I think both "quote mining" and "fact mining" (to be discussed below) can both be honest attempts at arguing a point, by a creationist under the influence of
"Morton's Demon". That is, they hear what they want to here, and are oblivious to what conflicts with what they want to hear.
I once again bring up Terry, from "Terry's Talk Origins".
While I don't remember Terry being a "quote miner", he does have a real talent at "fact mining". That is, the digging up of little facts (sometimes remarkably obscure) that he thinks will be a step toward the downfall of "old earthism". In looking at his tidbid, he is astonishingly oblivious to context.
As a prime example, I bring you Terry's
"Rocks don't have dates on them!" topic.
There he takes the article
"Ironstone pods in the Archean Barberton greenstone Belt, South Africa: Earths oldest seafloor hydrothermal vents reinterpreted as Quaternary subareal springs", and interpretes it as a great failing of "old earthism", despite the fact that the enclosing rocks are still clearly defined as 3.2 Ga greenstones.
Moose