Hypothetical question here: Is it legal to change someone's post or email or electronically transmitted messages? Say if I wrote something, and a moderator of a forum came along and edited and it lost the original meaning of my intended post, maybe putting me in an incriminating position, or even just making my question look like something intirely different, is this legal?

Good question, AB, but although it might not be legal it is unethical in my way of thnking. Maybe permission should be sought before someone changed another's script in a polite sort of way making an appropriate suggestion.

If that happened to me, I would be just so darned put out I wouldn't be able to even spit.

Tick

Hypotheticals are tough. On a totally free site like this one, the chances of holding a moderator liable for editing an unvetted person's remarks are next to nil.

My understanding is that anything you post on a privately-owned forum becomes the property of the owners of that forum and they have the right to do with it as they please.

If they make changes to your post without your knowledge or consent, and someone sues you for damages they incurred due to that post, then you can sue the owners of the forum for reimbursement.

With that said, if I posted on a privately-owned forum and the owners made changes to my post (other than spelling, grammar or punctuation) without my knowledge or consent I'd be out of there in a heartbeat.

Where's the line between editing for spelling and entirely changing the meaning of the post? My reference is then post with the OP asking if it's illegal to take pictures of women. The OP wrote "hot babe" but it was changed to "attractive woman", which totally changed the "feel" of the post.

Good question. I think it changes the feel of the post but it doesn't change the meaning. So unless the OP copyrighted their post (which they didn't), they wouldn't have any kind of claim against the owners/mods of the site.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aurora_Bell

Where's the line between editing for spelling and entirely changing the meaning of the post? My reference is then post with the OP asking if it's illegal to take pictures of women. The OP wrote "hot babe" but it was changed to "attractive woman", which totally changed the "feel" of the post.

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I see nothing wrong with 'hot babe' and yes, it does change the essence.

Tick

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aurora_Bell

Where's the line between editing for spelling and entirely changing the meaning of the post? My reference is then post with the OP asking if it's illegal to take pictures of women. The OP wrote "hot babe" but it was changed to "attractive woman", which totally changed the "feel" of the post.

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This was discussed elsewhere. But you are correct. However, as Lisa, correctly put it, this is a privately owned site and the Terms of Service do state that the site owns any content submitted. So legally it can be edited.

Wow, I think that is really scarry. You know, I almost didn't check this thread because of the title change. I was like "I didn't write that". Why wouldn't you guys notify the OP that you are changing and putting words in their mouths? That doesn't even sound like something I would say...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aurora_Bell

Wow, I think that is really scarry. You know, I almost didn't check this thread because of the title change. I was like "I didn't write that". Why wouldn't you guys notify the OP that you are changing and putting words in their mouths? That doesn't even sound like something I would say....

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Your original title was "Cyber Laws". While this did apply to your question, we are trying to get the titles to be more specific in reference to the question. This will help in optimizing searches.

So in this case, the title change was appropriate. It did not change the meaning or tone of your question, it just made the title more specific to the question.

On the other hand, the other thread you referred to was NOT, In my opinion, appropriate. It DID change the tone of the title and would definitely affect responders perceptions of the OP.

But the question of how to note edits is a good question, but for a different forum.

Is there a thread already started for editing notes? Or informing OP's of changes being made?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

So legally it can be edited.

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I guess the difference being that it didn't used to be edited and now it will be. Don't like it at all but I can't change that.

What's with this Answer Summary?? It's been written as a statement of fact when I wrote that it was "my understanding". I qualified my answer for a reason.

I know, it's kind of creepy.

I would really like to know why most of us did not know this was going to happen. I haven't exactly been under a rock, spending a lot of time here answeering posts.

I recently was made aware that a select few have been discussing this issue and I did not like that a bit.

I know some have been here a lot longer then myself, but I have been here since 07.
Tick

You're not in the "clique" I guess. :)

I didn't know either since I'm not an expert (by choice). I'm splitting my time between here and another site.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LisaB4657

What's with this Answer Summary??? It's been written as a statement of fact when I wrote that it was "my understanding". I qualified my answer for a reason.

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Please see this thread:

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/active...594844-45.html

About the Answer summaries

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Please see this thread:

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/active...594844-45.html

about the Answer summaries

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I just checked this link and it's the 45 page thread about Disparaging Answers. I have read every single post in that thread and don't remember seeing anywhere that there would be Answer Summaries unilaterally picked and posted.

And nowhere did it say that the person making the unilateral decision on which answer would become an Answer Summary would also be editing the chosen answer in a way that changes that answer from an opinion to a fact.

DO YOU REALIZE THAT IF MY ANSWER WAS WRONG, THE WAY IT'S BEEN EDITED I COULD BE LIABLE FOR MALPRACTICE?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeedKarma

You're not in the "clique" I guess. :)

I didn't know either since I'm not an expert (by choice). I'm splitting my time between here and another site.

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That's okay, I have never been cliquish, but my time here is relaxing from a high stress job and this makes me uncomfortable now as it isn't that simple any more. I value my expert status and am pleased it was allowed to me, NK. I am not greasing the wheel just stating a fact of my well being.

tick

I am/was happy with my expert status here too, I just liked the OLD AMHD, and all these changes are making me nervous. And I really don't want mine or anyone else’s posts edited or summarized. A lot of these people are my friends off the site too, and if they are jeopardizing their jobs because someone wants more Google hits, I'm going to get defensive.

LisaB, we are about to release a new T&C that will provide legal and medical notices for end users to protect us from claims, and I agree with you totally that we need to include the qualifying statements like "It was the opinion of"... etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CliffARobinson

LisaB, we are about to release a new T&C that will provide legal and medical notices for end users to protect us from claims, and I agree with you totally that we need to include the qualifying statements like "It was the opinion of"... etc.

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As long as the opinion language stays I'm OK with it.

BTW, having notices in the T&C will not protect you from claims. It will protect you from losing a lawsuit but it won't protect you from being sued. You'll still have to defend yourself.

I just realized the posts about the moderation of the site were going on in a public thread. All of the notifications I get, I thought this conversation over summaries was going on in the Summary post.

Please do not carry on moderation talk like this in public areas. I have made this thread for "members only" so it will not appear out front of the site.

Thanks,
Cliff

Tickle,

The Answer Summary Initiative was announced several weeks ago in Admin's Content Guidelines post below, and I asked for volunteers a few times and also PM'd some people about it.

Cliff


Reiterated Guidelines and New Features for Improving Quality

Improve Quality: Edit More Aggressively

Improve Quality: Summarize Answers

Lisa,

Cliff has changed the summary, but I do not believe you would have been liable for anything. You did not post the original summary, I did. Even though I took the summary from your post and even with the quotes, I was responsible for what the summary said.

I pointed you to the other thread because I felt this issue should not have been discussed in this thread, but since Cliff moved it we can talk about. The point is that this Answer summary thing is an experiment. Personally I don't think it has much of a chance, but I was willing to give it a try.

I apologize if you felt put upon or threatened in any way, but I still feel that what I took from what you said summarized the answer to the question Bella posted.

Scott, you of all people should recognize the difference between stating a fact and stating an opinion on a law board. I purposely wrote that answer the way I did because I was not positive and had not done research on it. When an outsider looks at the thread they see the Answer Summary and then they see the same words in the answer I gave. They don't see that ScottGem is the one who posted it. Yes, I know I would ultimately not be held responsible. But I would still have to defend myself.

If the best response in a thread has obviously not been researched, or if it's obviously an opinion, then the Answer Summary needs to include that. What happens if someone does a Google search on that issue and the Answer Summary comes up in the results? Someone may take it as fact and rely on it. Yes, this particular issue is not likely to cause a problem. But what about some of the other issues that come up on the law boards? There have been times that people relied on our answers, sometimes to their detriment. Neglecting to include the disclaimers and "my opinion is" language will only make it worse.

One more question... who is going to make the determination of what the best answer is?

Lisa, Again there is no attribute to the summary. That's why I specifically did not say who I was quoting from. Maybe it would have been better to leave off the quotes. But I fully believe that the summary cannot and will not be attributed to any one person. It is the responsibility of the site.

And I acted the way I did in this ONE instance. In another summary I stated something like; "the consensus is that...". Each summary will be different just as each thread is different.

I can't say this enough, when I posted the summary as I did it was with the full and complete belief that it would not be specifically attributed to any one person. I still hold that belief. But I assure you I would not have done so, if I believed you could be held responsible for it.