Can't you cut people some slack when it comes to spelling, grammar and punctuation?

[Lt. Sera]

If someone quotes my post and fixes it's grammar/spelling, great. I don't mind it one bit. Heck even simply stating: 'word x is actually written y' is fine. I don't get worked up about it and it might even help me improve my English skills.

Mocking poor grammar or spelling however is a different thing, since that just simply flaming and being an asshole.


As far as seeing other peoples mistakes, I sometimes point them out. More often then not i just ignore the mistake though.

 

[Soulfein]

Saddly, many of the users of this forum seem to pride themselves on beingbetter-than-you, and often do this by pointing out every tiny grammar mistake that you make. I ave seen some people ***** about spelling when it was very clear what was trying to be said.

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

It's just a common courtesy really. I mean, you get marked down in essay and assignment writing if "u spel evrythin liek dis". Plus, you look like an idiot when you write like that. If you can write properly on assignments, why not do it in everything? It's really good practice.

You seem to be missing my point a bit, I meant small, unintenional mistakes. An example, a recent one, is this
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/18.69507.662220

That, I am pretty sure, is just two Escapists another Escapist shit for making a funny mistake, just the way they would in conversation if a similar verbal mistake occurred. If you see someone getting picked on for spelling and grammar, it's probably because they pissed someone off by being an asshat, and now all bets are off. The situation where I see that happen the most is when someone is berating someone else for being stupid while being totally unable to manage the basics of the language themselves.

There isn't nearly as much spelling and grammar-flaming here as there could be. I don't know why your dyslexic friend got chased off the boards, but I don't recall anyone having any problems of that sort unless they were being buttheads at some point in the thread. Also, spellcheckers work for dyslexic people just the same as for everyone else.

Really, it comes down to this: you can get crapped on here for failing to conform to certain standards of written English, or you can go to a different board and get crapped on for something else. Pick your poison. Personally, I think that if other people can see you put thought into your post, they are going to forgive a lot of bad English.

 

[meatloaf231]

I will be using examples from the above posts, and apologize to any who feel violated by being used as a standard. I also apologize to anyone who doesn't like being categorized, but please don't hurt me. I'm just making an observation.

The way I see it, there are four views of internet grammar:

1. The practical. As long as the message gets across, why bother capitalization and spell-checking? Example:

i hate it when people make mistakes to the point when its illegible and somehow they think its acceptible but if its a common misspelling im fine with it and i just really like the word irked

2. The retyper. Uses spell check, changes misspelled words, capitalizes I, titles, the beginning of sentences, doesn't delve too absurdly deep about the actual proper use of language. Nobody but English majors are going to get squirmy because you ended your sentence in a preposition. Example:

As someone who has quoted someone's post and then bolded mistakes to correct them, it's a mixture of two things. Now if you spell one or two things wrong in a longer post, I can tolerate that, it happens. But if someone consistently spells words wrong or it's just something that they should really be doing right (misusing then or than being an example) I'll call them out.

But really spelling and grammar are just a huge pet peeves of mine.

(Note: No offense Shivari, but that was an hilariously ironic typo.)

3. The English major. While not necessarily an English major, he/she cares about the way the language is used or abused, but usually won't go out of their way to enforce it and ridicule the ones whom cannot seem to navigate their way around a spell-check. Example:

There are some folks who point out others' mistakes simply to make themselves feel superior, and you'll find those people in virtually any online environment. Everyone makes mistakes, typos are a sign of being human, and not everyone heeds every last rule of grammar. Nor should they.

That said, when the grammar and spelling of your post breaks down to the point that the reader has to struggle to understand your meaning, you're due for some criticism. When the only communication you have with an audience is the written word, it behooves you to make an effort to communicate your thoughts clearly and well.

Also, "u suk" and other such shortcuts simply make you appear lazy and careless. If you're texting on a phone, that's one thing (though I don't like it then, either), but if you're at a computer keyboard there's simply no need for that kind of shortcut.

4. The grammar Nazi. Do I really need to explain?

 

[black lincon]

There is no need to use Google to check spelling mistakes, assuming you are American, Firefox has a built-in spell checker. I refrained from correcting your grammatical errors in this point because, as you have made clear, it would have annoyed you.

thank god for it i would have 100 times the amount of spelling errors without it.
but so lng s thy dnt tlk lik tis i relay don't have a problem.

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

I judge people based on their spelling, grammar and punctuation. Badly written posts make my skin crawl.

Saying "it's not that big a deal" is just encouraging people to never improve their posting. Since this is a forum populated by writers, editors, and contributors, I think it reflects badly on the Escapist community when badly written threads are posted.

 

[Limos]

I mispell things from time to time, and i'm pretty sure my grammar is atrocious. Nevertheless no one has called me out on it so far.

Anyways, I do see a lot of other people being called out on poor spelling.

 

[BlazeTheVampire]

One or two mistakes here and there aren't that big of deal. That isn't what bothers us at all. We get annoyed when the entire post is full of thousands of mistakes and misspellings. This is because all browsers have a spell-checking system and all mistakes get underlined in red. People see these lines and post it anyways out of sheer laziness. It's the laziness that bothers us, not exactly the misspellings. If someone is dyslexic, that's cool, but even they can see fat red lines. I sound like an ass, but dyslexia is really not a good excuse for ignoring a spell-checker. In fact, with the knowledge that they have dyslexia, you'd think they would make use of the spell-checker more often.

Things like capitalization, grammar, and punctuation only help you. People respect a well-learned person and will consider what they have to say more carefully. If you're typing illegitimately we tend to overlook points despite their validity.

 

[sathie]

There are some folks who point out others' mistakes simply to make themselves feel superior, and you'll find those people in virtually any online environment. Everyone makes mistakes, typos are a sign of being human, and not everyone heeds every last rule of grammar. Nor should they.

That said, when the grammar and spelling of your post breaks down to the point that the reader has to struggle to understand your meaning, you're due for some criticism. When the only communication you have with an audience is the written word, it behooves you to make an effort to communicate your thoughts clearly and well.

Also, "u suk" and other such shortcuts simply make you appear lazy and careless. If you're texting on a phone, that's one thing (though I don't like it then, either), but if you're at a computer keyboard there's simply no need for that kind of shortcut.

Exactly. As long as people can understand it EASILY (nne of ths crp n frms plz), then I really have no problem with people spelling badly or not using correct grammar. Hell, I have huge problems in Word getting it to stop underlining everything in green, so i can sympathise with them.

I think it's another matter in the user review forum though. I think when you post in there you're open to suggestions to make things better, so all's good.

edit: use of the wrong there/their/they're. It's bound to happen in threads about spelling and grammar, isn't it!

 

[Solo508]

If somebody is going to correct spelling on an internet forum they are pretty much the biggest loser alive so you should just sit back and enjoy that.

 

[Donrad]

Meh, I do not really mine when people have improper grammer, etc.
I only mind it when I cannot understand the sentance, or it is riddled with Z's and 0's where there should be S' and O's.

 

[MightyMoose]

I just appreciate another person who shares my appreciation for grammar, spelling, and the like.

However, I will not openly criticize another person for their lack of the aforementioned. Sometimes I'll just cringe a little and shrug. As long as it's legible, it's not really hurting me.

The only thing that really makes my eyes bleed and my brain hurt is when I see "First off" to start so many topics...it's just so...incorrect. That and structure. It's hard to make myself read a huge wall of text...press Enter whenever you move to a new idea people. Please?

But other than that - Misspell, bad-grammar, and mega lack of proper punctuation...I could care less as long as I can read it.

 

[Xhumed]

I'm not American, I'm British (but I don't see what that has to do with anything) and I don't use Firefox because I can't. Also I'm talking about intellectual snobbery not social snobbery. Assuming you're British you know that grammar is very rarely tought at our schools; I only learnt about comparatives and superlatives from French lessons.

Firefox uses American spellings; the Americans tend to use the letter Z instead of an S quite frequently. I am British and I agree that our education system is poor, unless you're paying of course but that's another rant.
I like your user-name.

I use an English dictionary app on my firefox. and I'm sorry but having gone from private to mainstream education I can tell you that the British education system is fantastic, more and more private schools are shutting down all the time from lack of business. I mean to be fair my school was rated something like 15th in the country but I think it provided a fantastic education and did teach grammar, hence one of the reason grammar is required in exams in England.

Exactly, grammar was taught quite well at my school as well (then again, it was a grammar school.) For some reason, consistently bad spelling irks me somewhat, as I feel it detracts from the point the poster is trying to make. It isn't that difficult to proof read your posts. I understand people in a hurry might make a few typos, but thats what the Edit button is for. I'm trying not to correct people any more, as I don't want to come across as too pedantic, but it becomes difficult when presented with a paragraph comprising interglish spelling and lack of any punctuation whatsoever.

 

[BardSeed]

They're, there, and their are all different words. The failure to use them properly shall see no mercy from me.

The day shall come when we will rise up against the heathen and take back the language that we so dearly love! The tongues of the verbally incompetent shall be removed thus cleansing the lands of improper speech!

Spoiler: afterthought

I'm expecting to have a mutiny on my hands as my post is taken apart for it's minor grammatical errors.

Am I the only poor Brit here!?

 

[Signa]

When I was still lurking, I saw a few things that bothered me with the grammar Nazis. Hell, I even saw some one temp-banned for not using caps at all. I felt the post was 100% legible. When I finally did sign up, I've made sure that I keep my posts in the same condition as I would with my English papers.

 

[Xhumed]

They're, there, and their are all different words. The failure to use them properly shall see no mercy from me.

The day shall come when we will rise up against the heathen and take back the language that we so dearly love! The tongues of the verbally incompetent shall be removed thus cleansing the lands of improper speech!

Spoiler: afterthought

I'm expecting to have a mutiny on my hands as my post is taken apart for it's minor grammatical errors.

Am I the only poor Brit here!?

*waves* Hello! Clearly not, as many of the posters on this thread have been fellow Britons.

 

[BardSeed]

I meant financially! You're up late.