so that what you want to capture isn't actually above because it wasn't necessarily what was said.

Of course, had I really wanted to, I could have captured the source quote and edited it exactly the same way, rather than just copying and pasting with quotation marks. But that would have been too much effort.

 

[Pilgrim9]

I'm using a regular computer, ...

Thank you, David Tallan, for putting effort into writing a detailed response.

The first point I got is that editing texts that are inside quote boxes can lead to unexpected results, i.e. dragons be there. I have taken note of that. The rest is a bit over my head for now. I think I will need to exercise the system for myself using a desktop PC and mouse to further develop my understanding of this app's quotation management system.

Thanks again.

 

[Tia Valeria]

Me too, possibly because I am using a touch-screen device and the fingertip/screen interface does not facilitate precise selections of text. Or my fingertips are just too fat and clumsy.

Anyway I very much appreciate the feature-rich system Ivar has provided us and don't want any features removed, even though I cannot use all of them myself.

Edit: If anyone has compared the experience of using e.g. a Windows computer and mouse to navigate this forum, VS using a touch-screen device, I would be interested in reading their comments.

I am a late comer to this thread so just a couple of comments.
I often put ."....... quoted words ......" to show that I am only using part of a post when quoting it. It seems the best way of highlighting if replying to a specific section while acknowledging that it is not the full post.

I only do that when using a computer (laptop) and mouse as it is not so easy on a tablet/touch screen. Not windows but Linux Ubuntu in my case but the system works the same way. I tend to try to answer posts on the computer even if I have read them on the tablet. It also helps to avoid some odd 'auto-correct' errors which annoy me my the tablet.
Navigating the forum is not much different on either type of device although the computer does show up a preview type image of the first post if I hover over it which I have never seen on the tablet.

 

[C clearly]

The rest is a bit over my head for now.

I find that the system is simple and works quite well, but you should be aware that edits can be made by the original author (flagged with a note in that case) or by the person doing the quoting. If some quoted text causes you concern or strong reaction, just go check it against the original.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I have noticed once that a particular forum member has replied to a post of mine, but actually changed and reworked my words around a bit without saying she had done it. I previusly did not know a person could actually change a post of another in a reply, and I did not appreciate it as it worked against me to validate that person's own point of view. I don't know how often this happens on the forum, but I assume it's rare.

 

[C clearly]

reworked my words around a bit without saying she had done it

That is the basic question of this thread. "Reworking" words around is not acceptable IMHO, and I have never noticed people doing that. However, removal of chunks of text is normal practice, using the ellipsis [...] as an indicator, so we can focus on the key point being addressed. If the meaning is deliberately misconstrued by removing words, that is not fair game.

 

[henrythedog]

@trecile ‘s avatar is one of my favourites

It seems to express much of what I have ‘picked up’ about her through reading hundreds (more likely, thousands) of her posts.

(and there is no way on this earth that her posts could have been written by a man )

I agree with you.

I, however, have virtually no emotional intelligence (also cultural sensitivity, perception, intuition et al). My eyesight isn’t what it used to be either. It would help me greatly if the world were coloured blue or pink as appropriate.

I have only slowly gathered that the vast majority of contributors to this forum to whom I pay attention are female. Mrs HenrytheDog says that is the natural order of things and I shouldn’t worry about it, so that’s alright then.

 

[pelerine]

I agree with you.

I, however, have virtually no emotional intelligence (also cultural sensitivity, perception, intuition et al). My eyesight isn’t what it used to be either. It would help me greatly if the world were coloured blue or pink as appropriate.

I have only slowly gathered that the vast majority of contributors to this forum to whom I pay attention are female. Mrs HenrytheDog says that is that is the natural order of things and I shouldn’t worry about it, so that’s alright then.

Very sensible! Mrs HenrytheDog always knows best!

 

[Arctic_Alex]

I have noticed often that a particular group of forum members has replied to posts of mine, but actually changed and reworked my words around a bit without saying they had done it. (...) I don't know how often this happens on the forum, but I assume it's very commonly done.

... sorry, had to do this now
But besides me kidding here, you are actually right and that is indeed bad style, if I would not even call it something worse than just bad style ...

 

[C clearly]

Wow! This thread DID become #1 on the Most Read threads for last week!

 

[NorthernLight]

Wow! This thread DID become #1 on the Most Read threads for last week!

Well, no wonder! It’s the most interesting new topic thread we’ve had in a while.

 

[WGroleau]

…
This is the internet. It is a gathering of strangers from around the world. We have huge differences in education, interest, logical inclinations, and concern about classical methods of discourse.

Not to mention skills at typing/editing.
I put in the requested ellipsis, but I don't see that it really makes a difference. But it's only one character, and after I select the part I want to remove, there's no significant difference in effort between cutting it out vs. replacing it with the ellipsis.

 

[WGroleau]

…Back on track, the trust issue may be more of a consideration in formal contexts, but this is a forum. People are alerted if their posts have been quoted, and can engage if the've been misquoted or if something's been taken out of context.…

Unless they have turned off those notifications, as I have. Before I did so, most of the e-mail notifications were just a waste of bandwidth. It is more efficient to log in, look at what has happened and ignore the ones that do not merit further attention.

 

[David Bedlow]

I occasionally hijack threads and possibly would have replied to @Pilgrim9's post, but I couldn't make "heads nor tails" out of it.

I am enjoying reading this stream, and fully agree with Pilgrim9's original post. But I do not understand the meaning of 'hijack' in this context.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I am enjoying reading this stream, and fully agree with Pilgrim9's original post. But I do not understand the meaning of 'hijack' in this context.

It was only a joke, referring to @grayland's post above mine where he first used the word hijack.

 

[Marbe2]

If, indeed, the issue is about building trust, then there is much more than a grammatically correct use of the ellipsis to be considered when quoting other members material.

Agree. We all come at this with different priorities, time available and skill sets.
I asked myself this morning,when I read the post, why do I come to this site?
I come for information that will help me and hopefully others enjoy our next camino. And too, I enjoy visiting or following the adventures of, or be inspired by, some fascinating pilgrims…none of which I have ever met. Yet I feel like I kind of know some of them, and like and can trust them.

Generally I don’t have the time or the inclination, in this setting, to be focused so much on punctuation and grammar. If some quote is confusing or I want to know the source, then I ask for clarification.

I realize that it might be important for the OP and others. If so, seek clarification from the poster, if you are having trouble “trusting” the information.