Spelling, please!

nirisahn · 01-25-2007, 03:35 PM

I just read a post that I wish I could take more seriously. The person who posted needs to go back to grade school and learn how to spell and punctuate his/her writing.

It's very difficult to respond to a post that you can barely read because the spelling and punctuation are so bad. It also makes it very difficult to take the person posting seriously. A lot of the posts are people complaining about something done poorly, and yet it seems all too often that the person complaining makes no effort when posting to make sure what is posted can be read and understood. It makes you wonder what right they have to complain about other people's lack of effort when they choose not to make an effort, either.

I'm not saying that I expect perfection in every post. I'm sure I've made many an error in my posts, and there are probably even some in this post. But a little consideration...?

james.92 · 01-25-2007, 03:48 PM

Not sure which post you have in mind, but I agree 100%.

chris_h · 01-25-2007, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nirisahn

I'm sure I've made many an error in my posts, and there are probably even some in this post. But a little consideration...?

Your right. "all to often" should be "all too often"

Sorry, couldn't resist.

And yes, I know it should be "You're right" but I want to leave something for the next person, ya know?

Bierboy · 01-25-2007, 03:55 PM

I DO know which post you are referring to, and I also concur. Especially with built-in spell checkers now in browsers like Firefox.

nirisahn · 01-25-2007, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris_h

Your right. "all to often" should be "all too often"

Sorry, couldn't resist.

And yes, I know it should be "You're right" but I want to leave something for the next person, ya know?

Thank you. One edit coming up (if it's not too late).

Bierboy · 01-25-2007, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nirisahn

Thank you. One edit coming up (if it's not too late).

It's never two leight....

MikeMar · 01-25-2007, 04:13 PM

ehhh, as long as it's not ridiculous then I have no problem with it, it's just an internet forum, not an essay

seattlewendell · 01-25-2007, 04:28 PM

What really sucks is that they make you respond to their bad post. I hate the fact that the government made reading and responding to internet post mandatory.

JimSpence · 01-25-2007, 04:45 PM

The spelling and grammar I can live with. But, without punctuation it makes it really difficult to understand the problem.

Test · 01-25-2007, 05:08 PM

What post?

james.92 · 01-25-2007, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Test

What post?

Probably this jewel:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=338182

nirisahn · 01-25-2007, 05:39 PM

james.92,

That's the one that prompted the post. I was trying to be nice by not pointing to or mentioning it specifically, especially since there are many others just as bad. I was debating how to respond to Test when I saw your response. I was torn between making an example of that particular post, and not wanting to embarass the person who posted. Thanks for taking the decision out of my hands.

dagap · 01-25-2007, 05:40 PM

Bad spellers. What is they're malfunction? Makes me loose my patients.

etsolow · 01-25-2007, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by james.92

Probably this jewel:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=338182

Advactive... heh heh.

JimSpence · 01-25-2007, 07:28 PM

For the benefit of that poster, English probably isn't his primary language.

GoHokies! · 01-25-2007, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimSpence

For the benefit of that poster, English probably isn't his primary language.

What makes you think that?

(not meant to be insulting in any way, I'm just not sure how you can make that out of the post)

I agree 100% with the OP, and heartily recommend Firefox 2 with the built in spell checker. Or a Mac, since they have spell checking built into the OS.

If you want anyone to take you seriously, you should really put a bit of effort into your posts.

BoyScout · 01-25-2007, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seattlewendell

What really sucks is that they make you respond to their bad post. I hate the fact that the government made reading and responding to internet post mandatory.

I'm sorry, but how do they make you respond? and why is even reading a post mandatory?

I agree that a little bit of grammar goes a long way, but an occasional faux paus can be overlooked.

Also, if I can't understand what somebody has written, I'll either try to reiterate what I understand the messenger to be saying and ask for clarification. That is if the subject is interesting enough to respond to.

On the other hand, I'm not obligated to read or respond to any posts, so I will tend to ignore poor grammar or spelling if the subject doesn't interest me.

localtech4hire · 01-25-2007, 11:29 PM

WOW..
My Post caused all this noise?

Everyone (well almost) is so into putting light on bad wording and what not that they never even tried to understand the problem.

Yes I have spell checker and yes I only know Eng..

Thanks to the people that came to my defense.. I might not be the best at grammar and/or spelling but I personally think some of you have way too much time on your hands to put light onto this and make it a news flash..

Not everyone has a IQ of over 200 and knows everything that there is to know..
If the ones that took the time to put light into this where so smart would be able to see what I was trying to say.

Sorry I took so much of your guys time with my post.
Again thanks for people that came to my defense.

btwyx · 01-26-2007, 12:09 AM

I like leaving in my spelling errors, it annoys the spelling nazis.

Billy66 · 01-26-2007, 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by localtech4hire

WOW..
My Post caused all this noise?

Everyone (well almost) is so into putting light on bad wording and what not that they never even tried to understand the problem.

Yes I have spell checker and yes I only know Eng..

Thanks to the people that came to my defense.. I might not be the best at grammar and/or spelling but I personally think some of you have way too much time on your hands to put light onto this and make it a news flash..

Not everyone has a IQ of over 200 and knows everything that there is to know..
If the ones that took the time to put light into this where so smart would be able to see what I was trying to say.

Sorry I took so much of your guys time with my post.
Again thanks for people that came to my defense.

It's ok man. Everyone builds their esteem system on something. For this guy it's his grammar and usage. Makes him feel good to know that he can be read so easily. I'm going to seek out his posts from now on. They may not have decent content, but I know it will be an A paper for the teacher to grade. nirisahn gets to pick the game at recess!

gargoyle999 · 01-26-2007, 04:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seattlewendell

What really sucks is that they make you respond to their bad post. I hate the fact that the government made reading and responding to internet post mandatory.

I've always wondered what's so hard about just ignoring a post like that for some people. Too many spelling and punctuation errors for you, then don't reply.

cwerdna · 01-26-2007, 04:55 AM

That gem of a post was about as bad as this one: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...&&#post4547895.

GoHokies! · 01-26-2007, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by localtech4hire

WOW..
My Post caused all this noise?

Everyone (well almost) is so into putting light on bad wording and what not that they never even tried to understand the problem.

Yes I have spell checker and yes I only know Eng..

Thanks to the people that came to my defense.. I might not be the best at grammar and/or spelling but I personally think some of you have way too much time on your hands to put light onto this and make it a news flash..

Not everyone has a IQ of over 200 and knows everything that there is to know..
If the ones that took the time to put light into this where so smart would be able to see what I was trying to say.

Sorry I took so much of your guys time with my post.
Again thanks for people that came to my defense.

See, now this post was MUCH more readable - did you really have to put a lot more effort into this post (as opposed to the one that sparked the OP)? Again, I'm really just curious and not trying to be an ass...

Don't apologize for you post - it's an interesting discussion to have. I don't know if I would have singled you out like the OP, there are lots of examples around here (some of which have my name next to them, I'm sure).

Here's my take on the whole thing from another recent thread:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...24#post4805124

I think that the biggest problem is that many people try to write exactly how they speak - which greatly detracts from how well their posts come across. The other thing is the folks that act like they are sending text messages when they are writing. You have a full keyboard and aren't paying by the 150 character message, folks! It's OK to spell out "you" and "for"!

People underestimate the value of professional sounding, literate, written communications.

atmuscarella · 01-26-2007, 06:19 AM

Interesting non TiVo topic, as a person who has a spelling/grammar problem I can tell you people who do not have a spelling/grammar problem do not understanding how much time and effort it takes to deal with spelling/grammar problems. My spelling is so bad at time that sometimes I can not get word’s spell checker to figure out what word I am trying to use, other times it gives my a list or words that all look right to me so I end up having to read the words dictionary definition to make sure it’s actually the word I am trying to use.

I read the post referred too and of course couldn’t pick out any misspelled words, which doesn’t surprise me as I am just as likely to think a correctly spelled word is a mistake as one that is truly misspelled. But I also had absolutely no problem completely understanding what the poster was saying. Which is all that matter to me in a forum like this one.

My understanding is that people who can spell well can actually visualize words in their minds. I can not and sometimes have a hard time hearing the difference between letters like “B” and “P” and various others. Which results in interchanging words like “but” and ‘put”.

So my advice is to give people a break; if you understand what they are writing, do not worry about a few spelling and/or grammar problems. However if you are an arrogant pampas ass feel free to point out other peoples short comings.

Thanks,

greg_burns · 01-26-2007, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoyScout

I'm sorry, but how do they make you respond? and why is even reading a post mandatory?

Spoiler:

Jabberer · 01-26-2007, 07:23 AM

I have a basic rule in life:

"If a machine can do something better than you, you didn't want to do it anyway"

Well, machines spell better than people (mostly), so I've pretty much let Word handle my spelling issues, which are legion - the little red wavy line is my friend.

I can't tell you the number of times I've done the old copy-and-paste routine from Word into something that didn't have spell checking. The other day, someone on slashdot mentioned http://www.humanized.com/ and their product called Enso Word, which adds spell check and other stuff to any Windows program. I downloaded and have been using the trial for the last day or so - very nifty little program. It doesn't do grammar though

.

ZeoTiVo · 01-26-2007, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by james.92

Probably this jewel:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=338182

does ne1 think that spell-checking alone would have fixed that post?
Since very few machines would have caught that "there" was used incorrectly I refute that spell better.
Personally though I do not think this topic needs a whole thread for itself, l8r

ETA - this entire post went through Google spellcheck despite obvious errors in readability. Though it did have me capitalize Google

mick66 · 01-26-2007, 09:12 AM

Bad spelling and grammar aren't nearly as annoying as way off topic threads.

localtech4hire · 01-26-2007, 09:28 AM

I feel special to have a thread dedicated to my self... I take it TIVO talk is getting boring.. I never would have signed up for this site if I never bought this used tivo 60hour for 35 $$..

hyachts · 01-26-2007, 10:06 AM

Grammar nazi behavior is one of the many childish facets of internet communication and it's hardly unique to this forum or this post. What grabbed me about the post in question, however, was that localtech was ranting about the poor communication skills of the Tivo CSR. It struck me as ironic and made his complaint laughable. I think any time someone is saying (posting) something emotional or inflammatory - and localtech's diatribe was both - they open themselves up to a higher level of criticism.