Proper English And Forums

NefilimNefilim Join Date: 2003-08-09 Member: 19222Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">It IS like school after all!</div> I hear the excuse "but this is a foram not english class who cares hwo they tyep you spelling naughtsie" way too often.

This is a forum, indeed. A forum who's primarily language is <i>English</i>. The only way to convey your thoughts here is by using the rules of English grammar and spelling of English words.

We don't require you have footnotes and flowery language; we just want you to write in logical sentences. Use commas (,), use periods (.), use apostrophes (') - we need all the help we can get to understand what you're saying. We don't hear the words you write like you think them.

So, seriously, take a few moments to look over your post before clicking submit. It'll help discussion flow smoothly. Remember, your literacy is our only means of judging your intelligence in the online world; if you want to be taken seriously on forums, write like you actually think about what you say.
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Comments

  • FuryFury Silver Fish Hand Catch Join Date: 2003-08-14 Member: 19673Members, Constellation
    who cares about spelling or grammar.

    sure the primary language is enlish but this ISNT english class and noone cares if you spell incorrectly. and if you do care ... then go outside.

    im australian, so i spell differntly to you. and sometimes i just dont hit keys when im typing, and i dont really care. its not gonna hurt if you have to GUESS a letter or two.

    and who wants to be taken seriously on a forum ........... seriously .
  • DOOManiacDOOManiac Worst. Critic. Ever. Join Date: 2002-04-17 Member: 462Members, NS1 Playtester
    edited March 2004
    I'm with Nefilim in this one. Its bad because most people don't just limit their raping of the language to the interweb. Idiots are turning in college papers with "u", "thx", and "lol" on them. This is absolutely absurd.

    Now, I'm not saying we need to cross every T and dot every I (an expression which makes no sense when dealing with a keyboard, but you know what I mean). I'm just saying people should make an effort to make sure their message can be understood, and that doesn't make it look like a fourth grader wrote it.

    And on a personal note: What the hell is up with acronyms to save ONE OR TWO LETTERS? For example "u" instead of "you". Its two freaking letters, don't be so lazy. Or even worse "2day". If you're not a hunt-and-peck typist then its actually HARDER to type this, and its only one freaking letter! Gah. I understand acronyms like "WTH", "LOL", "BRB'. Those make sense, and their existance can be justified. But not "b" instead of "be", that's just lazy.
  • MulletMullet Join Date: 2003-04-28 Member: 15910Members, Constellation
    edited March 2004
    <b>This is really inetrsteinig!
    Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.

    The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.

    Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

    Fraeinkg amzanig huh?</b>

    <!--emo&::marine::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/marine.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='marine.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • MedHeadMedHead Join Date: 2002-12-19 Member: 11115Members, Constellation
    Writing poorly due to a lack of care is total laziness. It not only reflects badly on one's intelligence, it questions the credibility of the writer. I, as a reader, have no personal connection to the writer of a forum post, and know nothing about the personal life of the aforementioned writer. Therefore, all I have to base my opinon on a person is the sentence structure, spelling, and grammar in a post. When such rules are ignored for something as simple as saving one minute writing out a coherent forum post, what conclusion am I to draw? Either the writer does not find the topic serious enough to be courteous and write coherently, or lacks the intelligence to do so.

    Does this mean the writer is unintelligent? Who can be sure? But why take the chance?
  • GWARGWAR Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2297Members, Contributor
    Im usually bad when it comes to commas, but I cant stand people who insist on typing things using stupid shortcuts like "u" and "y" It makes posts very difficult to read.
  • NefilimNefilim Join Date: 2003-08-09 Member: 19222Members, Constellation
    edited March 2004
    <!--QuoteBegin-Fury+Mar 23 2004, 12:40 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Fury @ Mar 23 2004, 12:40 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> who cares about spelling or grammar.

    sure the primary language is enlish but this ISNT english class and noone cares if you spell incorrectly. and if you do care ... then go outside.

    im australian, so i spell differntly to you. and sometimes i just dont hit keys when im typing, and i dont really care. its not gonna hurt if you have to GUESS a letter or two.

    and who wants to be taken seriously on a forum ........... seriously . <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Who cares about spelling or grammar?

    Sure, the primary language is English, but this ISN'T an English class and no one cares if you spell correctly. If you do care, then go outside.

    I'm Australian, so I spell differently than you. Sometimes I just dont hit keys when im typing, and I dont really care. It's not gonna hurt if you have to GUESS a letter or two.

    Who wants to be taken seriously on a forum?

    -----------------------------------------------------------



    Timed it... I didn't even write that post and it took me fifteen seconds to correct it. Fifteen seconds; ponder for a minute what you could have done with fifteen seconds...




    Done? You could have edited four posts in that time.

    First off, being Australian means you add a few u's into your words like "flavour" or "colour." It doesn't mean it looks like Swahili to American, Canadian, and British players. Also, it wouldn't hurt you to "hit a few keys." A key can be the difference between at, pat, sat, tat, bat, fat, rat, hat, mat, and cat; totally different words that can throw a reader off.


    Who <i>doesn't</i> want to be taken seriously on the forum? I can't think of a reason to post if you don't want to be taken seriously. If you're posting a strategy in the Marine Commander forum and you are too lazy to check over what you write, how can we be assured that you checked over your tactic to see if it was sound and logical? How can we look at your idea in the Ideas & Suggestions forum and not think you're just some one who "thought it would be cool" to have sniper guns and scorpians that hovar without flapping?
  • CreepieCreepie Join Date: 2003-02-19 Member: 13734Members
    I think you'll find that's: "hovahs".
  • BizZy_9mm_MessiahBizZy_9mm_Messiah Old School Member Join Date: 2003-07-25 Member: 18411Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-Mullet+Mar 23 2004, 01:58 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Mullet @ Mar 23 2004, 01:58 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>This is really inetrsteinig!
    Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.

    The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.

    Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

    Fraeinkg amzanig huh?</b>

    <!--emo&::marine::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/marine.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='marine.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Taht jsut bgogles the mnid
  • PulsePulse To create, to create and escape. Join Date: 2002-08-29 Member: 1248Members, Constellation
    edited March 2004
    <!--QuoteBegin-BizZy | 9mm Messiah+Mar 22 2004, 11:52 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (BizZy | 9mm Messiah @ Mar 22 2004, 11:52 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-Mullet+Mar 23 2004, 01:58 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Mullet @ Mar 23 2004, 01:58 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>This is really inetrsteinig!
    Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.

    The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.

    Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

    Fraeinkg amzanig huh?</b>

    <!--emo&::marine::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/marine.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='marine.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Taht jsut bgogles the mnid <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I tinhk you wlil arege taht it is mcuh hrdear to raed a snetcnee lkie tihs, tohugh.
  • GwahirGwahir Join Date: 2002-04-24 Member: 513Members, Constellation
    when I read those things, I read both versions simultaneously. Gets a little strange when you pereive both the correct way of saying something and the completely wrong way at the same time.
  • RellixRellix Join Date: 2003-02-15 Member: 13572Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    I wonder what colour the color of those socks next to those sox.

    And thats just 2 versions of english.

    Gee us a glug ah yar irn bru ya midden.

    That is english!

    And i heard about that mind word thingy, just proves that the mind corrects things for us.
  • Bill_DoorBill_Door Join Date: 2003-01-04 Member: 11792Members
    I'm a big fan of easy to read posts. As such, a few typos are acceptable provided that I can still understand the damn post without spending half a minute or more deciphering it. This isn't instant messaging, you do have the time to proof read that post for major errors

    leet and txt typing I can read, the former with a little difficulty, but I prefer not having to read them.

    -Its not an English lesson, so you don't need to use Queen's English, but please, use English.
  • Daza4Daza4 Kerc Kasha Join Date: 2003-04-06 Member: 15233Members
    Typeing correctly is one of the few ways of makeiing your self look intelligent(spelling?) on the intarweb. Sure you can make spelling mistakes we are not ALL perfect, but when it comes to laziness and complete stupidity its just too far. Firstly this isn't a chat room. Secondly this thread will be here forever unless A) Forums die B) Moderator locks it. So you can take how long you bloody want. If it being two minutes or two hours. But there is no need to type it in 5 seconds or less. Fury atleast I can make sense of you, seeing how I use to type like that, My typeing style went like this : Normal-> Half-arsed-> Semi Normal half-arsed.-> normal. So I can understand most half-arsed english, just when people type like this pisses me off:

    lololl Liek oid sa ta mova llooolololol omg lol WTH. If you can make sense of that I will give you a medal. (I HAVE SEEN PEOPLE TYPE LIKE THIS)
  • PulsePulse To create, to create and escape. Join Date: 2002-08-29 Member: 1248Members, Constellation
    edited March 2004
    <!--QuoteBegin-Rellix+Mar 23 2004, 12:16 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Rellix @ Mar 23 2004, 12:16 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> "sox"

    "english."

    <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Where?

    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->lololl Liek oid sa ta mova llooolololol omg lol WTH. If you can make sense of that I will give you a medal.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    "I saw the movie and it was funny"?
  • chis1chis1 Join Date: 2004-01-13 Member: 25281Members
    some people dont take the internet seriously and just type away like they dont care..

    Although typing doesnt bother me, whiners annoy me, you could be aruging with someone, and they will catch you out through your spelling / grammer

    and what about the peolpe who arent very good at spelling / grammer? do we shout at them?

    To be honest, if something is down right awful, then you comment, but lack of (,) (.) shouldent be pointed out.. its quite sad actually <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • TestamentTestament Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 4037Members
    edited March 2004
    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->and what about the peolpe who arent very good at spelling / grammer? do we shout at them?
    <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Actually, you should ask what they should do. Use a spellchecker! Copy-paste it into Word! Though it's mostly the complete lack of any commas and periods that make it hard to read for me.
  • GeminosityGeminosity :3 Join Date: 2003-09-08 Member: 20667Members
    As long as it's legible and not one huge freaking block of text (paragraphs = love) I'm none too bothered =3
    I wouldn't say commas and fullstops are much to worry about personally, but that's just me ~shrugs~
  • LikuLiku I, am the Somberlain. Join Date: 2003-01-10 Member: 12128Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-Pulse+Mar 23 2004, 01:01 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Pulse @ Mar 23 2004, 01:01 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I tinhk you wlil arege taht it is mcuh hrdear to raed a snetcnee lkie tihs, tohugh. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Not that much harder though. Proper typing is something I pay a lot of attention too, I hate just the smallest of typos when I do it. I don't really mind if others do it, but there's a line:

    "!!!11oneeleven"
    "shirtguns"
    "bacon"

    You're not funny, face it. It's just an annoyance that people make cool.
  • TestamentTestament Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 4037Members
    Blocks of text are what I mean. When I see a long post that's one block of words, I hit my back button immediatley.
  • chis1chis1 Join Date: 2004-01-13 Member: 25281Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-Testament+Mar 23 2004, 09:19 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Testament @ Mar 23 2004, 09:19 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->and what about the peolpe who arent very good at spelling / grammer? do we shout at them?
    <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Actually, you should ask what they should do. Use a spellchecker! Copy-paste it into Word! Though it's mostly the complete lack of any commas and periods that make it hard to read for me. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    What a waste of bloody time for a post <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • FuryFury Silver Fish Hand Catch Join Date: 2003-08-14 Member: 19673Members, Constellation
    <quote>Timed it... I didn't even write that post and it took me fifteen seconds to correct it. Fifteen seconds; ponder for a minute what you could have done with fifteen seconds... </quote>

    i could have finished writing the sentence in msn to my gf. i could have changed songs. i could have done what i did and click a button and go to a diff forum.
  • TestamentTestament Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 4037Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-cHIs-+Mar 23 2004, 09:43 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (cHIs- @ Mar 23 2004, 09:43 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-Testament+Mar 23 2004, 09:19 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Testament @ Mar 23 2004, 09:19 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->and what about the peolpe who arent very good at spelling / grammer? do we shout at them?
    <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Actually, you should ask what they should do. Use a spellchecker! Copy-paste it into Word! Though it's mostly the complete lack of any commas and periods that make it hard to read for me. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    What a waste of bloody time for a post <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Hey, no loss to me if half the people who matter don't want to read their near unreadable posts.
  • chis1chis1 Join Date: 2004-01-13 Member: 25281Members
    If you really want someoen to read it, you will make sure its well written

    Some people just dont think wht they shuold do to edit a post, my friend is the same, he wrote a god awful post, but he looked at it himself, he could just not see the errors :/
  • FuryFury Silver Fish Hand Catch Join Date: 2003-08-14 Member: 19673Members, Constellation
    i really dont care about errors i make whilst writing, half the time im not looking at the damn screen anyway, i have 2 monitors, usually watching a movie or cahttin or something and changing screens. boo hoo if i make a mistake.
  • GeminosityGeminosity :3 Join Date: 2003-09-08 Member: 20667Members
    boo-hoo if people ignore your posts then ^~

    Seriously though... I doubt anyone cares about one spelling mistake or two, I think it's more about oh... say... having enough respect for other posters to make it legible?
    Not that anyone in this thread is really guilty from being amazingly bad from what I can see (though there's something to be said about the irony of this topic and the amount of spelling mistakes I've seen XD ).

    Point is, while it doesn't have to be a piece of literary art, it's nice if it's easy on the eyes so people will bother to read it and lets face it; who wants to make a post nobody is going to read? Isn't the point of posting online all about having other people see it? After all, if you're the only person who ends up viewing it because your grammar/spelling is so horrific then you might as well have not bothered typing it in the first place <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • chis1chis1 Join Date: 2004-01-13 Member: 25281Members
    Another thing is, ive seen places where someone comes in spells omething wrong

    and abunch of people gigle and go, hah you sux at spelling *geek laughs all around*

    so silly <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • StakhanovStakhanov Join Date: 2003-03-12 Member: 14448Members
    This thread should be webbed imho. You know something is wrong when foreign posters make less spelling and grammar errors than the average american.

    We have a nice system on the NS-FR forums : anyone who doesn't write in understandable french loses his account. This can't work on international forums such as theses , but I highly encourage the admins of local (UK , US , AUS , whatever) forums to enforce this rule. Letting people write in SMS language promotes lazyness and damages the forum's fragile atmosphere.
  • RenegadeRenegade Old school Join Date: 2002-03-29 Member: 361Members
    edited March 2004
    <!--QuoteBegin-Pulse+Mar 23 2004, 12:01 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Pulse @ Mar 23 2004, 12:01 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-BizZy | 9mm Messiah+Mar 22 2004, 11:52 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (BizZy | 9mm Messiah @ Mar 22 2004, 11:52 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-Mullet+Mar 23 2004, 01:58 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Mullet @ Mar 23 2004, 01:58 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>This is really inetrsteinig!
    Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.

    The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.

    Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

    Fraeinkg amzanig huh?</b>

    <!--emo&::marine::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/marine.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='marine.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Taht jsut bgogles the mnid <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I tinhk you wlil arege taht it is mcuh hrdear to raed a snetcnee lkie tihs, tohugh. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Not rlealy. It jsut teaks yuor biran a bit lngeor to porcses it. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • CronosCronos Join Date: 2002-10-18 Member: 1542Members
    bahaha teh spezlzolring narxiziz are ate it agaan lololololZ!

    See that line above? See how terrible it is? How it defiles the eye and mind alike? If you have enough time to be writing a message on a forum, then you have enough time to at least make your messages legible.

    The only excuse for poor spelling/grammar in a post is dyslexia. I can understand not being stuffed to make things absolutely 100% correct, but making the message understandable and legible is enough.

    Submitting an assignment or thesis with 1337 speak and "2day" on it are travesties against the english language and should not even be marked, if not burned on sight.
  • RaVeRaVe Join Date: 2003-06-20 Member: 17538Members
    Strangely I can read through those garbled text clearly....

    Anyway....on the topic of proper english on forums....well, I couldn't agree more, but it has to be a lenient system too for people who don't have english for their first language.

    You know it's bad when a member from another country tries his best to spell stuff correctly, and ends up being laughed at. It's frighteningly bad....
This discussion has been closed.