Posting Courtesy

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**riverhawks32**

What do you guys think of not reading a thread just because the spelling/grammar is terrible? I kind of feel bad that I cannot add to the conversation. On the other hand, do you guys think that it is a courtesy to check spelling and grammar if English is your native language?

**djones520**

I feel the occasional simple mistake is forgivable. I know I make plenty like that myself. As far as I'm aware there is no spell check built into the site, so I feel you can't expect everyone to be perfect.

Net speak, definitely is a no go though. I'll quickly just ignore posts filled with stuff like that.

**Monster Rain**

riverhawks32 wrote:What do you guys think of not reading a thread just because the spelling/grammar is terrible?

I do it all the time. I regret nothing. I'll actually put people on ignore for routinely horrible spelling and grammar.

Of course, I ignore bronies on sight as well, so I may be an extreme example.

**riverhawks32**

Well yes, I know there are the occasional mistakes. It is the posts where every word has an issue when I start getting annoyed. Especially when they come from an English speaking country. By the way, Dakka does check spelling.

**Steve steveson**

For me I find it very irritateing when people pick appart posts and attack others for small spelling errors, little typos and things like there/their. It always seems to happen when someone is in a discussion and has an opposing view. I happen to be sevealy dyslexic but do my best. My grammar is fine and my punctuation is fine. Unless i am in need of sleep or in a rush my spelling is not to bad, I think, and understandable.

What is not acceptable to me is when people use net speak, no capitals, etc. That is lazyness and makes things impossible to read.

For me it is a case of, would to refuse to speak to someone with a stutter (minor errors in spelling)? Or would you refuse to talk to someone who spoke "Ali G/Ghetto/Bruv" speak (using net/leet/text speak).

Also, dakka dose not spell check. Your web browser might, but dakka dose not. The only option for me would be to copy everything, spell check it in word then paste it back as the two devices I post on do not have a good enough spell checker in the browser.

**riverhawks32**

I agree, small errors are by no means terrible. I suppose I should have better phrased my opinion as that I cannot stand when apparent laziness is the reason for the post being so terrible.

**djphranq**

There is no Courtesy... only war!

Well maybe there's a little...

I'll tolerate the jamble scramble messages. Its kind of like a game where you have to decipher a code. ...and then after all is read, I shake my head.

**SagesStone**

Depends, I seem to be alright with it at times. Then sometimes annoyed by the little things such as plurals like this: "apple's".

Sometimes despite how it is presented there can be worthwhile content. Provided you can understand any of it of course.

**Anpu42**

If a lot of people did this life would be so much better.

Before: As for gammer and spelling, I suck at it. What I have getten into the habbit of is upeing word, typing everything there and then runn a spelling and gramer check.

After: As for grammar and spelling, I suck at it. What I have gotten into the habit of is using word, typing everything there and then run a spelling and grammar check.

**martyrbymoonlight**

Anpu42 wrote:If a lot of people did this life would be so much better.

Before: As for gammer and spelling, I suck at it. What I have getten into the habbit of is upeing word, typing everything there and then runn a spelling and gramer check.

After: As for grammar and spelling, I suck at it. What I have gotten into the habit of is using word, typing everything there and then run a spelling and grammar check.

A good idea, but few people are willing to spend the extra time on something like that to get it right. They just don't care enough. I find that insulting, in a way, that someone doesn't care enough about getting these things right to have a public discussion with people. I get called a "Grammar Nazi" all the time by my friends on Facebook, but to me, it's just common courtesy to at least try to get things right. Certain things are forgivable, dyslexia and non-native English speakers being good examples, but laziness is just outright rude to other posters. I've been lurking about Dakka for a few years now, but only recently decided to get into the conversations that go on here (yay social anxiety), and I noticed that I've developed quite the pet peeve of the "angels" from several 40k armies becoming "angles" in so many posts. It annoys me enough that I want to make a Blood Angles army with ruler chainswords and named characters like Pythagoras, haha.

**Anpu42**

I do the Angels/Angle thing all of the time. This is also why I am trying to get into the habit of re-reading everything I post. I do miss it though and similar things because of Wrong Word=Correct Spelling. I have one in my local group who will make a 3 page argument when I use there instead of their.

**curran12**

It is a case by case basis for me.

If it is a non-native speaker, or a poor user of the language but they are at least putting effort into making it as good as they can, it is usually worthwhile.

If it is a native speaker, and they are just being lazy or willfully stupid, then they deserve ignoring and scorning.

**djones520**

Anpu42 wrote:If a lot of people did this life would be so much better.

Before: As for gammer and spelling, I suck at it. What I have getten into the habbit of is upeing word, typing everything there and then runn a spelling and gramer check.

After: As for grammar and spelling, I suck at it. What I have gotten into the habit of is using word, typing everything there and then run a spelling and grammar check.

If your before was how you actually type, I'd suggest doing some remedial classes. Not trying to be offensive, but that's pretty horrible, and crutching yourself with spell check will never lead to improvement.

**curran12**

djones520 wrote:
If your before was how you actually type, I'd suggest doing some remedial classes. Not trying to be offensive, but that's pretty horrible, and crutching yourself with spell check will never lead to improvement.

"Crutching" for using a spellcheck?

Really?

REALLY?

This isn't a competition, this is communication. If you have tools to make it better, use it. I'd much rather he use that than be poorly spoken.

**Shandara**

Read what you have typed before you push the 'submit' button. That's all I'd want, really.

**djones520**

curran12 wrote:
djones520 wrote:
If your before was how you actually type, I'd suggest doing some remedial classes. Not trying to be offensive, but that's pretty horrible, and crutching yourself with spell check will never lead to improvement.

"Crutching" for using a spellcheck?

Really?

REALLY?

This isn't a competition, this is communication. If you have tools to make it better, use it. I'd much rather he use that than be poorly spoken.

That's not the point I was making. Reread the "Before". If that is how someone types on a standard basis before spell check, then it would probably serve them better to actually learn how to type properly then to just continually rely on spell check to correct their errors. Nothing wrong with using spell check, but it's not going to fix the more deep seeded issue.

**djphranq**

Yeah, I use Spell/Grammar check. But I don't rely on it. I try to know what I'm typing. The Spell/Grammar check is just an extra precaution.

**curran12**

Ah okay, I see what you mean there. Fair point.

**GreyHamster**

I treat a post with the same respect the author did. If they're a native speaker and don't care about it enough to ensure it's readable and reasonably error-free, it's clearly not valuable enough for me to respond. Without mocking them, anyways.

**Rayvon**

I take a lot of care and really try hard to make sure i make no mistakes, but i am not an english teacher, my writing can sometimes be a mess.
Having said that, i do not really care how bad someone else writing is, as long as i can make sense of it, some people have a hard time grasping how to write properly and i would never be judgemental of them.

**Kanluwen**

If you do not use a spell-checker or even a modicum of concern that your post is comprehensible, do not expect me to reply.

It's that simple. This is a forum on the Internet. There is absolutely no excuse for you not to take a few minutes extra and make a comprehensible post.

**Anpu42**

djones520 wrote:
Anpu42 wrote:If a lot of people did this life would be so much better.

Before: As for gammer and spelling, I suck at it. What I have getten into the habbit of is upeing word, typing everything there and then runn a spelling and gramer check.

After: As for grammar and spelling, I suck at it. What I have gotten into the habit of is using word, typing everything there and then run a spelling and grammar check.

If your before was how you actually type, I'd suggest doing some remedial classes. Not trying to be offensive, but that's pretty horrible, and crutching yourself with spell check will never lead to improvement.

Yes at times I am that bad. I sort of type faster than I think sometimes; Normally I fix things as I screw them up, but I waited till after to give an example.

I do only spell at a 5th grade level, but my Reading Comprehension is at a Masters, at least that is what the C/NUSD told me. This is du to light dyslexia and ADD.
To me Spell Check is not a Crutch, but a God-Sent-Life-Line I wish I had when I was in High School and I am not ashamed to admit it.

**Blacksails**

I look at the poster's flag, and if its an english speaking country, I expect the post to have a basic level of spelling and things like punctuation and capitalization.

**Grimtuff**

John Cheese of Cracked.com sums up my feeling on this quite nicely.

Kids, never forget that anything you type on the internet can wind up etched in granite for the rest of eternity, for all to see. One impulsive post on Facebook can get screengrabbed and saved and passed around until long after you're in your grave. Keep this in mind when you are posting anything online, anywhere.

If later in life an employer decides to Google your name to find some free background on you, he or she has access to every little slowed thing you ever posted on Facebook or Twitter. It's not like having a conversation in Meatworld, where everybody will forget what you said by next month, or remember that you were drunk when you said it. Once it's in text, on the internet, every last word is there to read by anyone on the planet with a computer. There are even websites that archive web pages that have long since been deleted from their hosting servers years ago.

I've already broken my own rule here by cursing so much, and using the word "slowed" above. Uh, don't do that.

But curse words aside, learn your own goddamn language. Once upon a time you could get away with not knowing the difference between "their" and "they're" because in spoken conversation they sound the same. Online, everybody can see that you weren't paying attention in fourth grade when you mix up "your" and "you're."

Remember that text is going to be how you make your first impression over the internet; if every third word you type is misspelled, people will automatically assume that you're a moron. Even if the public school system fails you, there are browsers that come with spellcheck built-in. Me, I used Microsoft Word to type this article, simply because it checks my spelling as I type.

Also, keep texting shortcuts confined to your cell phone. Everybody understands when you use "2" instead of "too" because you were typing with your thumbs on a number pad. But you cannot let that habit sneak into your work or school emails or even message boards. And there's no reason for it, you have all the time in the world to construct and proofread your message. If you are so pressed for time that you can't spend the extra quarter of a second to type out the full word, you need to get up right away and finish your responsibilities. Don't even worry about closing the window - that would take almost a full second.

It matters. Once you type it, it's there forever.

Oh, and if you use "lol" in every sentence you type (and I've seen people who use it multiple times, ie, "lol I like dolphins because they're cute lol") I'm picturing you as this cackling moron. If you're really laughing out loud that much you need to be on some kind of medication.

Also, most browsers have a spellcheck built in. So this is really no excuse.

**Brother SRM**

If the OP's spelling and grammar is bad, I tell them it is and how to correct it. The Shift key and punctuation keys aren't hard to use, nor is using apostrophes correctly; something precious few people seem to know how to do. I typically comment on the actual topic afterwards though, because if I went around just pedantically spellchecking everyone's threads without contributing, I'd get hatemail more often. If I contribute to the thread I'm at least furthering along the discussion.

**liquidjoshi**

I type it out, hit post without using spellcheck or re-reading. Then read it on the page and edit it when I find the inevitable lowercase "I" or "ign" instead of "ing" suffix. Thankfully, Chrome does most of the spellchecking for me.

**Howard A Treesong**

Doesn't everyone else have a red squiggle appear under words that are not correctly spelt? I really don't understand why poor spelling gets through as often as it does, perhaps people just don't care, how much of a rush do you have to be to post something? Spell checks don't find homonyms of course, and those do appear quite often particularly in the case of "their", "they're" and even "there". Though if you were thinking about what you are writing, it should very rarely happen.

I do have a problem with the autocorrect on my phone though, which is always trying to be helpful and changing real words into something else.

**Janthkin**

riverhawks32 wrote:What do you guys think of not reading a thread just because the spelling/grammar is terrible? I kind of feel bad that I cannot add to the conversation. On the other hand, do you guys think that it is a courtesy to check spelling and grammar if English is your native language?

It's not just courtesy; it's also a site rule.

We have an international audience, many of whom do not speak English natively. All modern browsers include spell-check functionality. If people can't understand your post, you may as well not post at all.

**BolingbrokeIV**

I cultnbe give ahsity.

**CT GAMER**

Monster Rain wrote:
riverhawks32 wrote:What do you guys think of not reading a thread just because the spelling/grammar is terrible?

I do it all the time. I regret nothing. I'll actually put people on ignore for routinely horrible spelling and grammar.

Of course, I ignore bronies on sight as well, so I may be an extreme example.

That sig loop you have is rather questionable as well tbh. Although it IS sort of hypnotic...