Fixing Grammar

[funksobeefy]

So I was browsing some Warhammer 40k forums looking at pictures as I usually do when I see something cool enough to comment on. I post something along the lines of "wow those are really sweet blah blah blah". But I didn't have any capitalized letters, grammar was correct and all but this message popped up when I hit the post button.

There are no uppercase letters in your post. If you are typing quickly and/or using IM style text, please go back and clean up your post before submitting again. Many of our users are not english speakers and have difficulty understanding heavily abbreviated posts. Many of our other users are older users who would prefer to converse in proper English so please be respectful and take a bit more time to type out your posts using proper spelling and uppercase letters. If you want to re-edit your message then click cancel.

I was immediately embarrassed and quickly fixed my post. It got me thinking, that site (DakkaDakka) is actually one of the best forums I have ever been to, great discussion, excellent posts make reading enjoyable and a extremely helpful and friendly community. Could it be that a simple pop up thing could do so much?

Could we perhaps try that? I mean it would stop people from posting incorrectly, make them prof-read their posts and in general clean up the site. Obviously we're just human and make mistakes from time to time. I'm sure I made a couple errors typing this out (judging by the number of words I have had to correct the spelling on) but I think this could really help. Obviously it wont stop trolls, but then when have trolling ever had good grammar?

So what do you guys think? Do you think it would work? Would you be upset by being told your post sucks and you should retype it? What are your opinions in general about it?

 

[Gxas]

Proper spelling, grammar, etc. makes me take your post seriously. If you don't put time into your post, it tells me you don't care much about what you're saying. And well, if you don't care, why should I?

 

[zHellas]

Damn...I really wish something like that was ALWAYS a requirement before posting.

 

[ethaninja]

That would be helpfull. It would make the posts of those who never use grammar actually readable. But at the same time, it may piss people off and we could loose some =(

 

[Captain Pancake]

It would help to avoid some embarassing situations, but I won't hold it against you if you have some errors. This isn't a word processor after all, so there's no spell-checker to act as a safety net.

 

[megalomania]

There needs to be another pop-up that recognises too many capitals in a row that says: Capslock is not cruise control for cool.

I think its a good idea because it makes people think about what they are about to post instead of just sticking a throw away comment on for the sake of it. Also it makes Jesus cry when grammar is left out.

 

[megalomania]

that would piss me off, cuz honestly im too lazy to care about my grammar on a friggin forum. if people cant understand what im saying because i didnt use apostrophes or capital letters then they got problems

I agree. To me, as long as you spell things right there is no need for that level of knit picking on an internet forum for video games...

I use proper punctuation and grammar on my college papers and work reports, where its important. On here, not so much.

I know almost everyone here fancies themselves a "writer", give me a break. Stop taking yourself so seriously here.

i find it ironic that you wrote your post in pretty flawless grammar spelling and structure even though you said that you don't bother to look i guess the fact that you write all your work that way has made you do it without thinking which is good because its really hard to read a miniwall of text that has no discernable scentence structure a bit like this one i guess but im sure by now you have got my point

Just messing, but I hope the irony is not lost on you either!

 

[aaronmcc]

So what do you guys think? Do you think it would work? Would you be upset by being told your post sucks and you should retype it? What are your opinions in general about it?

I think so long as you're not going overboard with the text-speak then that's fine. I'm not gonna shoot someone down for spelling things wrong or making a grammatical error unless it's an essay of unbearable proportions.

 

[Susan Arendt]

There's really nothing wrong with encouraging people to take more care with their posts, as it really *does* help those who are not native English speakers, not to mention just plain makes you easier to understand. That said, a random typo here and there or saying i instead of I really shouldn't be that big a deal.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

It might remove the over-usage of "lol", which would cheer me up to no end (I am a reformed lolaholic, who is very glad to have stopped using it).

I wouldn't mind. It would also stop new entries who haven't lurked and picked up anything or simply can't learn from posting "first" on videos or thinking "gay" is a good insult.

 

[reg42]

Well I'm a pretty bad speller in the sense that I often mix up letters and leave them out and such (I think I may be a little bit dyslexic). I try quite hard to make sure I don't post anything with bad grammar and spelling, but sometimes it slips through. When it does slip through, people tend to make me know it, which isn't a very good feeling and it's one of the problems I have with this forum.
I mean sure, if someone has obviously put no effort into a post and it's of terrible quality, quote them and let them know we don't really go for that, but when people quote me and imply that I'm stupid because I have put in an extra "is" or said "I" instead of "a", it really makes me angry.

 

[Phoenixlight]

I would prefer to leave things as they are, I'd rather not have everyone typing perfectly.

 

[ma55ter_fett]

So dem grots wats at DakkaDakka don't like da way us boyz speaks?

Well dat calls for da one ting us'n boyz do best, gotz me my choppa and me pointy stick now I jus needz me som humie mod eads!

 

[MurderousToaster]

gramer is post better make

ues gramer and ur p0st will taken seriously more be



End of Sarcasm

I think that most people on these forums try and use proper English etcetera. It tends to be fairly 'clean' compared to the cesspool of unreadability that is YouTube or whatever comparable forums you care to mention.

 

[funksobeefy]

the thing with the pop up though would be to encourage people to try just a bit harder with their posts. Of course there are going to mess ups, and i instead of I. But this just puts an end to text speak and just bad posts.

I'm a terrible typer, fast, but terrible. Something like this will stop me from just posting really quickly.

 

[Fenreil]

Anything that helps people take the time to communicate properly is tops in my book. I refuse to read posts that lack capitalization and punctuation in excess.

 

[AvsJoe]

While this is a clever and unique idea, I don't support it. If someone isn't that great at grammar they should be punished for it. Encouragement to learn it maybe, but punishment even in the slightest is too far. Besides, I love reading posts that require deciphering at the level normally reserved for tablets with ancient, long-dead languages.

 

[Hazy]

If you cannot care about your post, then neither can I. That goes for how much time you put into said post.

Grammar on the internet is important. I refuse to think any differently. It makes a person appear more intelligent and generally makes the site and community itself look well-educated.

I'd say The Escapist is generally pretty lenient on grammar - the only times I've seen people punished for it are when they've clearly never made an effort in the first place.

I'd be hard pressed to claim I agree with the message you received, especially since that was what I would consider to be a "minor case." But even so, different sites have different rules.

 

[sylekage]

That would be really helpful. Capital letters could slide but if you're going to post in '1337' and text speak, then it would be really annoying really fast.