Is it rude to edit a person's quote when replying?

[Merkava_4]

Sometimes I'll do this out of OCD compulsiveness, but it does take away from the originality of the person's quote. Is it wrong or offensive to do this?

Here's an example:

Quote:

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Yea, the quiter running engine is a common occurance after switching away from mobil 1.
Seems like a ____ of a diffrence to me!
congrats on your new choice.

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Quote:

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Yeah, the quieter running engine is a common occurance after switching away from Mobil 1. Seems like a heck of a difference to me! Congrats on your new choice.

---

Sometimes I'll straighten the oil bottles at the store too.

 

[Shannow]

I'll change a single word in another post for humorous effect where they've all but made a funny.

Other than that, I'll let them ride.

 

[eljefino]

Proper etiquette would put the replaced word in brackets.

[heck]

UBB code makes this difficult, I turned it off for this post.

 

[Aldaris]

It would be rude if you changed what he said completely, from:

Quote:

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I like women!

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to

Quote:

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I like men!

---

 

[CivicFan]

I think it's rude.

 

[ekpolk]

Assuming it's done for legitimate, non-deceptive reasons, it's perfectly acceptable. As eljefino suggested above, it's a commonly accepted practice amongst writers and editors. Of course, I'd add that such editing should be done with restraint, and perhaps not bothered with where it's really not necessary. One can get sick of "sic" pretty quick. . .

 

[Pablo]

mobile {sic}

 

[Larry the Cable Guy]

Quote:

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Mobil 1 is one sick lubricant, d00d!!

---

Just kidding, sir.

 

[Kestas]

I'll edit spelling (or typos). It's my way of being the spelling police without making a big deal about it.

Some people do even more rude things on forums. Cleaning up spelling should be one of the less insulting things to expect.

 

[Pablo]

Quote:

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Assuming i'm legitimate, deceptive reasons, it's perfectly unacceptable. As not suggested above, it's accepted practice amongst bad writers and lousy editors. Of course, I'd add that such editing should be done with no restraint, and perhaps not brotheled with getting..... pretty quick. . .

---

 

[Papa Bear]

When someone cuts me a check, I add a "0" or two ...

 

[Bror Jace]

I'm another OCD child that edits others' posts. Most of the time its for typos, grammar, etc ...

Other times I edit for content and space the chunks apart with "..."

People don't like to read long, redundant material ... especially material full of typos and misspellings. I feel I'm doind all those concerned a favor.

I've only had one idiot flip out at me ... accusing me of taking him out of context (I did not). Not bad in over 10 years writing on-line.

 

[TallPaul]

I never change peoples posts, but will cut material out of them to save space. Always put the three dots ( ... ) in where you have removed text so readers will know there was something else in the quote. But why quote three paragraphs when you are only responding to one or two sentences?

 

[GeaugaFletcher]

Nope. If it's in quotes, it better be exactly as first written. It's acceptable for the sake of clarity to edit by omission, but there better be "..." to show what you've done and it must not be an attempt to skew the original meaning or intent.