Spelling on Forums

[Bill.L]

Hi all,

Over the years there has definitely been a reduction in the standard of spelling in the typed words in this forum. Just recently it has been getting worse, to the point that I get distracted from the content by the mistakes. Most of the mistakes are not because the person cannot spell, but as much from lack of attention to any details in their posts, even in the headings of new threads.

Now before you get stuck into me about being pedantic about it, or sins and casting stones etc, let me be the first to say that I am an atrocious speller, plus I always received low marks in English at school. However I will make an effort to check and correct my spelling mistakes by opening up another window in my browser and googling the spelling of words I have difficulty with.

My gripe is that there is a growing number of people who do not make any effort in their communication at all, yet expect their posts to be taken seriously.

Rant over.

bye

 

[hobo-jo]

There really isn't any excuse these days with spell checkers usually built into the browser but can't say I've seen a noticeable degradation in spelling here...

 

[Roachy]

Wat u talkin bout foooool! Dis is how I spel. Luv Rochy

 

[wylie]

.....but can't say I've seen a noticeable degradation in spelling here...

Really....???

 

[w0nnie]

if it's a SMS or a short email written from a mobile device I'll forgive the person for using txt speak as it can be cumbersome on a mobile, although with full qwerty keyboards this is less of an excuse. But when someone is online with a full sized keyboard i find it incredibly distracting.


<hitting the spell check button before posting this one )

 

[andrew_de_a]

Two annoy me:

-the use of loose/lose

-and spelling of yield/yeild

 

[csc2]

look im probably one of the worst offenders on here but its not spelling really, its the terrible typist...im a one fingered typist who has to look at the keyboard so its bound to create spelling issues...

if spelling on the forum is your biggest issue then you need to get out more. seriously

anavagodweekendcominup

 

[wylie]

csc2..... that post was perfect

Did you use more than two fingers, or did you check before hitting "submit" .

I'm not really bothered by the odd spelling mistake, and know I make them too, but some of the posts where not one word is right and many words come down to a "best guess", is distracting and sometimes I cannot fathom the meaning.

I was a secretary in a previous life, so can type with ten fingers without looking. I find it excruciating watching my husband and sons type with two fingers, and often used to type while they dictated the content, to save me having to watch them struggle.

 

[mary&mat]

This distracts me form the writer's content:
'Their & there, were & where, general apostrophe use, the endless sentence with no apparent punctuation'.
...it's like wearing a nice suit to an interview as opposed to trackie pants...it just helps someone take you a bit more seriously IMO.

 

[Witzl]

the one that gets my goat is the misue of their, there and they're.
Most other spelling/grammar errors are tolerable as being lazy... but this one is annoying to me.

On a forum though... who really cares too much, so long as the person posting is making a reasonable effort to punctuate and structure their post properly.

It's when I find errors in online newspaper articles that i really cringe.

 

[Sunfish]

Hi all,

My gripe is that there is a growing number of people who do not make any effort in their communication at all, yet expect their posts to be taken seriously.

My thoughts exactly. My speil chucker is always running and so too my dictionary. This way I have come to know how to spell "asset", "tenant" etc. where I was constantly making mistakes before. I even deliberately use the American "z" instead of "s" and once it is OKed I change to "English".

If you expect people to take the time to read your thoughts, surely it isn't asking too much of you to spare the time to proof read it before hitting the "submit" button? I don't read rubbish.

 

[geoffw]

I recently had to spend several hours filling in a form for ASIC as required by law. It annoyed me that there were two mistakes in the form. Both would have passed a spelling check but they had spent less time in proof reading the form than I had spent in filling it out.

However on a forum it doesn't bother me too much. Many (if not most) of my employees are bad spellers. It's reflective of a different way of education, with less emphasis on spelling and reading than was done in my time.

It's more annoying when people take the trouble to "correct" spelling mistakes without contributing to the thread- and in doing so detract from the thread.

 

[bene313]

if it's a SMS or a short email written from a mobile device I'll forgive the person for using txt speak as it can be cumbersome on a mobile, although with full qwerty keyboards this is less of an excuse. But when someone is online with a full sized keyboard i find it incredibly distracting.

Ha! I don't buy it. If a phone is modern enough to connect to the web and allow posting on online forums, surely that phone has predictive text (which is quicker than short-hand "txt" anyway).

 

[Kenster]

Ahem,

... still waiting for grossreal comments...

Ahem...


PS. I enjoy the varieties of flavours in all sort of things in life. Vanilla is one

 

[RumpledElf]

I never run spellcheckers on anything I type ... anything ... nasty habit.

I'd be guilty of the yield/yeild kind of error more than anything else.

 

[Dazz]

It's more annoying when people take the trouble to "correct" spelling mistakes without contributing to the thread- and in doing so detract from the thread.

....but I think the point of alot of the posters who have taken the trouble to enunciate their woes geoffw, is that the gross lack of care in spelling / grammatical errors distracts them from contributing positively or even understanding what the initial poster is asking / saying.


Perhaps through a certain level of frustration, they are trying to correct the "gross lack of care". Invariably, the initial poster comes back with "who cares, just answer my question - now"....with the predictable response.


Comes down to competing 'annoying' levels. I see which side of the equation you prefer geoffw, but I'd have to disagree with your stance.

people who do not make any effort in their communication at all, yet expect their posts to be taken seriously.

Bill.L seems to have hit the nail on the head with his initial post.

 

[Roachy]

Ahem,

... still waiting for grossreal comments...

Ahem...


PS. I enjoy the varieties of flavours in all sort of things in life. Vanilla is one

I enjoy your enthusiasm for grossreal's forum posts. I have to admit as soon as I see a grossreal comment, I fast forward to the next. Sorry grossreal but you have the worst posts by far!

 

[weg]

Guilty, requiring sentencing of one year on the ignore list.

I'm too am a one finger typist with no spell checker.

My thoughts are always well ahead of my typing speed often resulting in text that has a few typos, missing words or which sometimes just doesn't appear quite right.

Catch up... resume train of thought... oops, go back... wrong sentence... start again.

So how do I get spellchecker on IE?

 

[Kenster]

... I have to admit as soon as I see a grossreal comment, I fast forward to the next

... Doh!

Despite of his seemingly lack of care for grammar, grossreal posts contain a wealth of knowledge and experience, both in width and depth, and a sharp mind behind them.

His obscure writing style does mask away his gifted abilities and often sees many readers sending his posts to the ignore scrap heaps.

I am sure one day when he cares to communicate in a conventional way, his views and qualities would be appreciated in a worthy way.

 

[Roachy]

... Doh!

Despite of his seemingly lack of care for grammar, grossreal posts contain a wealth of knowledge and experience, both in width and depth, and a sharp mind behind them.

His obscure writing style does mask away his gifted abilities and often sees many readers sending his posts to the ignore scrap heaps.

I am sure one day when he cares to communicate in a conventional way, his views and qualities would be appreciated in a worthy way.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I have read one or two posts of his and they are filled with detail and experience. The thing is it takes me about twice as long to read a grossreal post than a normal structured post. If he just added a few 'breaks' in his post it would be enjoyable to read.

I must apologise to grossreal, since he is not here. Sorry mate.