Timeline for Is it right to point out rude language or just silently edit it?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
18 events
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| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:42 | comment | added | Shog9 Mod | @zenbike: you should stop into Chat, or post a separate question if you're interested in discussing this at length. Editing - and attitudes toward editing - are a fundamental and critical part of the SE system, so it's important they're well-understood... | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:29 | history | edited | zenbike | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:28 | comment | added | zenbike | All three answers above agree with what I'm saying. Why is it that my answer is different somehow? This is a serious question, not just a complaint, btw. | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:22 | comment | added | zenbike | Good for you. It's still rude to edit somebody else's content because you think it might maybe offend someone someday. And if someone does it to me, I'll revert it. Every time. I also do't go out of my way to be offensive, but the nature of disagreement is that someone usually finds something offensive. If I edit out things that offend me, I'd be deleting half your comments as supporting censorship. But I wouldn't even if I could, because it's ok to disagree. | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:19 | comment | added | Cody Gray | Yeah, I'm not the person who asked the question... So I didn't say that. And the point was that question/answer flags do not include the option of "offensive" or "inappropriate" like comment flags do. There are about a zillion places where the moderators and everyone else try to tell you here that your flag weight is meaningless and that you shouldn't pay so much attention to it. It is not connected to your reputation. Yes, it means nothing to me. | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:19 | comment | added | zenbike | Perhaps meaningless to you. Not to me. It is an indication of whether your decisions are trusted on the site. Just because they don't post it on your profile, it means nothing to you? | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:17 | comment | added | zenbike | "I've run into this question and mistakenly created some "wars" a couple times, but this wasn't my intent". Sounds like you made an edit, and then had it turn into a war to me. More than once , too. Also, nowhere did you specify comments. And you can certainly flag a question or answer. Or did that flag link go missing? | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:14 | comment | added | zenbike | Related post is referring to obvious and non-subjective comments, like cursing. Not to editing out something you feel is rude, but that you would have to explain to the poster why it was. If someone calls you an ass, edit out, by all means, That is not what I'm saying at all. | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:14 | comment | added | Cody Gray | The flags are for comments, which can't be edited. I thought we were talking about answers. And yes, they moderate disputes. Remember I said above that if an edit war were to break out (with the OP disagreeing with your edit and rolling it back), then you would need to call in a moderator. But there's no reason to get moderators involved in everyday usage of the site. I never said that it turns into a flame war to make edits, even over subjective things like language. I actually said I welcom it. And yes, it affects your flag weight. That counts for zilch. Totally meaningless. No risk. | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:11 | comment | added | zenbike | "Collaboratively edited" is intended to improve the content of questions and answers. Why do we have flags for moderator attention based on offensive or inappropriate comments? And why are they call moderators, if the point is not to provide moderation in disputes of this type? Your OP says that when you've done this, it turns in to a flame war. That was my original objection. Secondly, I had a mod on our site tell me that your flag weigh is affected by mods marking your flags valid or invalid. Not rep, but at least you risk something of your own when you tell someone they don't count. | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:10 | comment | added | Cody Gray | Related: Why edit out inflammatory language? Is that censorship? | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:04 | comment | added | Cody Gray | For a change, I didn't downvote this because I'm out of votes. But again the same: downvotes on Meta don't mean the same thing they do on the main site. Here, they indicate disagreement. It's all spelled out in the FAQ. More to the point, this is not the established system. It's a perfectly valid opinion, and I see your point, but as I mentioned above, moderator flags are generally intended for use in cases where the average user can't solve the problem. I already provided a link explaining that the Stack Exchange sites are collaboratively edited. That's the "established system". | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:02 | comment | added | zenbike | And they might not. OR they might. Or they might not see it as rude at all. Or they might find you telling them what is rude, rude. I love that I'm being downvoted for telling you to follow the established system. | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 15:59 | comment | added | Cody Gray | Pointing things out to a moderator, right or wrong, does not risk your reputation points. And why should you waste the time of our already-busy moderators with things you could just as easily change or improve yourself? Moderators should be left to deal with things that regular users can't handle (like if you edit and the original poster reverts; that's called an edit war, and then moderators need to step in). My theory is that the person who said whatever you think is rude didn't mean it that way, and aren't particularly attached to it. They won't mind if you fix it. I wouldn't. | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 15:55 | comment | added | zenbike | It seems positive to you, and apparently to others. Keep in mind, I'm talking about point of view. Yours is one thing. The OP might have another. If something is rude to the point of needing to be changed, do it right. And risk your rep on being told you're wrong. I'm definitely not saying we should let vulgar behavior stand. Just that there is a system in place to deal with it already. | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 15:51 | comment | added | zenbike | Correcting a mistake, making a question more universal, or editing for grammar and punctuation, sure. But if you start making subjective edits to other peoples' posts, you're balancing on a very thin wire. Edit a post because I've made a mistake, sure. But if you aren't willing to risk your rep points to point it out to a moderator, then it is your taste that is causing you to edit, and what makes your taste more valuable than his or hers? And if you edit for rudeness, and he reverts, and you edit... what then? That's why we have moderators. | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 15:42 | comment | added | Cody Gray | "editing a post for rudeness is in itself rude in my opinion" Why do you think that? This site is collaboratively edited, and removing or rewording something that people might find to be rude or offensive seems like a net positive change. | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 15:39 | history | answered | zenbike | CC BY-SA 3.0 |