Minimal Spelling and Grammar Options

[Saffy]

After a lot of talk and complaints I've been seeing, I believe we should instill a minimum level of quality regarding spelling and grammar. The most of us do use proper language on this forum, so I'm not going to say we're a cesspit of poor posts. However, there's a problem when understanding what someone has written is near impossible. I acknowledge typos occur. I'm certainly not suggesting we be Grammar Nazis either. But I and a few others are tired of seeing worthless, incomprehensible posts.

So please take the time to check your spelling and grammar before you post. Warnings may start going out to those who repeatedly offend spelling and grammar without any effort to improve. If your post looks like garbage, reads like garbage, then it will be treated as garbage.

Questions? Comments? I believe this action to be reasonable.

[Crystal Talian]

Thank you so much, Saffy! It's very true that the majority of the posts on this forum have great grammar, but we do have a few that need a little work. I've always been fond of good grammar, even though I don't think mine is the best - but I try. I think good grammar when posting or e-mailing someone is a form of respect. We should all be respectful of each other! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalasmile.gif)

[ZBoy]

Thanks for enforcing this Saffaroo! Basing off what Crystal said, a majority of the member's grammar is amazing, but there are quite a few who suffer. Hopefully with this those few will try to do their best to make this forum much more respectable and mature. Then again, I shouldn't really be talking because I'm one of those few who always make typos... ^_^

[showchoirgirl]

Thank you!

It's very reasonable and needed in some cases. This is a forum and not a chat room, after all. Plus, when people don't use proper grammar or punctuation, it becomes hard to understand them... And quite annoying when you have to sit there five minutes trying to figure out if they meant one thing or another.

Like Crystal, I think it's simply respectful to use correct grammar.

[Darth-Paper-Boy]

If you're treating Grammar Nazis as a group, you should capitalize "Grammar" too. Just "Nazis" looks weird.

(IMG:http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g281/worthlessnewbie/misc/emotion/emot-buddy.gif)

[Saffy]

Thank you, Darth. I'm glad someone noticed that :)

[Mizukithepanda]

Oh thank waffleing Starbursts. Though I've been attempting to hold my tongue, whenever I come across a post that has no capitalization or punctuation and is solely comprised of run-on sentences and fragments, I just want to scream and rampage and send the guts of others flying.

Thank you for this, Saffy.

THANK YOU.

[Saffy]

I'm certainly glad to see such a positive reaction. I fear others might call me out for being so nitpicky. But I strongly feel a distinction for good spelling and grammar should be made on these forums. This place is not a chat room after all. The posts we make reflect how others see our community.

[ZBoy]

Well you know, at least half the time things get annoying in these forums when people don't know how to show correct grammar! ^_^

[Co'coa.]

Yay for Saffyish! :D

I'm certainly not very... Um... Grammar... Full?
Grammarful? That's not a word, is it. ._.
... Oh I got the word. I'm not very grammatical! Aha. There you go.

I do hope this topic makes people like me (:D) want to type with better grammar.
Uhm, yes.

Thanks for pointing this out. ;D

[Saffy]

What's unfortunate is that those who actually use poor grammar and spelling probably won't read this topic.

Nonetheless, I suppose determining what defines a bad post would be in order. Any specific peeves?

[Crystal Talian]

I have lots of pet peeves.

They would be: lack of punctuation, excessive punctuation (such as ................) lack of capital letters, all capital letters (makes me feel like there's someone screaming in my head), missing apostrophes, and chatspeak. Especially chatspeak and all capitals.

To a lesser degree, there are words that don't even look like the person attempted to spell them right, misspelling a word that's right in the post above you, and using the wrong form of a word - like using 'your' when you should use 'you're'. I really only mind these things when they happen constantly. Everyone makes mistakes after all.

Yeah, I'm kind of picky. But I really never say anything, I just rant to myself.

[Katie]

A lack of basic capitalization, punctuation (periods and commas), and intelligently formed ideas would be nice. However, the latter could be attributed to the subject matter itself or the posters state of mind, but still, at least most of the time a logical flow of ideas is basic speech.

Spelling I'm less of a prude over, because we all make mistakes. I'm often seen quick editing my posts for minor errors, but the sheer incompetence to ignore certain words when they are misspelled is irritating. Especially if these words are not hard at all to form (ie. four letter words much?) or are repeatedly butchered.

Hope this gets actively enforced. :]

[Saffy]

Chatspeaks is personally the one that does it for me. Seeing someone type "r u" or "c" really irritates me. Is it so hard to make the effort to spell a proper word?

[Harvest Sprite]

OOOH Don't get me started.

1. WRITE THE WHOLE WORD.
No more hllo's or mch or whatever. Just, don't be lazy about it.

2. PUNCTUATION.
Is it so much to hold the shift bar for a half of a second? Honestly, you can capitalize and not kill yourself. Even periods, I don't care about commas. Just please, lets make sure one sentence is one sentence.

3. GRAMMAR.
Okay, even I make grammar mistakes sometimes. But many if not all computers have a spell check function. The only time I spell something incorrectly is if I completely miss the mark. DO NOT BE LAZY ABOUT IT. You too can right click the word to check what spelling mistakes you have made.

4. NO SPAM.
We all know who I am talking about. But yeah, keep it pertinent to discussion, or announce at least you are going off topic.

And no its not Mizuko or Charmy. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalaexdee.gif)

5. DON'T BE LAZY.
'nuff said. Really try to create a post people will read. It's not that hard.

CHATSPEAK: Should only be used for texting in my opinion. And now that most phones feature a full keyboard not even.

[Marie]

I don't think it's nitpicking. I think being picky about grammar is just enforcing people to use common sense (which, sadly, does seem to be lacking in a small number of people).

My main pet peeves when it comes to "bad posts" would have to be lack of punctuation and heavy texting-style chatspeak (or whatever you call that nowadays). It's hard to read a post (especially a long one) when the thoughts aren't divided with sentences or commas! Not to mention, it makes the writer look bad...

As for chatspeak... If you have a full keyboard, USE IT. Type properly. That's why it's there.

That's...about all I have to say on this subject, heh. It's not like everyone's grammar and spelling needs to be perfect, but everyone should make an effort to make their posts readable and understandable.

[Zen Clarke]

When you guys say no chatspeak, are you saying that my saying, "LOL" and "OMG" aggrivates you? D: I can't help but say it when I'm online. But that's the only chatspeak I ever use online, I swear! Other than that, I make sure that my grammer, punctuation, and all of that stuff is done good to the best of my knowlege. Some things I only use out of sarcasm...Like, extreme "........" or all caps (though I try not to make it all caps, unless I'm trying to stress my anger about something...like the time my school made us go outside for 5 fire drills...-_-;;). Anyway, I hope I'm not blacklisted!! Ack!!

There are some people I can usually understand when they talk kind of crazy. But there are others I don't understand at all...D:

[Harvest Sprite]

No, no Zen. Like c u ltr. That sort of thing. OMG is perfectly fine in my eyes, typing out oh my god almost feels foreign to me. I much prefer lol to haha. I don't know why, but I do. :P

[Crystal Talian]

Well, LOL and OMG do annoy me now. =/ I can't say I really mind much, but I don't care for them. I feel silly typing LOL, I'd rather just type "Haha!" instead. I used them - and g2g and brb - when I was younger, but it kind of made me feel stupid. ._. I am extremely nitpicky though.

Oddly, I never read OMG as 'oh-em-gee'. I read it as 'omigosh!' which is what I type. I always read LOL as 'el-oh-el' though. Go figure.

But I haven't blacklisted you, Zenny. Your grammar isn't bad! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalasmile.gif)

[Zen Clarke]

Sometimes I say *laughs* instead of LOL because I really DID laugh out loud. Sometimes, to me, writing 'haha' sounds like you're saying, "Ha. Ha. -_-" I dunno why, it just does. Yeah. I usually write OMG, because at best, I don't like writing 'oh my gawd.' It takes something extreme for me to say God instead of gawd. It just feels weird to me. I read LOL as 'el oh el' and OMG as 'oh em gee.' Brb and ttyl (which I only use when texting or IMing) I read as 'be right back' and 'tee tee why el' respectfully.

I try to use as best of grammer as I can, because I plan on being a writer. When I first joined the internet, it was atrocious (my computer doesn't have a spell check, sorry. :( ). Once I spelled 'embarrassed' 'imbarassed' or, actually, worse than that. It was scary bad. But writing for the past -- what, four years now? -- has gotten me to use much better punctuation. Like, I didn't used to use commas before saying someone's name (I'd say: Hey Crystal), or too (Me too!), and I'd use commas when they weren't needed ("What's that?," he asked.) I've gotten a whole lot better over the years. Occasionally, though, my spelling sucks....

EDIT: *eye twitches while reading through her post* Oh my gosh, my own examples of what I used to write is making me twitch! *resists urge to fix, as it would defeat the purpose*