Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
It's been brought to my attention that some of the other moderators don't approve of my style. Mentioned were:
1. Sometimes I proofread posts and correct typos. I don't see anything wrong with this, especially on a linguistics board where we're all language-oriented and probably set higher standards than they do in Free Thoughts. The only feedback I can remember getting from a member about this was positive. I'm an editor in real life (for now anyway) and it just comes naturally. This is a "Do unto others" thing with me. I certainly appreciate other people fixing my typos. I'd like to hear from other members on this.
2. If a member's native language is not English and he's having a bit of trouble with it, sometimes I go further with my editing. This also falls under "Do unto others." If I were struggling to post on a linguistics board in Spanish, I would surely appreciate anyone helping me not look like the foolish gabacho that I am. I wonder if our non-anglophone members feel differently.
3. If the post is in the "Word of the Day" thread or otherwise gives the definition and etymology of a word, sometimes I will correct errors or incomplete explanations. For example, correcting the spelling or grammatical ending of a word in a foreign language, or inserting an intermediate step that shows that we got a Greek word from the Romans who borrowed it first, and that's why we spell it with a Latin ending instead of a Greek ending. My feeling about this is that people come to this subforum from Google hits (or just by seeing it on the homepage) looking for a definition or an origin, and they might not feel like reading ten more posts in the thread to discover that the one they got is wrong. This really raised the ire of the other moderators, since it's not just typography but actually changing what someone wrote intentionally. A good suggestion is to just add a moderator's note to the post, if it's really that important, telling the readers to scroll down looking for the correction.
4. Some felt that I have edited posts to conform to my own point of view or subjective standards. That's a temptation all editors are familiar with and have to develop the integrity and discipline to avoid. I think to some extent by "point of view or subjective standards" they simply mean that I want this place to look nice and attract prospective new members by not being full of typos. But if any of you don't like that, or think I'm overdoing it, please say so. As for actually being nefarious and changing someone's words to conform to my own opinion, well I hope I haven't been doing that. If anyone has seen it, please tell me because this is the most serious criticism of all.
I think most of what we talk about here is pretty dry stuff; moderating Linguistics does not provide either the challenge or the headache of the Politics or World Events boards. And I think most of the people who post here take pride in their language and don't object to professional editing. Like all the other scientists on SciForums, sometimes we take off our lab coats and joke around and shoot rubber bands at each other. I generally don't moderate those posts except for the basic rules like no racism or personal insults.
(Someone mentioned the recent tiff with Gustav over "The Linguistics of Gustav," his request for an explanation of what a haiku is, and my short temper with his iconoclastic reaction to my explanation. The only editing I did was to add the word "Haiku" to his thread title so people would know what it was about; he objected to that and I changed it back. Other people agreed with him that the thread wasn't really supposed to be about haiku and ultimately we agreed that in that case the thread was on the wrong board and I moved it, but not before he violated a couple of rules, apparently impatient with my slow responses on a national holiday. I actually have no idea what his thread was about but if anyone can translate Gustavian into standard American English perhaps you can tell me.)
I have stated what I would like to do:
1. Sometimes I proofread posts and correct typos. I don't see anything wrong with this, especially on a linguistics board where we're all language-oriented and probably set higher standards than they do in Free Thoughts. The only feedback I can remember getting from a member about this was positive. I'm an editor in real life (for now anyway) and it just comes naturally. This is a "Do unto others" thing with me. I certainly appreciate other people fixing my typos. I'd like to hear from other members on this.
2. If a member's native language is not English and he's having a bit of trouble with it, sometimes I go further with my editing. This also falls under "Do unto others." If I were struggling to post on a linguistics board in Spanish, I would surely appreciate anyone helping me not look like the foolish gabacho that I am. I wonder if our non-anglophone members feel differently.
3. If the post is in the "Word of the Day" thread or otherwise gives the definition and etymology of a word, sometimes I will correct errors or incomplete explanations. For example, correcting the spelling or grammatical ending of a word in a foreign language, or inserting an intermediate step that shows that we got a Greek word from the Romans who borrowed it first, and that's why we spell it with a Latin ending instead of a Greek ending. My feeling about this is that people come to this subforum from Google hits (or just by seeing it on the homepage) looking for a definition or an origin, and they might not feel like reading ten more posts in the thread to discover that the one they got is wrong. This really raised the ire of the other moderators, since it's not just typography but actually changing what someone wrote intentionally. A good suggestion is to just add a moderator's note to the post, if it's really that important, telling the readers to scroll down looking for the correction.
4. Some felt that I have edited posts to conform to my own point of view or subjective standards. That's a temptation all editors are familiar with and have to develop the integrity and discipline to avoid. I think to some extent by "point of view or subjective standards" they simply mean that I want this place to look nice and attract prospective new members by not being full of typos. But if any of you don't like that, or think I'm overdoing it, please say so. As for actually being nefarious and changing someone's words to conform to my own opinion, well I hope I haven't been doing that. If anyone has seen it, please tell me because this is the most serious criticism of all.
I think most of what we talk about here is pretty dry stuff; moderating Linguistics does not provide either the challenge or the headache of the Politics or World Events boards. And I think most of the people who post here take pride in their language and don't object to professional editing. Like all the other scientists on SciForums, sometimes we take off our lab coats and joke around and shoot rubber bands at each other. I generally don't moderate those posts except for the basic rules like no racism or personal insults.
(Someone mentioned the recent tiff with Gustav over "The Linguistics of Gustav," his request for an explanation of what a haiku is, and my short temper with his iconoclastic reaction to my explanation. The only editing I did was to add the word "Haiku" to his thread title so people would know what it was about; he objected to that and I changed it back. Other people agreed with him that the thread wasn't really supposed to be about haiku and ultimately we agreed that in that case the thread was on the wrong board and I moved it, but not before he violated a couple of rules, apparently impatient with my slow responses on a national holiday. I actually have no idea what his thread was about but if anyone can translate Gustavian into standard American English perhaps you can tell me.)
I have stated what I would like to do:
- Continue proofreading--although I don't promise to do it on every post so don't get lazy now
- Respond to an error of fact in a separate post; insert a moderator's note if absolutely necessary but don't rewrite the post
- Keep the place looking nice
- Don't put words in people's mouths
- Duck if somebody shoots a rubber band at me.