Spelling/grammar quality control

[similar.squirrel]

I'm aware that this is going to make me sound like some sort of frothing fascist, but here goes:

In the past two weeks or so, there seems to have been an influx of new forum users, and it's becoming increasingly common to see threads written by members with a post count of about 14.
Now, there's nothing wrong with this. The Escapist has a really nice community, and nobody begrudges new users for posting their thoughts, rants, queries etc. It keeps things fresh and whatnot.

But what is distressing is the general quality of these threads, in terms of spelling, grammar, punctuation and general coherence.

I know, I'm not a paragon of well-written sentences myself, but it's nasty to see the standard of the forums steadily falling because some fresh-faced young thing can't take it upon himself to download a spellchecker for whatever browser he's using or spend a little more time looking over what he's written.

Would it be terribly authoritarian to impose some sort of point system, whereby a post with a particular abundance of 'probly's, or 'their' in the place of 'they're' gets downgraded, rendering the offender unable to post a thread unless he types out a particularly polysyllabic sentence to annoy him first?
It would keep the place looking tidy.

I know, this thread is badly-written, but at least I tried.

Bleh..4th thread, by the way. Still counting.

 

[Dr Ampersand]

Hmm doesn't it say something about good spelling and whatnot in those sticky threads at the top of the page? How about forcing newcomers to read the first posts of those threads?

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

How about forcing newcomers to read the first posts of those threads?

Let's do it!

 

[similar.squirrel]

If it does, it seems to be largely ignored..

 

[Socken]

Well, you did sound like a frothing fascist.

But I get your point. The thing is you can't force people to obey the rules of grammar. Either they want to or they don't. Having some sort of grammar police will only scare people away and that's not something I'd particularly look forward to.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Hm..Just don't want this place turning into a benign version of youtube or something..=/

 

[bushwhacker2k]

I wouldn't mind that at all. There's no downside, unless speaking legibly makes you lose your 'street cred'.

 

[Kif]

I have previously down spoken threads claiming that this forum is falling from grace, however, I fully agree with your observations and more to the point I am worrying about the standards of not just threads but general comments.

It doesn't have to be perfect, but a little consideration of the legibility would be courteous. The only reason I should be confused and have to spend time studying a post is because it is an interesting topic with points worthy of thought; not because I'm trying to fathom out what the abbreviations the poster has used stand for.

Perhaps 26 and well educated is too old for this forum, or perhaps people, as you say, should just proof read what they have written.

I know people whose first language is not English, yet they are able to communicate with a much higher standard of the language than some posts popping up lately.

 

[The_Prophet]

Yeah, I see what you mean. Well it would be nice and it would reduce the number of thick people and trolls, but it would be very hard to pull-off.
Also, I hate when someone types their or there instead of They're and your instead of you're.

 

[pigeon_of_doom]

It'd be impossible to regulate, unless quite a few more mods were brought in.

Anyway, shouldn't we welcome the enthusiasm of new members, who want to ask the population the questions that have plagued them their entire lives so far? No matter how badly spelt, these eternal questions of "who would win in a fight between Link and Mario" or "Why Halo is Overrated" put to shame those querying the Definition of Beauty in Art or arguing about signs of design in the known universe.

In all seriousness, this wouldn't be a problem if people read the damn guidelines. The totalitarianist in me would like to see a mandatory browser spell checker installation when people sign up to the site. I can dream.

 

[ILPPendant]

I'd much rather a post was sent through a forum-side spelling checker first which would refuse to accept it until 95% of the words were spelled correctly in some language.

Grammar is a far more nebulous concept because grammar checkers cannot take account of style.

The OP's idea shows promise but I think it smacks just a little too much of the post voting system we see on Digg or Youtube. In this case, though, perfectly grammatically sound posts would be voted down just because people disagreed with the poster.

I'd much rather have a dedicated team of forum sub-editors, who would edit individual posts for grammar, spelling and style, whether the poster liked it or not. Changes would show up in bright green for maximum embarrassment.

EDIT: Non-native English speakers would of course get dispensation unless their posts are particularly horrendous.

 

[The Maddest March Hare]

I have to agree. I don't claim to have perfect control over the English language. We all make mistakes, but when people are "rightin lyk dis" I get..twitchy. This isn't your mobile phone, typing isn't hard and there's an enormous word limit so it's not like you have to cram your OP into a 150 character space.

As for the English second language people, lenience is obviously needed but it's still nice to know people posting are trying to speak it right. Everyone here speaks English to some degree, if you're not sure how to speak the language properly just ask and I'm sure someone will be nice enough to help with any errors.

But there is no excuse for making the post look like you typed it by whacking your face on the keyboard in the general area of the letters you wanted.

 

[DazZ.]

I have seen afew people posting threads with little grammer, being asked if they could try and refrain from using textspeak. Some have given an apology and either edited their thread or next time posted with a higher standard.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Im betting that everyone scanned your OP just looking for a mistake they could point out lol

 

[Sketchy]

wut r u nubs tlkn bout?

I'm kidding, however I don't use a spell checker. I can just spell. I think people could take another minute or so before just to check that their sentence makes sense, and is using correct grammar. It's not difficult in the slightest. Please use proper grammar people, I can't stress it enough.

kthxbai nubz lawl.

 

[GoldenRaz]

I can't help but to think that if you can't spell or use grammar then you have nothing to do on this forum. I know that sounds horribly elitist-ish but the bottom line is:
I have to adapt to the forum, not the other way around. The same goes for everyone else.

 

[NeutralMunchHotel]

I think we should all read a good edition of 'g00d or teh gimpz' and calm down.

 

[Sigel]

I think you are being a little anal retentive. I am a longtime viewer but only a recent poster, and I think you will scare or piss off new people. Not all people are blessed with good communication skills, but deserve the right to be heard(or read, whatever). You also need to take in account that English might not be their first language or that they may have dyslexia like myself. If bad spelling or grammar is the worst part of your day, then you should feel lucky because a lot of people have it much worst.

 

[ILPPendant]

I think you are being a little anal retentive. I am a longtime viewer but only a recent poster, and I think you will scare or piss off new people. Not all people are blessed with good communication skills, but deserve the right to be heard(or read, whatever). You also need to take in account that English might not be their first language or that they may have dyslexia like myself. If bad spelling or grammar is the worst part of your day, then you should feel lucky because a lot of people have it much worst.

We can usually tell the difference between mistakes made out of honest ignorance and general laziness. The former hardly bothers me but the latter drops the post's credibility to zero for me.

 

[similar.squirrel]

I'd much rather a post was sent through a forum-side spelling checker first which would refuse to accept it until 95% of the words were spelled correctly in some language.

Grammar is a far more nebulous concept because grammar checkers cannot take account of style.

The OP's idea shows promise but I think it smacks just a little too much of the post voting system we see on Digg or Youtube. In this case, though, perfectly grammatically sound posts would be voted down just because people disagreed with the poster.

I'd much rather have a dedicated team of forum sub-editors, who would edit individual posts for grammar, spelling and style, whether the poster liked it or not. Changes would show up in bright green for maximum embarrassment.

EDIT: Non-native English speakers would of course get dispensation unless their posts are particularly horrendous.

Dedicated team of sub-editors?That sounds like a little too much effort.
You're right about the vote system being abused, though. That could get nasty.
Is it actually possible to program a spellchecker into the forums?I know nothing about programming ><