Poll: Proofreading

[HSIAMetalKing]

I can't help it. I always proofread everything I write. Whether a book report or a thoughtful Facebook note-- a speech for class or a simple post here on The Escapist. I may not always use correct grammar or catch every typo, but I've found that it's a good way to make sure I don't sound like an idiot.

However, some people are different. They may be confident that their writing is adequate without rereading it, or they may type slowly and carefully to avoid making mistakes, but they don't proofread at all. And then, of course, some people simply don't take their writing (particularly when it comes to posting on a forum) all that seriously.

Since this is a community with some very talented writers, I wanted to throw up a survey.

Edit: See, within one second of posting this thread I've made an edit. Silly me.

 

[The Wooster]

I can't read my own work till about a month or two after I've written it. It just freaks me out. So I generally edit in very small chunks and then get my girlfriend to proof read for me.

 

[unholy vagrant]

I'm always paranoid that something I wrote doesn't make sense or sounds stupid so I always proofread.

 

[Eiseman]

Not for short posts like this one. But if I'm prepping a big rant or deep elaboration, I'm compelled to go over it again to make sure my spelling's tight, my grammar's functional, and most importantly, that my original point gets across.

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

I don't proofread as well as I would like as far as typing goes, but I edit and edit and edit (as in re-writing and re-arranging) all the time. I usually have to post and then proofread, because somehow seeing the text in the same context that I wrote it allows me to see what I meant to write, and not what I actually wrote. So for me it's always Post-Edit, Post-Edit.

 

[stompy]

I'm disgusted with your poll! Where the hell is the 'most of the time' option!? /jk

As you can see by my angry ranting (which, if I haven't conveyed properly, I mean as a joke), I usually check my posts. I usually make a mistake or two that I can easily correct.

As for outside posting, I'd say most definitely. I always proof-read my work and make sure, to the best of my ability, that I haven't got any mistakes. Doesn't work all the time with my abysmal spelling and all though.

 

[meatloaf231]

If I don't proofread, I sound like a moron, usually because of my strange turns of phrase.

 

[Khedive Rex]

I always proof read and thus have voted "always"

I must admit though, with school essays and things I ussually don't do very much editing. I never do more than one draft for example. I write stuff like that slower and I change things while I'm writing it however so that might compensate for it.

On the internet though? Yeah, I always proof read.

 

[Gigantor]

Hell yes, I proofread like a ************. I've never used those words in that order before.

I'm always worried I'll have a typo, sitting there, niggling away at me. I'll even read a forum post through three times to make sure I've got the wording right, check I've not offended anyone, that sort of thing. OCD never did anyone any harm.

 

[Acaroid]

typos haunt me....

 

[vede]

The way I write is to keep my hand at what I'm writing, but have my eyes a couple words back, so that I can read what I'm writing as a continuous stream while I'm writing it.

 

[Larenxis]

Perhaps I should create a challenge of finding my grammar and spelling mistakes. I imagine it would be hard.

 

[milskidasith]

Sometimes. I have an instinct for typos, and I sort of go over the way I word complicated sentences, but save the few reviews and the occasional well phrased rants I write I don't tend to go over them and make sure that they are as great as I can write them, although I suppose that strays into editing teritory.

 

[Llil]

I always check everything I do at least two or three times. It sometimes annoys even myself because I know nothing is wrong but I still have to check.

 

[Stalington]

oh you dont habe to wory abotu typos, they dont happen athat often anyways

 

[SecretTacoNinja]

i hate ppl who tpye liek tis
I always look at and think about what I'm typing and then I check over it again, that's why it takes me so long to post on these forums .

 

[_Serendipity_]

I have to proofread some fairly long documents for my job, and stupendously long essays for friends at university. A proper, thorough proofreading takes ages though, and is a very weird way to read things.
When I've proofread something and marked all the grammar issues, typos and odd phrasing, people will usually ask me 'so what did you think of it?'. It always baffles people when I admit I have very little idea what it was actually about, even if I've spent an hour carefully proofing it.

Oh, and I always try to proof my own posts, but it's damned hard to proof your own work correctly. Lots of times I've read what I meant to say rather than what I actually did say.

 

[Break]

Hell yes, I proofread like a ************. I've never used those words in that order before.

I'm always worried I'll have a typo, sitting there, niggling away at me. I'll even read a forum post through three times to make sure I've got the wording right, check I've not offended anyone, that sort of thing. OCD never did anyone any harm.

That'd pretty much be me, too. I always end up reading my posts/anything I ever write ever, out loud to myself. Sure, I get some odd looks from my family when I'm staring at the monitor, muttering under my breath, but who cares about the respect of your loved ones when a bunch of foreign strangers thinks you're a grammar-obsessed persnickety bastard? You gotta have priorities, man.

 

[OverlordSteve]

I re-read it to find any glaring typos, and rephrase parts I don't like the wording of.

 

[Lt. Sera]

I usually proofread. Mistakes slip in though. I usually edit my posts when i see a mistake in it (grammar/spelling). When it's a very very trivial or chatty post I'll let it be though.