Re: Copy editing

Actually, we've generally elected to avoid directly editing each other's nodes, in part because of the risk of changing the intended meaning of the original poster.

While it's true that some take more care in composing their posts, it's generally thought that a few typos add to the character of the place. This follows a tradition found in similar communities (Usenet, old-school BBS's, etc), where one tends to focus on the quality of the message itself and not on the way it's constructed or delivered. Granted, well constructed (and edited) messages are more effective than barely legible screeds, but a few "tpyos" should be expected.

Also, keep in mind that:

One can always edit their own replies (plus the root nodes documented by turnstep). I've frequently had to root out a few unwanted expressions and extraneous characters and have generally resorted to composing off-line to catch the major problems.)
When one accidentally posts a typo in a non-editable node, one can always /msg a janitor for a quick fix. (Again, we tend to let the original author choose when--or if--a node needs editing.)
Once members reach a certain level, they can submit nodes for consideration. This means you can suggest certain edits.
You can always send private /msg's to folks outlining mistakes in their nodes.

Given all this, I really don't see that we need a specific grammarian tasked with rapping people on the knuckles because they flubbed the keyboard or because they write better code than prose.

--f

Comment on Re: Copy editing

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Re: Re: Copy editing by innerfire (Novice) on Dec 27, 2001 at 04:00 UTC
Actually, we've generally elected to avoid directly editing each other's nodes, in part because of the risk of changing the intended meaning of the original poster. I should have been more clear in my original post--if I had known I was going to lose experience points for posting it (?!?!) I wouldn't have posted at all. I intended that we should copy edit "official" documents on this site, like the FAQ and various help documents, but not user-submitted things. In official publications, tyops lend a sense of unprofessionalism, not "character". But that's just a clarifying note; I'm obviously quite outvoted, so never mind.	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: Copy editing by footpad (Abbot) on Dec 27, 2001 at 05:45 UTC
Ah, I see. Yes, you are correct. We want to keep the FAQ's straight and readable (as far as possible).¹ If you see something like what you mentioned, then, please feel free to either post a new discussion or to privately /msg a janitor or helper elf. As far as getting voted down for your original post, well, I think it's possible some folks misread your note and simply thought you were trolling for XP. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Many people (myself included) get an off start. Hang in there, keep an eye on how things work, and you'll do fine. There are a number of nodes that point to getting off on the right foot, but my personal favorite is this home node. Feel free to dig around for some others. :-) --f ¹ - Note that we know the Library docs are out of date. That's on the list of things to fix, but since you can find docs from most recent versions of Perl here, it's not been as high a priority as other things.	[reply]