Do you obsessively edit?

[LcDel]

I was wondering if this is just me or if it's an INTP thing.
Whenever I post something anywhere, be it an answer on Yahoo Answers, a topic on this forum, or a drawing on Deviantart, I have to read it over and edit it again and again. I have to rewrite my stories because I edit the plot. I have to write all of my essays twice because I think of a more intellectual topic/thesis to write about after finishing it. I take an extremely long time writing a paragraph of a story simply because of my editing and re-editing. It just doesn't stop.

Does anyone else have a similar problem?

 

[intpz]

I do. However I've learned to not give a shit in most cases. It's just not worth it, I don't care enough about the thing I wrote to edit it. However, when I do care, it's a nightmare.

 

[noksve]

^This, but I am more of a preview-intensive guy. I preview things a lot of times before I send them because I don't like the idea of someone seeing me editing live. Sometimes I don't even send the stuff after a couple of dozen of tries.

I previewed this, too.

 

[intpz]

^This, but I am more of a preview-intensive guy. I preview things a lot of times before I send them because I don't like the idea of someone seeing me editing live. Sometimes I don't even send the stuff after a couple of dozen of tries.

I previewed this, too.

I used to do this, but now it falls under the "don't give a shit" category.

 

[noksve]

I suppose that approach is much more practical.

 

[LcDel]

Ah, how I wish I didn't give a shit. It would indeed be much more practical.

 

[A22]

L'esprit de l'escalier - the predicament of thinking of the right comeback too late.

history of my life (on the internet and not)

 

[LcDel]

L'esprit de l'escalier - the predicament of thinking of the right comeback too late.

history of my life (on the internet and not)

Mine as well, I'm pained just thinking about it. That is why I prefer texting to calling people or the like--more time to ponder the response. I can't think of things like comebacks under usually self-induced pressure.

 

[Hadoblado]

I edit if I made obvious grammatical errors, I usually don't submit until it says what I want it to say tho.

 

[intpz]

Mine as well, I'm pained just thinking about it. That is why I prefer texting to calling people or the like--more time to ponder the response. I can't think of things like comebacks under usually self-induced pressure.

I HATE texting! It's so annoying to push those little uncomfortable plastic buttons 25 times until you get the right character.

I edit if I made obvious grammatical errors, I usually don't submit until it says what I want it to say tho.

Hm, most people use spell checkers.

I remember in maybe 10th grade I was going to give a speech, and someone asked me to give them the paper with my speech (I wrote it only because it influenced your mark, otherwise I've never wrote any speeches again), so I gave that paper to the guy and turned around. After about 2 minutes of him reading it, I hear him screaming into my ear "You didn't wrote this. Who helped you?" Unfortunately at the time I wasn't experienced in having conversations, so I just kept repeating that I did, while he kept repeating that I couldn't have written that speech. Now, I'd use sarcasm, irony and logic against him instead.

Ironically, I sucked at giving the "so-praised" speech, as I wasn't experienced in conversations, I've never said anything in the class, I usually talk silently, and that pretty much was the first time I spoke before more than one earthling, and obviously that means the very first time I spoke before 30 people I didn't know and never even said hi to.

Ah, and here comes the edit function due to my derail from the topic: I didn't use the spellchecker and didn't check what I wrote, but there was no mistakes either (and usually I don't do any mistakes). I believe it was about 300-500 words long.

 

[LcDel]

I HATE texting! It's so annoying to push those little uncomfortable plastic buttons 25 times until you get the right character.

Heh, I have an iPhone. Solves that problem.

Hm, most people use spell checkers.

Spell checkers don't fix errors like the use of the wrong form of a word or, in your case, the wrong tense (wrote instead of write). Hence my obsession with re-editing...I don't trust spellcheck. Or really anything in which I'm not directly involved, for that matter.

I remember in maybe 10th grade I was going to give a speech, and someone asked me to give them the paper with my speech (I wrote it only because it influenced your mark, otherwise I've never wrote any speeches again), so I gave that paper to the guy and turned around. After about 2 minutes of him reading it, I hear him screaming into my ear "You didn't wrote this. Who helped you?" Unfortunately at the time I wasn't experienced in having conversations, so I just kept repeating that I did, while he kept repeating that I couldn't have written that speech. Now, I'd use sarcasm, irony and logic against him instead.

Hahahaha, you must be a great writer. I'm presently in 10th grade myself, and if that happened to me I'd probably wind up saying something incredibly rude regarding the kid's intelligence level, so you have my respect.

 

[intpz]

Heh, I have an iPhone. Solves that problem.

Partially. You still can only use your thumbs instead of all 10 fingers like on a keyboard. I still wouldn't like texting.

Spell checkers don't fix errors like the use of the wrong form of a word or, in your case, the wrong tense (wrote instead of write). Hence my obsession with re-editing...I don't trust spellcheck. Or really anything in which I'm not directly involved, for that matter.

That's true.

I trust myself enough to not check it when I post/send a message. That's not complete trust, but I'm okay with it as long, as I don't give a shit.

Hahahaha, you must be a great writer. I'm presently in 10th grade myself, and if that happened to me I'd probably wind up saying something incredibly rude regarding the kid's intelligence level, so you have my respect.

I don't think I would say something like that, as it would be illogical. I would likely distrust a guy like me either, I don't think I look too smart nor rich. I also don't think that I'm a great writer, however I am a better writer than I am a speaker. Might be because of the personality or because I almost don't talk to people. The people that I would be interested in communicating with are the rich people, and since I'm not, I don't "fit" in their circles.

 

[ObliviousGenius]

Not at all really. I will take all the time I need to make sure I have written what I want to write and will not submit until it's passible. There's no need to edit if you've got it right the first time.

 

[shrub77]

For something I care about, I do spend an unnecessary amount of time editing and rewriting what I want to post.

Once my sister was watching me update a post and she said "...Wow you spend alot of time thinking about these.."

(I just did it on this post)

 

[MichiganJFrog]

Does anyone else have a similar problem?

Yes. In another life, I was an editor. Can't outrun your past that easily.

 

[introverted_thinker]

Yes, although I preview things a billion times. Thank you, Ti.

 

[Wolf18]

Since I was a little kid, maybe 6, I would edit my dad's newsletters, bulletins, and scholarly works (he was an English professor). I'd always find stuff he missed.
When I was about 12, my mother offered to pay me for every mistake I found in her work (lawyer). I made money.
At 14, after only about 6 months of taking high school Arabic, I started correcting mistakes on our homework and tests.
Also at 14, I found a mistake in which the mayor's name was spelled wrong in the logo of an official city-published document, on a sign, waiting for the school nurse.
At 15, I found an odd and inconsistent discrepancy in Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis". The bedroom door defies the laws of physics. I don't know if he did that on purpose, to entertain people like me, but I kind of hope so.

I have a gift.

I don't want to be an editor, though. I'm interested in detection and cryptology, which I guess is a bit similar. Editing bores me, it is just easy.

SW

 

[snafupants]

You might say *cracks knuckles* that it's an insecurity of mine.

 

[NewKid]

Yes. It may take me days to send an email. I have 10 drafts at the moment. The oldest one was last edited Sep 2011.

 

[EditorOne]

Prioritize. Sometimes getting it perfect matters. Other times it doesn't. Check the context before you waste time on something that doesn't matter.

Give yourself a deadline, too. Over the years working on a daily journalism deadline cured me of relentless rewriting. Spending time at 4 p.m. polishing up a piece of writing is one thing. It's just expensive selfishness at midnight when the printers go on double overtime and they're holding the paper for your prideful little contribution.

My deadlines came with my job. You may have to impose your own.

This "let it go" stuff can be tough. A couple of years ago someone came up with a phrase to turn the dissatisfaction around and put some humor in it: "It's not just good, it's good enough." There are entire industries where overperfection, overanalysis and similar pursuits are getting in the way of being useful.

On the other hand, if you're a surgeon, by all means seek perfection.

 

[Jennywocky]

I was wondering if this is just me or if it's an INTP thing.
Whenever I post something anywhere, be it an answer on Yahoo Answers, a topic on this forum, or a drawing on Deviantart, I have to read it over and edit it again and again. I have to rewrite my stories because I edit the plot. I have to write all of my essays twice because I think of a more intellectual topic/thesis to write about after finishing it. I take an extremely long time writing a paragraph of a story simply because of my editing and re-editing. It just doesn't stop.

Does anyone else have a similar problem?

I meant to answer this the other day but then forgot.

Yup, I'm an incorrigible editor.

I used to not be able to finish anything because I was always editing. The quote, "A great work of art is never finished, it is merely abandoned" applies here... and I don't even create great works of art.

My trademark online is posting an answer, then editing my answer to add something I remembered after I posted, then edit it again to add something else, then edit the pieces I wrote prior if I notice misspellings. I probably drive the mods crazy if they look at edit history on my posts and see about ten edits in the space of five minutes.

You should wait about ten minutes after I post before responding, if you hope to catch the entire finished, err, "abandoned" posting.

Note: I think I edited this post about five times in 2-3 minutes. Including the adding of this note.
EDIT: Make that six.

 

[Duxwing]

I meant to answer this the other day but then forgot.

Yup, I'm an incorrigible editor.

I used to not be able to finish anything because I was always editing. The quote, "A great work of art is never finished, it is merely abandoned" applies here... and I don't even create great works of art.

My trademark online is posting an answer, then editing my answer to add something I remembered after I posted, then edit it again to add something else, then edit the pieces I wrote prior if I notice misspellings. I probably drive the mods crazy if they look at edit history on my posts and see about ten edits in the space of five minutes.

You should wait about ten minutes after I post before responding, if you hope to catch the entire finished, err, "abandoned" posting.

Note: I think I edited this post about five times in 2-3 minutes. Including the adding of this note.
EDIT: Make that six.

But wait, don't you have to count the time that you edited your post to edit the number of edits?

-Duxwing

 

[snafupants]

Yes. It may take me days to send an email. I have 10 drafts at the moment. The oldest one was last edited Sep 2011.

That's interesting - I just pingpong emails back from whence they came. I feel like people sometimes see forum posts more than once, or the post's meaning gets distorted through subsequent argument and you flip back to the original. Overall, I view emails as more one-off and I understand that emails are typically intended for only one person, which diminishes the stress and concerns about wide readability that come from writing for a general (forum) audience, which perhaps includes different cultural persuasions and aptitudes. Basically, I see emails as just abstract talking. Like I'm not going to fucking rehearse every word when I regularly go up to someone. But with an email, I can just visualize how that one person will take it, which bolsters my confidence.

 

[Jennywocky]

But wait, don't you have to count the time that you edited your post to edit the number of edits?

-Duxwing

Yeah, that was the last one, I think.
Maybe not.

Stop me before I edit again... for the love of God, Montressor!!

 

[Ex-User (5841)]

I'm guilty.

"Fuck! A typo!" "That should be re-worded." "Oh, I should add ____." "Ah! They responded already. Better go back in and change it."

The quote, "A great work of art is never finished, it is merely abandoned" applies here... and I don't even create great works of art.

Yet

 

[Jennywocky]

I'm guilty.

"Fuck! A typo!" "That should be re-worded." "Oh, I should add ____." "Ah! They responded already. Better go back in and change it."

with that last bit: Hilariously, about a minute ago, I posted something for Dux, then edited the post to add a response to subway, and by the time I saved it, Dux had already responded to my original post without noticing my new edit that was talking about him.

Then I sat there debating whether I should go back in and move the EDIT to a new post, or leave it there and see how long it took Dux to see it. I decided to leave it there, but the mental stress was horrific.

Yet

Ah! a goal to aspire to.

 

[Duxwing]

with that last bit: Hilariously, about a minute ago, I posted something for Dux, then edited the post to add a response to subway, and by the time I saved it, Dux had already responded to my original post without noticing my new edit that was talking about him.

Then I sat there debating whether I should go back in and move the EDIT to a new post, or leave it there and see how long it took Dux to see it. I decided to leave it there, but the mental stress was horrific.




Ah! a goal to aspire to.

EDIT: Nevermind.

Also, the irony of this thread is impressive.

-Duxwing

 

[Architect]

I've been writing emails for, crap, 25 years now? Twenty years in a job where significant communication occurs over email. I've gotten good at writing quickly while making sure there aren't major bloopers.

I tend to correct posts after I submit them, as I did for this one where I found an errant 's' at the end of 'communication'.

 

[Cavallier]

All the time and obsessively. Editing your post is considered a pastime here. That's why you can still edit 24 hours later. Morning light may unearth grammar mistakes that evening drowsiness has buried.

Only edited twice.

Edit: Three times...*sigh*

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

All the time and obsessively. Editing your post is considered a pastime here. That's why you can still edit 24 hours later. Morning light may unearth grammar mistakes that evening drowsiness has buried.

Only edited twice.

Edit: Three times...*sigh*

I don't edit my posts enough. Maybe if I'm unsure of a spelling I'll look it up before submitting. Not always. Sometimes I don't even proofread before or after I post.

24 hours to edit. I did not know that and probably won't be needing to know it. I'll either make another post in response to someone else or my mind has moved on to other things. Grammar corrections? Too rare. I probably should change. Such sloppiness is not the kind of sloppiness we usually engage in.

 

[redbaron]

I edit a fair bit if I think that I omitted something I thought was vital to the context. I wouldn't call it obsessive, just precise.

A lot of the time I do what Jenny/E1 says and just abandon it and decide that it's good enough, even though not entirely accurate or conveying the right context. It sometimes causes confusion and potential debate/argument, but you can't please everyone!

 

[Jennywocky]

24 hours to edit. I did not know that and probably won't be needing to know it.

I thought it was funny that 24 hours was touted as a long time. the site I had modded, we had a two-week window... mostly just to keep people from freaking out over some drama or another and going back and gutting all their posts a few months down the line.

I guess it's all forum culture. Here every seems pretty stable and has thought about their post before they've made it, so.... I guess a larger window isn't necessary.

 

[Nezaros]

I think we're all pretty much perfectionists. Have to get that thought out just right, or the universe will end. But as was said, why I prefer texting / typing to speaking. It gives me more time to think about what I want to say, how to say it, and is it actually worth saying. If it's not perfect it's not worth it.

 

[BigApplePi]

You mean for this Forum? I almost always edit ... I'm a poor typist. When typing I have to backtrack. But for the ideas? If it's short, I probably don't edit. But longer? The thing about this board, as opposed to real life, is I can edit. I enjoy it, especially if I haven't unraveled an idea. Editing slows me down and gives me time to clarify the idea. Love the edit function.

When what I want to say doesn't come out smoothly, that means I haven't mastered the intuition of what I want to say. Usually then I don't bother to edit unless it's very long and then editing is a must. I assume the reader will know my thought is far from perfect. That's okay because I like interactive conversation. Sometimes I can reach "perfection" ... by that I mean I'm saying exactly what I want to and nothing more can be said to it. Tough. No interaction. This post is more conversational and to this point hasn't been edited via the "Go Advanced" button. I will hit it now, reread it for typos and then let it go.

If you see black type for this post, the blue is my 1st edit. Red will be a 2nd edit but only if I do that.

 

[Sorlaize]

Confucius actually said something about going back to put something right. So I apply it to mean it's good that I check over the things I post/write and try to fix small things in sentences.

*edit*

from wikiquote

If the Superior Man is not serious, then he will not inspire awe in others. If he is not learned, then he will not be on firm ground. He takes loyalty and good faith to be of primary importance, and has no friends who are not of equal (moral) caliber. When he makes a mistake, he doesn't hesitate to correct it.

 

[Sorlaize]

If it's not perfect it's not worth it.

I know INTPs value accuracy, so I put it 100% down to that.

in my case I have a slow net connection and I still have to go and edit posts. on Blogger the images seem to DISAPPEAR when I do this but it's still so important, I would probably add images again because a perfectly succinct and accurate post is really worth that much.

 

[Montresor]

Yeah, that was the last one, I think.
Maybe not.

Stop me before I edit again... for the love of God, Montressor!!

Hello I was reading this thread and decided to register to this forum for one reason:

It's MONTRESOR!

Edit that.....

No but seriously that was meant to be funny I hope we're cool. And I edit things ALL the time but I'm going to try and just send this before I edit anything.

 

[louiesgonnadie]

Yeah, I do that shit all the fuckin time.

 

[serenitys_child]

Yes! Since I try to communicate my thoughts clearly so everyone can understand me it takes me 3x as long to write something as other people but with less words!. I think that's why I suck so bad at writing papers. The professor wants you to write lengthy paragraphs explaining your ideas. I edit so that you can understand my topic without boring you to death with ongoing, redundant sentences.

Am I the only one that hates long, drawn out posts/emails/work rules? Right after I read them I feel like I've wasted minutes of my life and if I wrote that same piece of information it would've taken 30 seconds.

 

[DougRees]

I don't obsessively edit--in fact, I may not edit enough. However, I produce books, mainly for poets; and I've noticed that some poets put their book through umpteen million revisions. Sometimes I feel like saying: "Does removing the comma on line 3 of page 57 really justify having the whole book reprinted?" (Maybe that's why commercial publishers don't, as a rule, like to publish poetry.) Most poets, however, seem to be Fs rather than Ts.

 

[Duxwing]

I don't obsessively edit--in fact, I may not edit enough. However, I produce books, mainly for poets; and I've noticed that some poets put their book through umpteen million revisions. Sometimes I feel like saying: "Does removing the comma on line 3 of page 57 really justify having the whole book reprinted?" (Maybe that's why commercial publishers don't, as a rule, like to publish poetry.) Most poets, however, seem to be Fs rather than Ts.

I'd extend that assertion to "most fiction writers".

-Duxwing