Quoting out of Context

If you quote someone, but select the quotation so that essential context is not available and therefore the person's views are distorted, then you've quoted "out of context." Quoting out of context in an argument creates a straw man fallacy.

Example:

Smith: I've been reading about a peculiar game in this article about vegetarianism. When we play this game, we lean out from a fourth-story window and drop down strings containing "Free food" signs on the end in order to hook unsuspecting passers-by. It's really outrageous, isn't it? Yet isn't that precisely what sports fishermen do for entertainment from their fishing boats? The article says it's time we put an end to sport fishing.

Jones: Let me quote Smith for you. He says "We...hook unsuspecting passers-by." What sort of moral monster is this man Smith?

Jones's selective quotation is fallacious because it makes Smith appear to advocate this immoral activity when the context makes it clear that he doesn't.