Copy editing one's own posts.

[steve(thelil)]

Do you carefully edit your posts for UNINTENDED typos, bad sentences or other problems before you post?

Or do you post, read, immediately edit, post, read, edit repost, etc.

Often, I prematurely post, but then read and edit and repost at least a couple of times in the first 5 minutes. At least on the posts where I think I'm actually saying something.

On the other hand, I actually edited this one several times before first posting and it didn't seem that unfamiliar a process.

Maybe it depends on how anxious I am to say something.

Posting seriously, for the Festivus solstice.

[Ron Thorne]

Mostly the first method, but all of the above would apply at one time or another, I suppose.

Utilizing the WYSIWYG feature (User Control Panel) really helps with sorting things ahead of time, especially if you're employing B I or U, colors, links, including images via IMG sources, or uploads from your computer.

[Sergio Zamora]

I'm really bad about editing. I rarely review thoroughly anything I post, which I think is noticeable in the amount of obvious typos in my posts as well as some truly bizarre choice of words and sentence structures. I'll go back and edit the more blatant mistakes, but I often don't bother with small oversights. I know it sounds weird, but it makes me feel dishonest to edit my posts too much.

[Uli]

I like to edit everything upfront. Not always successfully as the shamful Yanek incident proves.

[steve(thelil)]

I think Sergio's comment about feeling dishonest if he edits too much is interesting. What made me think of this thread was that I noticed someone edited a post and made a point of adding "Edited to fix typo" or something similar.

I would feel dishonest about changing the substance of something I posted AFTER someone commented on it, but I usually feel I'm doing a favor to potential readers to edit something to correct a spelling error or typo or admission of a felony or something else minor.

Edited to please a cheap hooker.

[john williams]

I am the worst typist in the world so make many typos. I often post then re-edit. I am mildly dyslexic so don't always see the mistakes immediately. I've edited badly written posts that are weeks, if not months, old.

[Monte Smith]

My posting is 98% ackerate.

[Ron Thorne]

Rest assured that 99.9% of my edits are purely associated with being anal-retentive. I've never knowingly edited for content, per se.

I guess that once you're an admitted "butt man", you might as well go all the way, eh? Or is that something different?

[Tom Storer]

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

My posting is 98% ackerate.

That's 98% ackerate after editing, I take it. Yuk.

I read through and edit before posting, then post, then see the mistakes I missed, then edit.

I'll sometimes edit for content if no one has replied yet. On the more polemical or heated threads, I increasingly tend to write my heated reply, read it through, decide it is pointless and refrain from posting it.

[Chris D]

I usually post quickly. Hitting "post quick reply" is almost like hitting the return button for me. As I broke into the world as a copy editor, if I read an error back in something I've posted, I've gotta change it. I won't edit something to change its tenor or meaning, but I will go back and fix a factual error if it's pointed out.

[clinthopson]

We proof everything twice we send out to our clients.

I should be that careful with the drivel I post here?

[steve(thelil)]

No. Business drivel is much more important.

[Dr Dave]

I used to be an editor. Editors edit.

[Dan G]

Spout off a bunch of meaningless drivel, post without thinking it over, then read and correct some spelling and grammar but usually not all. Maybe edit to add a little bit for clarification, but never remove anything I've said regardless of how stupid it is.


As a communications officer at a large public institution, my work style is scarily similar to my posting style!

[bluenoter]

For a small consideration (which could be in the form of jazz CDs), I'll be happy to copy edit the posts in this thread, paying particular attention to grammar.

[Uli]

Originally Posted by bluenoter

For a small consideration (which could be in the form of jazz CDs), I'll be happy to copy edit the posts in this thread, paying particular attention to grammar.

Thanks blue!

I sure hope you will continue to correct spellings and other faults etc post-factum for free.

[Monte Smith]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

Editors edit.

I got you beat. Not only am I an editor, my mother was an editor. So I have a Freudian relationship with the red pencil.

[bluenoter]

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

I got you beat. Not only am I an editor, my mother was an editor. So I have a Freudian relationship with the red pencil.

I have a two-foot-long, width-proportional pencil sculpture (it was a gag gift). I posed for mildly obscene photos with it.

[Monte Smith]

Okay then.

[Dr Dave]

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

I got you beat. Not only am I an editor, my mother was an editor. So I have a Freudian relationship with the red pencil.

I quit using red years ago. Nobody likes to get a manuscript back with red writing all over it. So I switched to other colors. Purple, mostly, but green was good, too. (Of course, if the damned manuscript was what I'd asked for in the first place, it wouldn't have all that red, but that's a separate issue.)

[Chris D]

Yes, red is now pretty much dismissed. I still have my red pen and reach for it occasionally, only to catch myself and pick up the green sword in its stead.

[Enforcer]

Originally Posted by bluenoter

I have a two-foot-long, width-proportional pencil sculpture (it was a gag gift). I posed for mildly obscene photos with it.

I'd pay a few jazz CDs for a glimpse of those!

[Monte Smith]

Yeah, but you still call it "the red pencil" even if you are using a purple or blue pencil or a red pen. Besides, "the purple pencil" doesn't sound like a phrase I should use in the same breath as "my mother" and "Freud."

[steve(thelil)]

If you associate purple pencil with your mother, mentioning Freud in the same breath is unnecessary.

[Monte Smith]

[Tom Storer]

Red pen? Purple pen? I read through printouts of PDF files and make my own notes, then I use the "Notes" function in Adobe Exchange to attach virtual sticky notes to the PDF, which I then send to the writer. That way there's a backup of the corrections and the writers don't have to try to read my handwriting. But occasionally I do end up having to hand them back the paper copy with my notes. At first I thought I'd use green pen or something as per the theory that red pen is negative. But I got over that. Red pen makes them believe you're the boss.

[Dr Dave]

Originally Posted by Tom Storer

Red pen? Purple pen? I read through printouts of PDF files and make my own notes, then I use the "Notes" function in Adobe Exchange to attach virtual sticky notes to the PDF, which I then send to the writer. That way there's a backup of the corrections and the writers don't have to try to read my handwriting. But occasionally I do end up having to hand them back the paper copy with my notes. At first I thought I'd use green pen or something as per the theory that red pen is negative. But I got over that. Red pen makes them believe you're the boss.

Heh. Unless you have other ways of making them believe you're the boss. Like the power of the purse, for example.

Monte: I used to love Crockett Johnson. Thanks for reminding me of him.

[Ron Thorne]

Originally Posted by Larry Nagel

I'd pay a few jazz CDs for a glimpse of those!

My buddy, Larry, surfaces at the most opportune times, doesn't he? Yeah, let's see 'em bn. I'll throw in a couple, too.

[bluenoter]

Ron Thorne! I'm surprised at you. (I'm not surprised at you, Larry.)

I don't have the pics. Besides, they were just silly. I was fully clothed and striking mock-obscene poses with the huge pencil sculpture.

[Nate Dorward]

I always associated blue pencil with editing, red pen with schoolteachers/profs, but it's certainly not set in stone.

Red pens have one enormous advantage: no-one steals them. So if you don't want someone lifting your pen, use a red one.