How do you deal with members who quote portions of a post that totally changes the meaning of it? Is it a rule violation? Do you let it slide? Do you let members call out that member for the deception?
Members quote portions to change the meaning of the post
- Thread starter Katrina
- Start date
While annoying, our words unfortunately matter in and out of context. I think it’s important to understand the difference between intention and impact when responding. I might mean one thing and instead it’s perceived as 4 other things.
There’s a few options. You can choose to engage and clarify to bring the broader context back into focus. You can choose to not engage and let the misconception sit. Whichever method you utilize, you need to weigh the pros and cons of your actions. I wouldn’t consider partial quotes as being any type of policy violation unless it’s blatant spam or offensive (ie, only quoting the word ass in a post). Ultimately, it is annoying to deal with but the words are ours. You can’t really penalize someone for partial quotes if you aren’t ready to stand by your words and you can’t prove intent.
I think the better option is a preventative approach where you 1) have a solid reputation of integrity up front, 2) acknowledge the poster’s concerns, 3) redirect, clarify, and discuss, 4) limit engagement to prevent trolling, and 5) let the community make their own judgements. A escalated person is not going to think rationally and further engagement will not correct that. Additionally, your engagement can lead to your own escalation. An escalated person cannot de-escalate anyone.
There’s a few options. You can choose to engage and clarify to bring the broader context back into focus. You can choose to not engage and let the misconception sit. Whichever method you utilize, you need to weigh the pros and cons of your actions. I wouldn’t consider partial quotes as being any type of policy violation unless it’s blatant spam or offensive (ie, only quoting the word ass in a post). Ultimately, it is annoying to deal with but the words are ours. You can’t really penalize someone for partial quotes if you aren’t ready to stand by your words and you can’t prove intent.
I think the better option is a preventative approach where you 1) have a solid reputation of integrity up front, 2) acknowledge the poster’s concerns, 3) redirect, clarify, and discuss, 4) limit engagement to prevent trolling, and 5) let the community make their own judgements. A escalated person is not going to think rationally and further engagement will not correct that. Additionally, your engagement can lead to your own escalation. An escalated person cannot de-escalate anyone.
I've not experience that yet myself.
I usually quote a portion just to response to a specific point or question, but I never do it with confrontational intentions.
I suppose, I would intervene if it started to become toxic, as I would with anything else. There are forum owners that will allow that sort of thing and those who won't. I'm on the "don't allow" team.
I haven't experienced this on any of my forums. Usually if someone is going to quote portions of someone else's post to change the meaning, it's probably because they don't like their post and are doing so in a negative way. I wouldn't allow it on my forums and I would give a verbal warning to whoever does this for the first offense, if it happens again they may be suspended.
But I bet you didn't misuse the quote so that it changed the initial meaning of what someone else wrote?
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