Are you somehow equating spelling errors and sloppy writing and aggressive behavior with success???
I have a couple of kids that fit all those catagories and I would venture to say that unless they change their ways, especially the aggressive part, success is pretty much out of the question.
It seems to me that an aggressive person that can’t show even acceptable literacy, doesn’t have much chance of success. Who wants someone in your face and you can’t even figure out what they are talking about?
I notice and increasing no. of holier-than-thou responses by people who seem to be offended by sentence structure, spelling and the like. Who gives a damn? If one is unable to interpret the question because of spelling errors than that"very intelligent" person isn’t such a genious after all. Besides do these critical and negative people equate intelligence with maturity? I, for one, do not if I base my critique on the responses I’ve witnessed.
I know I give a damn. Like many others on this board, it pains me when my native language is butchered.
I don’t equate intelligence with maturity, I equate intelligence with the ability to LEARN and continue learning. How can you learn from your mistakes if no one points them out to you?
I suspect people on this Mb are the spelling and grammar sticklers that they are because they expect new posters to rise to the expectations this e-community sets for literacy. If that make anyone here holier-than-thou, count me in.
No one here is perfect, but if you can’t take the heat…
She wasn’t sure what to do, so she looked at how the government did things and decided to run her life that way.
For some reason DaneH has chosen to mail me personally to find out why I slagged him… for slagging on Athena. I can’t figure why he’d go through the effort.
???
rmariamp
In, A MANUAL OF EMAIL STYLE they describe people who correct people as NET WIENIES.
Often, the question a person asks is not understood if they don’t know speling or grammer or better yet, how to say what they mean. Then we can’t answer it or we try to & everyone gives their own interpretation of what the question was.
This wastes a lot of message board space. nuff, said.
And then you could tell them how to spell infinite. (Can you taste the irony?)
But seriously, what bothers me is when someone writes so badly that you have a hard time understanding them. English spelling is arbitrary anyway, so I don’t care too much about a mistake here or there, but if if I have to read your post 2 or 3 times to understand it there’s something wrong. Sure, some people have english as their 2nd or 3rd language, but if you’re 15 years old and you can’t write clearly in your primary language, there’s a problem.
I’m not correcting DaveH’s spelling. I’m pointing out, frankly and honestly, that most people think he sounds like an idiot because of the way he spells (but they don’t bother to tell him that). He may be a reasonably bright kid whose teachers told him that “creative spelling” is OK… They lied.
There is a nearly immutable truth on the net that any post written to correct another post’s spelling will contain a spelling error.
Occasionally a correcting post will be error-free, but I have only seen two or three such.
I prefer to read posts using correct S&G. However, I don’t see much point in spending a lot of time or effort correcting people or mocking them. If a post is so horribly typed that it is painful to read, expressing utter stupidity in the process, then it will probably be mocked for many things, S&G not least among them.
OK.
Any AOL/SDMB vets remember JUNEWOMAN? She had obviously not graduated with top spelling honors (if she even graduated). I occasionally wondered how she even came up with a computer to join us. She did not contribute answers to many posts and certainly not with the brilliance of McCaffertA, MEBuckner, or a few others who are still around.
SO WHAT?
She was obviously asking genuine questions for which she wanted answers. She was trying to learn.
After she shrugged off a few S&G slams and continued to ask questions, most people left her S&G alone and tried to answer her. I think that is the better response.
I have no problem with beating up on SaDkOrNyGuY or whatever that was who posted insults and drivel using barely intelligible text. I see no reason to abuse every person who comes in with a question, simply because they have not mastered the art of typing clean prose.
OTOH, DaneH, JUNEWOMAN earned our respect by shrugging off the nasty comments a few people had made and by continuing to pursue information. She did not begin whining about how unfair “the board” was. Suck it up, tough guy. Post your (legitimate) questions; work on your S&G; relax; (and post whines in the BBQ Pit).
All I did was start my non-answer on “masterbation” by suggesting he work on his spelling.
I wouldn’t have thought twice about it if he didn’t start this self-pitying whine thread.
If DaneH wants any further advise:
answer a few questions posed by others
ask questions that show some thought
get over it, whining only brings out the school-yard bullies in us
‘This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it.’ cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. ‘Slander those who tell it ye. Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And abide the end.’
-C. Dickens
You can rip me apart all you want, I dont care anymore. I’m going to continue spelling the way I want to spell, and leaving out punctuation where I want it left out. I think its gone for enough. The truth is I am a very bright kid and I know it, and I also have a very competitive side(I wrestle, run, and play football) which drove me to fight back. So now I’ll stop, and I’ll take some advice others have given me and I’ll say sorry for whatever I did. I’m actually kinda proud, this has received lots of responses.
Actually, DrF, I would hardly have considered your post in the “Masterbation” thread much of an S&G slap. I saw your whole post as a relevant response to the way the question was posted. I don’t get any more worked up about taking small digs at people than I do about S&G.
Every so often I see one post too many where (as on this thread) large numbers of people get up and pontificate about the need to post with the best possible S&G. When some imaginary line in my head gets crossed, my reserve breaks down and I foolishly post “Not everyone has great S&G skills!”
Basically,
I agree that S&G is important.
I do not agree that S&G is irrelevant to good communication.
However,
I also see no need to badger people who have asked legitimate questions simply because they have poor S&G.
“Masterbation” looked like a silly thread; “Infinate Numbers, Its Crazy.” was a serious thread. In each case, there was a single comment about DaneH’s spelling. I don’t generally post that sort of shot, but the shots were hardly mortal wounds. DaneH posted this thread to whine about his treatment.
[Bad move: He had not (yet) been subjected to withering fire; we all like to gang up on whiners; his whining included several egregious errors; this is the wrong Forum for whining.]
As this thread progressed, however, different people posted variants on “We’ll judge you on your S&G.” and “If you want to post here, demonstrate your intelligence with proper S&G.” At a certain point, I see too many of these expressions and react. I am not reacting to any individual’s post. I am certainly not reacting to either DrF or Finagle who took the initial swipes at DaneH in his first two threads. I am not reacting to any specific post in this thread, most of which were laid out with a certain degree of thought and consideration.
I simply wanted to remind the Teeming Hundreds of S&G cops that people with poor S&G skills do wash up on our shores and I don’t see a need to humiliate them as long as they come with a sincere desire to learn or share knowledge.
That said, I foresee a long period of DaneH baiting, ahead. As long as he shows up and announces “I’m too smart to worry about S&G.” he’s going to get clobbered–as he should. (If he continues to raise the issue, I may go open my old trunk of brickbats, myself.)
Hmmph. That’s the problem with composing off-line, going off to run errands for the wife, then posting the response without re-reading the thread.
I now modify my last paragraph regarding DaneH and future pummeling. Since he is hardly the only poster with less than perfect S&G, I suspect that if he drops the issue, it will not become a constant battle.
(Do understand, Dane, that folks will take periodic digs at you. If you ignore them, they’ll get bored and quit.)
Tom, I never said I was too smart to worry about S&G, but I am gonna go ahead and ignore everyone now because like I said before, I dont care. All of you who respond to me arent significant parts of my life so I have no reason to listen and be offended by your comments. I do however think its pretty stupid how some people think they’re hot stuff just because they can spot my mistakes. Thats all I’m saying on the subject, au revior.
You should read Sykes’ book Dumbing down our kids: Why our children can’t read, write, or add, but feel good about themselves.
Show yourself some respect: If you’re so bright, surely you’re capable of using standard S&G when committing your thoughts to writing… Are your words worth it?
)