Is it a good idea to edit a Front Page Post after it's posted

March 31, 2003 12:42 PM

Is it a good idea to edit a Front Page Post after it's posted, changing obvious typos and grammatical mistakes? Isn't that kinda like changing history?
posted by jpburns to MetaFilter-related at 12:42 PM (20 comments total)

... and if so, can you change all of my previous posts to make me sound like some kind of erudite, sophisticated bon-vivant?

... just wondering...
posted by jpburns at 12:45 PM on March 31, 2003

Matt can only do the possible--not the impossible.
posted by y2karl at 1:08 PM on March 31, 2003

Considering the typos were helping people like you to derail the thread, I think it was a wise choice.
posted by jpoulos at 1:12 PM on March 31, 2003

Sorry, "people like you" sounds like I'm picking a fight. I mean "considering the typos were derailing the thread..."
posted by jpoulos at 1:14 PM on March 31, 2003

If you're gonna go edit the typos out of posts, why not delete all the lame pile on comments about the typos?
posted by jonson at 1:19 PM on March 31, 2003

It's ok to edit history if it's wrong.
posted by gottabefunky at 1:27 PM on March 31, 2003

I've got to come down on the side of no editing. You post it, you live with it. That's what the preview button is for.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:30 PM on March 31, 2003

can you change all of my previous posts to make me sound like some kind of erudite, sophisticated bon-vivant?

So you want all "posted by jpburns" to now read to "posted by MiguelCardoso"?
posted by arco at 1:34 PM on March 31, 2003

you bunch of grunking saballas may hovercraft, but nobody, NOBODY funts recticular.
posted by quonsar at 1:37 PM on March 31, 2003

The problem is, typos and spelling mistakes (and it's not a typo unless it's inadvertent and accidental: repeated misuse of its/it's, their/they're/there and principal/principle aren't typos, they're evidence you can't spell) do two things. One, they make the poster look dumb. Fair enough: the poster should be more careful if s/he doesn't want to look dumb. But the other problem is that posts with lots of spelling mistakes make the front page of MetaFilter look dumb. And that's a bigger issue that is of concern to more people than just the poster.
posted by mcwetboy at 1:38 PM on March 31, 2003

Matt seems to edit the FPPs to spare us all the sloppy typing and editing of the MeFites and then he takes out the pile-on posts if possible without derailing the thread. My basic take on it is that MeFi looks better if people look like they spent even the slightest amount of time editing before posting, even if that appearance is a total lie.

The associated MeTa topic is why the heck people can't seem to proofread if their lives depended on it. I can sort of see "OMFG it's an EARHQWRAKER!!" but if it's not time sensitive, do everyone a favor and spellcheck/proofread.
posted by jessamyn at 1:46 PM on March 31, 2003

So you want all "posted by jpburns" to now read to "posted by MiguelCardoso"?

No... I want just it to seem that I'm as clever as MiguelCardoso.

I guess the point I wanted to make is that it's important to check things, and that the poster should make corrections (as I did on my "derailing" post) THEMSELVES, rather than have the great and powerful Oz (uh... Matt) manipulate reality.
posted by jpburns at 2:04 PM on March 31, 2003

As soon as I noticed my mistakes I emailed Matt and he graciously edited the post. I agree that poor editing makes Mefi as whole look bad and I apologise for rattling a few cages on this occasion. I wonder if a better approach for those who pointed out the mistakes in the thread to have followed the procedure I did. Doesn't an interest in how a message is made rather than the message itself make us look bad too?
posted by feelinglistless at 2:06 PM on March 31, 2003

jessamyn asked me to edit the typos on it, and I did. I didn't notice all the comments mocking the poster's grammar, but I just cleaned those up too.

Problem solved.

(and seriously people, the preview button is there for a reason, use it)
posted by mathowie at 2:51 PM on March 31, 2003

you're messing with history, dammit! you're undermining the very fabric of life here, damn you!
posted by crunchland at 4:12 PM on March 31, 2003

there are four typos!
posted by folktrash at 4:41 PM on March 31, 2003

No... I want just it to seem that I'm as clever as MiguelCardoso.
I didn't know they still performed lobotomies?
posted by dg at 6:55 PM on March 31, 2003

There's this psychology of proof-reading. The mind sees what it wants to. College students are told to print out their papers to proof read them or at least step away from the computer for a while and then proof-read.

The preview button works the same way. The "did I do some social wrong" brain aparatus doesn't kick in until we believe that the post has been posted.

So lets say we give people one minute after posting to edit. It should help, but if they know they get another minute then after a while it probably wont help at all.

What the PC world really needs is a nice open-source cheap piece of hardware that delivers an almost unhealthy elecro-shock. Click the mefi EULA and bam, Matt has the right to zap the crap out of you if you leave "psychological typos" in FPPs. Or if you just post "Iraqfilter" in a thread.

We can also apply this technology to double posts, trolls, chronic posters, those who don't post enough, etc.

Mefites, please shave your "sensitive parts" tonight and wait for a small package from Chicago in the next few days. Sign the disclaimers, and the "I give Skallas power of Attorney" forms and get ready for an online experience like no other!

A better Metafilter awaits for those who dare.
posted by skallas at 11:40 PM on March 31, 2003

lame, lame-o, the lamemeister failing lamely at makin' a lame joke.
posted by y2karl at 11:40 PM on March 31, 2003

not skallas but dg, that is...
posted by y2karl at 11:41 PM on March 31, 2003