What about other uses of quotation marks, like fictional or hypothetical dialog, grouping words into a phrase, or scare quotes? Make sure they’re labelled or introduced in clear ways. If you use quotation marks and a reasonable reader might think it’s an actual, exact or literal quote, then you’re misquoting. Any ambiguous uses of quotation marks, which could mislead a reasonable person, will be considered misquotes. If there is even one reasonable interpretation where you misquoted, then you’ve broken the rule, regardless of any other interpretations where you didn’t misquote.
I added the below to the FAQ due to multiple people violating it recently. It’s all stuff I’ve talked about many times over the years, and which I think people who have been around for a while ought to already know (and even new people ought to know and do some of this, without being told, because it’s just part of being reasonable).
It’s kind of endless trying to write down all the things people do wrong and tell them to stop. I have many blog posts about it and I can’t just add them all to the FAQ (that’d be way too long). People can always find something else problematic, especially when they aren’t actively pursuing productive goals like learning philosophy. Nevertheless, these issues are common problems which are relatively easy to judge objectively.
Don’t write inaccurate paraphrases or do anything misquoting-adjacent.
Don’t speak for other people. It’s their decision how to word their ideas and what to say. You can use exact quotes but you may not put your words in their mouth.
Don’t write vague references like “what I said earlier” or “the article’s argument about this issue”. Use quotes or clear, specific, unambiguous references that make it easy for any reasonable person to figure out exactly what you mean. Don’t give references where a reasonable reader wouldn’t be able to quickly and easily find the specific thing you meant. Don’t make them search or guess. If it isn’t really obvious what you mean, quote exact words. When unsure, make it extra clear.
Don’t post references to anything outside the current forum topic without giving the source.
Don’t criticize ideas in vague ways that people can’t reasonably give a rebuttal to. Specific criticisms of quotes are preferred.
Avoid writing ambiguous statements.
The more you disagree with someone, the more you should write in a clear, direct way. When they have a significantly different perspective on the world than you, shortcuts are likely to fail.
People’s references are often confusing because they don’t understand what they’re referring to. They think it says X; it doesn’t; they refer to X; no one else can figure out what they’re talking about. I don’t know how to make a specific rule about this, but please be more clear and use more quotes when this could potentially happen.
When referencing something long, direct people to the specific part you’re talking about. You can do this with e.g. a quote, timestamp or page number. Quoting just the beginning (and possibly end) of what you mean works when you don’t want to quote the whole thing.