Update...on the spelling cops..here and there...

[Stuart G]

I talked to a good friend of mine who also spends a lot of time on the internet. Not here, but over there.

Turns out he is a spelling cop. (they are everywhere you know, not just here).. Also, a retired English teacher, high school. Oh well..So I said to him, "Why is it so important to get your headings spelled correctly?"

His comment was of a true cop, "How important can your post be, if you do not take the time to get the heading spelled correct?" While I did not believe a word of it, I must say he does represent a particular point of view, as they say. There are lots of people who have that same view, even though it is not the same as mine. Why piss them off on your post before they even get the chance to read it???...I'll use spell check more..and I have been using it more often than before.
thanks.

[WinkyDink]

1. I'm pretty sure your friend said "spelled correctly." :-)

[Stuart G]

2. Yes, spelled correctly...he is a grammar cop, ..stand corrected..

[elleng]

4. Bravo!

:thumbsup:
:rofl:

[AndyA]

3. It's amazing how you can scan your message before you hit the "Post message"

button, and all looks well. Then, 10-15 minutes later you go back and see a glaring spelling error. I usually notice them moments after the period to edit expires. :rofl:

I know some people discount posts with spelling or punctuation errors. (Republicans typically have horrible spelling and punctuation skills, and that's often what makes them suspect here at DU when they think they're being clever.)

[Stuart G]

6. Oh yes...the famous.."period to edit expires" sign..

I have seen that one many times. But I hope to see it less often..Sometimes I think I have something so important to say that it has to get up without editing..

Well I found out this..."it ain't so important.." and if it is, someone else will say it too. Hard to believe it, eh?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[CrispyQ]

13. Don't you hate that? ~lol

I can forgive an occasional spelling or grammatical error on a forum like this. What I won't read, however, are posts that are all caps, or posts that don't have proper punctuation. The other day there was a post with no spaces between sentences. Some posters don't capitalize the first letter in their sentences. More important than violating punctuation rules, it makes it visually difficult to read. :eyes:

If people want others to take the time to read their posts, then they should make them readable! I don't waste my time trying to read an all caps or poorly punctuated post.

[Xipe Totec]

5. Spill checker's are grate butt they halve there limits nt

[elocs]

7. If your idea is important enough to post,

then at least the few words of your subject line should be spelled correctly. I've seen subject lines with 5 words and one is misspelled.

We like to make fun of freepers and teabaggers about their misspellings, so we should at least care enough to try and spell correctly here. I hear the excuse of, "well this is only a message board". So what. At least when someone is printing a sign they don't have spell check. Yes, they should double check before making the sign public, but so should we double check our posts before they are made public too.

[yodoobo]

8. Folks need to take a chill and remember its just a web forum

The housefly lives longer than the average web forum post.

[Stuart G]

9. Well said....the fire department to the rescue.nt.

[Demoiselle]

10. There's also a little thing called "credibility."

If a newspaper, for example, can't be bothered to spell something correctly and monitor itself appropriately to avoid mistakes, why should we trust it to bring us the truth?
And how much respect do we instantly lose when we post a fervent belief or carry a great big sign with spelling/grammar/usage errors on it? I give you the teabaggers and their absurdly misspelled rally signs, so much beloved here, as examples.

[yodoobo]

11. keyboard agility is not the same as credibility

I assure you that the most brilliant and honest men and women on the planet sometimes make typos.

[Demoiselle]

16. Yes. I was coming down hard on "organized" writing...

the kind of organization that a newspaper is supposed to have...with proofreaders, editors, etc. who are paid to keep things right and check each other's work.
We have a little local paper here that makes the most awful spelling and grammar errors. Often in the headlines. It's as if they've never heard of proofreading or copy editing, and it really rots my socks.
I took it out on people who post as a pastime....and I wasn't fair. Still...it is better NOT to get a mistake smacking you in the eye. It is distracting. It certainly distracts me, anyway.

[Hannah Bell]

22. newspapers downsized their proofreading staffs long ago. so did publishers.

if you were raised in the era when a spelling mistake was a rare thing in print media, you really notice the change.

that's capitalism: destroying standards globally since 1862.

[Cheap_Trick]

12. Oh, I thought maybe Aaron and Tori had their own police force.....

Never mind.

[TexasObserver]

14. Misspellings in headings suggest a poster for whom accuracy doesn't matter.

Anyone who can't bother to correct their spelling errors can't be trusted to provide accurate information. Sloppy writing and sloppy thinking are fellow travelers.

[lapislzi]

15. Precisely.

I have gone so far as to hide threads with misspellings in the headers. I expect posters to have respect for my time and intelligence, as I respect theirs. Yes, I know I'm insufferable. :shrug:

[Stuart G]

23. About respect for others, and not spelling correctly.

As I look back, I do not honestly think it was disrespect for others, as much as anxiety about getting out an idea and wanted to see it posted. Perhaps it is about disrespect for oneself. Those of us who have spelling issues, usually are in a rush and move on. It may come off as disrespect, but I do not think it is. I know for sure that I meant no disrespect to anyone.

The spelling cop who told about this, just gave me some information that finally sunk in. He basically said that there are many people who are really offended when there are spelling mistakes. Now, I am discovering there are grammar cops out there too. Oh well, you just try your best and move on. Change as many of us know is not easy.

[onethatcares]

17. As Sister Mary Eileen told me as she smacked my hands

with a ruler many years ago, "How can anyone take you seriously if you can't spell simple words?" There was no room for error with her.

[pipi_k]

18. I didn't have a Sister Mary Eileen, or anyone else who

smacked my hands with a ruler, but I did have plenty of regular teachers who impressed basically the same lesson on us kids.

OK, I can see an error happening in someone's writing, but when the entire piece is filled with spelling mistakes, I tend to not take the person seriously. The individual is either somewhat ignorant, or lazy, IMO.

It's why we had vocabulary/spelling tests in school. If it didn't matter, they wouldn't have bothered.

[Xipe Totec]

19. I didn't get that far...

I'm left handed, so they slapped my hand with a ruler before I even got to misspell a word.

Besides, spelling in Spanish was a trivial exercise

[onethatcares]

21. i can relate to that

i held the pen/pencil at the incorrect angle and was told i couldn't write with it held that way. more ruler smacks.}(

[MicaelS]

20. Misspelling doesn't bother me near as much as lack of

Capital letters, and poor, or nonexistent punctuation.