Saturday, 14 January 2017

IT'S ALL A MATTER OF MODERATION. OR: 'CHANGE' ISN'T ALWAYS CHANGE...



Some of you may recall the time when I was briefly a
member of a U.K. comics forum.  I'd only joined because
some diddy from another (expired) blog had falsely claimed
I was banned from the site - even 'though, up until I actually
joined, I'd never previously tried to join.  So it gave me im-
mense satisfaction to demonstrate that this sad, deluded
individual had been talking through his anal orifice.

This comics forum had an 'edit' facility on its comment
submission form, which allowed the writer to correct typos
and grammar, etc., as he went along;  one could even correct
any little errors after submission that one hadn't noticed at
the time.  Naturally, it would be noted in small print that
the comment had been edited, and precisely when.

It's a very handy thing having such a facility, and I've
never tried to hide the fact that, on this very blog of mine, I
constantly edit and revise my posts - not only for the sake of
clarity and conciseness, but also to make the overall shapes of
the paragraphs more aesthetically-pleasing to the eye.  In fact,
I've seen myself revising a sentence and thereby reshaping a
paragraph, more because it makes the finished post look
better than because it always makes it read better.

However, in the main, any changes were merely of
style rather than of content.  One 'exception' I can think
of was a reply to an open internet letter by a comics contrib-
utor, wherein, on reflection, I slightly softened the forceful-
ness of expression in my response to his petulant rant, more to
spare his feelings than anything else.  I decided that his self-
righteous indignation was more than enough for any one
dispute, but the truth of my post was undiminished.

When it comes to corrections, it varies. If I notice a
mistake, I usually amend the text, rather than just adding
an updated footnote.  This is simply because future readers
might bail out halfway through a post, taking the error with
them as fact.  If anyone draws my attention to an inaccuracy,
I'll fix it, and acknowledge the contribution in the comments
section.  Hell, I've even been known to do all those things
at once:  fix the goof, add a footnote saying I've fixed
it - and mention it in the comments section.

So back to the afore-mentioned comics forum.
If I spotted a typo or grammatical error in one of my
comments, or just saw a way of saying the same thing in a
clearer way, I'd sometimes 'edit' my comment.  Not to alter
the meaning, but to polish the presentation.  I'm sure I wasn't
the only one.  There was one very lengthy comment I kept re-
fining as, no sooner did I think it finished than something else
occurred to me to say.  However, as I was composing it in the
early hours of the morning in specific response to one particu-
lar individual who'd been having a go at me earlier, it was un-
likely that anyone had yet seen it (and certainly no one had
yet replied to it),  so I continued to sculpt and to mould it
as I went along until I was finally satisfied with it.  One
thing I didn't do, however, was alter its tone or
intent - there was no back-pedalling.

Now, as I later found out from the owner of the
site, one particular moderator had never wanted me
to be allowed to join in the first place, and was prejudiced
against me.  He allowed others to insult me, but if I put up a
defence, he was never slow off the mark to castigate me for it.
He suspended the edit facility for every member, then tipped
off one who was continually taking  pops at me that he'd done
so because of me.  This was surely done to inconvenience the
forum in the hope of inciting a backlash against me.  When I
enquired what had happened to the edit facility, the favoured
member jumped in to say it was because I 'kept changing my
comments', thus demonstrating that he had inside ('though
innacurate) information.  The site owner later conceded
it seemed obvious that the individual was being
privately supplied with internal info.

Regular readers know what eventually happened
next, so I'll skip past all that to avoid repeating myself.
(Details can be found here.)  No doubt you'll be wondering
why I'm relating all this now.  Well, about a year or so ago, I
received an email from the owner of a comics-orientated blog
who'd formerly been an editor at a prominent publisher.  He
explained that he objected to something I'd written and had
taken the precaution of taking a screen-grab, as I was 'well-
known' for 'editing' my blog posts - 'something we all do',
he later stated, seemingly unaware of the glaring
absurdity of his double-standards.

When I challenged him and asked him to supply
even one example in support of his claim, he recanted
and apologised, 'though his subsequent attitude caused me
to doubt the sincerity of his apology.  However, I was left to
wonder whether there was a link between his mistaken per-
ception that I altered my posts for the unethical purpose of
misdirection  or deception, and the malicious misinfor-
mation promulgated by a disgruntled, disingenuous
moderator on that comics forum.

So, I freely admit (and always have) that, in my
fruitless quest for 'perfection', I edit, revise, correct,
update and polish my blog posts, to make them as factual,
informative, entertaining, and as visually appealing as they
can possibly be, but I don't alter them to say the opposite
of what I'd originally published in order to escape any po-
tential embarrassment, consequence, or legal penalty
which might ensue from anything I'd written.

And yes, I may well edit this post - if it occurs to
me how to convey the exact same 'content' in a better,
smarter, funnier (and shorter) way than I have.  However,
the purpose of the post and the message contained therein
will remain intact.  Improvement of expression is no bad
thing - so long as the original spirit or intention isn't com-
promised.  Some people would do well to bear that in
    mind before making unfounded  accusations.   

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