Quote:
Originally Posted by Alivia
I'm not sure if I really think that grammar and spelling mistakes in a post show a person's lack of respect. Sure, it is annoying when people speak in short-hand ways and I would prefer them not to. But would I refuse to answer a question, until that person asks me the said question in a grammatically correct way? No. Definitely not.
People here use 'IMHO' and 'CD' as shorthand phrases, yet they are normally not pointed out as being disrespectful. Personally, I think saying "You don't respect me because you don't use good grammar, and therefore I'm not responding" is more disrespectful than poor language usage. We're all on the same level here. While some are more wise than others, no one is above anyone else. While most of the people on here are helpful, there are some who take critiquing to a whole new level. Where will it end? Will people eventually not respond to me because of a misplaced comma? Some may laugh at this and I'll be the first to admit it sounds ridiculous. But where do we draw the line? I'm all for constructive criticism, but I fear some may need a refresher course on just what "constructive" means. If a person is writing so terribly that you can't understand what he/she is saying, or it takes an exceptional amount of thought to decipher what he/she is trying to say, then by all means, PM that person and let them know. If there are only a couple of mistakes, maybe give them a break. We can't all be Bill Shakespeare's. 
Being a journalism major, I've had to learn the ins and outs of language usage. More often then not, the posts on CD have some sort of error in them. (And mine is no exception, I'm sure.) I think we must remember CD for what it is: a place to share thoughts and opinions about FIRST/FIRST-related things...not a place to learn grammar.
If there are any mistakes in my post, I promise it was not meant out of disrespect for anyone on CD. 4 realz.  |
Spelling and grammar
mistakes are one thing but what I am talking about is a completely different thing. Recently I responded to a post that contained no capitalization and very little punctuation. I gently followed up my post with a PM suggesting they take the time to capitalize and punctuate. The response was simply, "I don't have time." I was shocked and appalled. If the person can't bother to capitalize their posts should they really be posting? I know for me it was actually a strain to read their post because I generally skim posts. I look for certain cues, question marks, capitalization ,etc. These help me find what they want first then back track through their explanation. If I don't see any of those I have to sit and read the post 2-3 times before I even know what they are asking. When this poster decided not to use proper punctuation they made it so I could no longer use the methods for understanding that I have developed over the last several years. Asking people to spell and punctuate properly is really asking them to make it easier for us to answer their questions faster. We all have tricks we use to pull meaning from what we read and having a set of common rules by which we all write will help us develop or hone those tricks. Disregarding common rules makes it more difficult for the rest of us.
(Now, I KNOW there is at least a handful of mistakes there. My bet, comma/semi colon placement. I never did get the hang of those)