Ethical editing

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    vivian chen

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    I don’t often go back to reread my blog posts after I’ve hit publish. Once it’s been made public, it’s out of my hands. Every so often though, a comment or a question or a bit of nostalgia, brings me back to a post. More often than not, I see missing commas, a less than precise choice of words, a SPELLING ERROR. When you’re trying to post every day, or even once a week, and you’re short on time, editing and revision can get short shrift.

    That leads me to this question: is it okay to revise and/or edit after the text has been published? I know in newspaper articles, notes are usually provided to let the reader know that changes have been made to the original. Do we do the same for personal blogs?

    Is this something you do?

    11 responses to “Ethical editing”

    1. cvarsalona Avatar
      cvarsalona

      Vivian, you bring up good points. I am always questioning what I write so I refine my posts and poems until they present well. It does take time. If I publish a piece and then go back and still find a mispelling, format glitch, or other issues, I go back into the published piece and redo what is necessary. Thanks for your thoughts.

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    2. arjeha Avatar
      arjeha

      I have gone back to some of my posts and hit the edit choice after I have published something.

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    3. Anita Ferreri Avatar
      Anita Ferreri

      Absolutely it is OK to edit or even remove a post if you do not feel it has a place on the WWW. These are YOUR words and YOUR story, in my opinion.

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    4. edifiedlistener Avatar
      edifiedlistener

      Great questions! On my informal blogs, I almost never go back and edit after hitting publish, but I suppose I have on a couple of rare occasions. On my newsletter, however, I feel a greater sense of responsibility towards subscribers to get things right – especially name or title misspellings get corrected if I discover them. That said, I believe it was Adrienne Rich who wrote at length about revising a previously published novel. And Kiese Laymon did this with his first published novel which he purchased the rights to it in order to be able to produce an edition he felt more comfortable with. These examples have helped me think more broadly about the questions you posed.

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    5. Trish Avatar
      Trish

      I don’t. When I find an error, even if I know that subscriptions are gonna get what they get, I change it. My husband usually catches them as a subscriber, calls them to my attention, and I edit. I don’t think about the ethics of it at all…hmmm, until now. I do love the “Correction” feature in other publications. Maybe I should consider that?! (I pretty much feel as Anita does!)

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    6. Natalie Dunne Avatar
      Natalie Dunne

      I for sure go back and edit my posts after they have been published. Mostly just got punctuation or spelling, but every once in a while I will edit the content. It’s my blog, I can do what I want!

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    7. bullets and blanks Avatar
      bullets and blanks

      I can be too picky and perfectionist if given the chance to overthink and edit. That’s why I handwrite in ink. It’s raw and authentic and truly the first draft, unedited. But if it makes you feel good, do it! If it doesn’t, leave it be! Hopefully teachers reading your words know how to give grace for a missing comma. But love the title.

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      1. vivian chen Avatar
        vivian chen

        I love the idea of handwriting!

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    8. Amanda Potts Avatar
      Amanda Potts

      If I see a spelling error or glaring comma mistake, I fix my blogs. I *try* not to go back and change words, though with this challenge I often find that I’ve been, well, a little repetitive if I have the chance to re-read. And if a lot of people comment, I sometimes end up making tweaks. Ethical? I hope so!

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    9. Lakshmi Bhat Avatar
      Lakshmi Bhat

      Many a time I see the error only after I have published. I keep wondering how I could have missed it because I read what I have written atleast two or three times 😊. I immediately edit.

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    10. Lainie Levin Avatar
      Lainie Levin

      Ohhhh, good question, and I love reading the range of people’s responses to them. For me, I kind of go by feel where it comes to editing – if it gives me a physical response to see the error, I’ll go back and change it. If it elicits a shoulder shrug, I’ll keep it.

      Revisions, though, are a different story. I won’t go back and revise, because I figure my post is a snapshot of who I was as a writer and a person at that given moment.

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