Forum Etiquette

[Al]

We all make the odd spelling mistake and grammatical error, however I'm seeing more and more posts which need deciphering before I can understand what the poster is trying to say.

I have also received complaints from new members saying they won't post again because of rude members and illegible posts.

So could everyone please do a 2 minute proof read before making a post. Basic things to check are:

Spelling
Capitalisation
If it's a new member your replying to give them a chance do not jump down their throats
Does what I'm posting make sense to others apart from me


I'm not asking for Queen's English here just a simple double check and correction when necessary.

I'm not a fan of loads of rules but I want these forums to be a nice free flowing community so please try to make these forums what they can be.

I welcome everybody's feedback to this, whether you agree or not I will listen. At the end of the day I want this to become a great community and what ever I do is based on what I think is best for the community.

I'm now off to proof read and spell check before posting :).

Edit: I corrected 5 errors after reading and I'm sure if I missed any it will be pointed out.

[micsaund]

I tend to agree.

It doesn't take very long to re-read what you write and ensure that it's understandable. When doing this, keep in mind that future readers of your post don't know your current thought process, so try to re-read like you are not yourself ;)

There are quite a few run-on sentences, which combined with no punctuation and disjointed thoughts, can really take some effort to decipher correctly.

Like Al said, we don't all need to be PhD level writers, but please try to gravitate towards the college level rather than the other direction ;)

Mike

[keith]

I am all in support for this thing.

Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and badly phrased sentence really turn readers off. More than often, when I encountered such posts, I really get upset and quite disappointed.

The basic thing here, at least is a simple, and proper English.

What I'd like to suggest to Al, perhaps is there a way we can put a sanction on members to prevent them from clicking submit posts immediately without really taking some effort to phrase them in readable sentence. Not asking for perfect quality writing, but easy to understand language.

Finally, it is becoming intolerable for me as well. Reading such posts is really turn-off. So, if you think we can do something about it, we can get the mods to crack down on these people.

On lighter note, 2-3 spelling mistake may be acceptable, but if the language is horrible, it's getting up to my limit.

[proxops-pete]

I share the feelings here as well...

[Al]

I'd be also very interested to hear from anybody who things a change like this would be a bad thing.

I don't want an over regulated forum so any changes will be in moderation (no pun intended) and will be what the community decides is best for the community, hence I really want as many opinions as possible.

[keith]

I believe the non-mod or admin members of this forum should speak up here too. It is the members that make up the community not just the mods,... etc.

[Al]

I believe the non-mod or admin members of this forum should speak up here too. It is the members that make up the community not just the mods,... etc.

That's what I want to hear, I'm open to ALL suggestions and opinions.

[triumph]

I can go either way on this issue. I tend to be a pretty prolific poster in general. I have literally hundreds of thousands of posts on 100s and 100s of forums on the internet in my time. However, I tend to type fast and honestly, I do not always go back and re-read my posts before submitting them. For me that takes a lot of the enjoyment and luster out of it. If I am really trying to make a point or writing an essay-type post, I will go back and proof-read it.

I do some article writing in my spare time, and I usually make at least 5 complete passes through the articles before submitting them. The last pass has to be 100% without change or modification until I deem it done, then one final pass to double check. However, my forum posting is really done in my leisure time, and I am often shooting from the hip and off the top of my head.

That being said, I don't disagree with some of the common issues people see these days on forums. From the slang that comes from too much text messaging to just downright lazy behavior, it can make forums less enjoyable to read. When someone actually types out "ne1" instead of "anyone" I want to pluck out all my eyebrow hair with pliers.

I have gone back and read some of my posts on forums that I wrote late at night, half asleep and sometimes they come across ridiculously. As I said though, if I had to go back and re-read and edit everything I write in a day on forums, I would be on the edge of insanity.

[Al]

Thanks for the honest answer triumph, it's very much appreciated and thanks for proof reading it too.

It is a tricky issue, I hate over moderated forums and I also hate forums where threads are impossible to read so it's a case of finding a happy medium I think.

[micsaund]

Yeah, over-moderation sucks just as much as un-readable forums. Those are some good points, Triumph.

I think that if people are relatively good typists and can form coherent thoughts, the re-reading is not as necessary. However, some people's "normal" writing is chock-full of l337speak, txtmsg abbreviations, horridly disconnected thoughts, etc. and those people *need* to re-read.

Of course, the question then becomes: how do you tell these people that they need to re-read/proof-read/clean-up their writing without them getting personally offended? IMO, they should be open to the suggestion, but most people who write in that style (in my experience) are the hot-headed types who will fly off the handle if you even hint that they should work 10% harder to write understandably.

I'm not sure there's an easy answer to this problem as you want to provide enough leeway for ages, education levels, and styles. However, you also need to keep things somewhat controlled to avoid the formation of a grammatical cesspool.

Mike

[palefrost]

I agree on the point made about text messaging creating a major problem with grammar now. LOL. I would have thought a person who texts alot would have created a good vocabulary but it seems to actually destroy it.