I been lerking fer a whiles now, and I gotsta say that when sumwon dezerves ta be flamed, why is the furst attak over speling?
Seriously tho, it bugs me to think that every time I post I have to meticu…carefully spellcheck lest a Phillistine with opposing (see: wrong) viewpoints explain to me that I am an idiot because my spelling/typing is for shit. Time and time again I see “you are dumb because you spelt that word wrong. Why don’t you get a dictionary Mr. Head Up Ass.”
This hasn’t happened to me yet, but given my qwerty skills its gonna happen, and I hate it. It kills perfectly good flames, I think, just to include a spelling attack in there.
Grammar attacks are fine, tho. But I’m gonna get reamed on those too. Eh. whatever.
I think you need to be more careful in proofreading your posts. I found several spelling errors in yours. Let me enumerate them…
There has been great debate (though mostly in the Pit) about this on the board. I think everyone came to the basic consensus that a few spelling and grammar errors are OK, and the people who point them out instead of addressing your agrument are dicks.
OTOH, spelling and grammar do count for effective communication, and that if you expect to be taken seriously, you do need to make a sincere effort to maintain a certain level of proficiency with the language.
So: “Oops, I made a typo”, OK. “I don’t care enough to actually pay attention when I post”, bad.
Yeah, I figured this had to have come up on someone’s “list of things that make me want to do something” list, but being a newbie I figured what the heck.
What I basically wanted was a validation to be really lazy, and a “get out of jail free” card whenever anyone called me on it. I will, however, make fun of anyone who misuses “your” and “you’re” because my mom used to yell at me like crazy for those, and now it bugs me.
Bear in mind also, Spider, that there is a big difference between “typing errors” and incorrect use of grammar and spelling. Typos happen. Even brain farts aren’t a problem–I’ve occasionally typed “there” instead of “their,” for example. But a persistent misuse of the language grates on my nerves, and as Necros says, makes communication more difficult, especially in an all-text medium such as this.
Nevertheless, you’re absolutely right. Correcting someone’s spelling or grammar as an insult is arrogant, hypocritical, and infantile. I correct people if I can do it constructively, as I expect people to correct me. But saying “you’re stupid because you can’t spell ‘meticlulous’” is just plain childish.
Spelling mockery? God forbid we should attempt to spell correctly here. I mean, we’re only using the written word as our entire means of communication ferchristsake. Why should you not be chided for refusal to use a dictionary and spell-checker? Like andros almost said, grow up.
Spider - The kind of post you simulate in the beginning of your post drive me up the wall. I don’t mind a typo or two, but if your contribution to this board looks like it came from a mitten-wearing spasmatic durring an earthquake, then you deserve what you get.
I think general Net consensus, at least in the places I’ve visited, is that spelling flames are pretty childish.
That being said, I’ve gotta agree with UncleBeer. While spelling flames may be childish, that doesn’t excuse you from striving for error-free posts, particularly here. Fighting ignorance and all that. You ought to attempt to say, as clearly as you can, exactly what you mean. Spelling and/or grammatical errors only impede my understanding of your thoughts. If you don’t care about what you say, why should I?
Now, that being said, I’ll have to admit that, personally, I don’t use a spell-checker. Rather, I proofread all my posts twice. I kind of take it as a personal challenge to catch all my mistakes myself; it’s the same reason I balance my checkbook by hand. O’ course, sometimes that backfires…
If you’re not going to show us the decency of looking up words you can’t spell, don’t expect us all to show you the courtesy of not calling you on it. We are going by the printed word here, so a misspelled word can be interpreted as another, entirely different, word here. It adds only strength to one’s argument, IMO, if it is presented in a clear, grammatically correct fashion with no spelling mistakes. If you don’t know how to spell a word, look it up or use a different one, or expect to get called on it by some of the people here.
In a similar fashion, if you don’t know a rule of grammar, go ahead and ask. There’s an MPS thread “ask the grammar harpy” you could drag up to ask such a question, and either AerynSun or I would be happy to pounce on it. We love that stuff.
IMHO: A typo, a brain fart, a minimal misspelling; no big deal. But get real! If you really can’t type and communicate effectively, go find something else to do.
It’s annoying, especially when it’s done out of sheer laziness. And I will continue to tweak folks over their spelling. Mostly, it’s done in jest to posters I like. However, if I see someone constantly posting with what appears to be their hands wrapped in meat I won’t read them or post back to them.
If they can’t take the time to write clearly, then I can’t take the time to write back.
[sarcasm]
This is exactly what I’m talking about! Ask the grammar harpy what’s wrong with that statement.
People on this board . . . some of them, anyway . . . are more inclined to take you seriously if you use proper grammar, spelling, etc. Such is usually indicative of overall intelligence, or at least a willingness to learn.
All right, I am one of the guilty. I did it once, in response to a lowbrow rant about Japan that I took personally, being of Japanese descent. I later retracted this (sort of) and criticized the OP based on its merits (or lack thereof).
[hijack]
Nekochan, everytime I see your name, I think the plaster kitty with the upraised paw from my favorite teppanyaki
joint is typing!
[/hijack]
I, too, am guilty of attacking spelling, but I felt really bad about it and apologized. I’m an excellent speller or-
dinarily, but sometimes in the middle of posting fever, I will transpose letters or not hit the right key. Iwould hate be judged for that.
Spider, I think there are a couple of distinctions that need to be made.
First, when a person is called on a spelling or grammar error, how he reacts makes a difference. If he seems to have no problem making an excuse or an apology (“sorry, it’s those durn LSD flashbacks”), then the error will be overlooked. But if he responds defiantly or defensively (“oh, yeah, well, fuck you, I happen to LIKE spelling it that way!”), then that’s when the flames begin.
Also, if people see that in general a person tries to spell things right and use proper punctuation, etc., then it’s very rare for him to get called on the occasional typo or misspelling.
Yes, there are people here who seem totally focused on spelling and grammar errors, but fortunately they are few and far between. Just focus on what you’ve got to say, do the best you can, and if somebody corrects you, just smile and say “oops!” and move on.
