I have a number of pet peeves when it comes to grammar and mispelligns, as well as posts in general. Here they are, in no particular order.
1. No use of commas when needed. Ask yourself if the sentence would make sense if you moved the part after where a comma may belong to the front. If it does, then a comma is usually necessary. I was taught "FANBOYS" in my 9th grade English class. It stands for the following: For, An, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. Each of those words typically requires a comma (,) before it. There are exceptions, of course, but that's what makes English so fun.
2. No paragraph breaks. Or, perhaps, too many blank lines between one paragraph and the next. (Too bad there is no way to indent effectively.)
3. Capitalization missing, overused, or entire post. (For those that use it when it's the entire post, I try to gently remind them that that's considered shouting on the 'net.)
4. Lack of apostrophes (') and quotes ("), as needed. Or, on the flip side, the use of them where they are not needed. If something is owned by someone, it needs an apostrophe, with rare exception. "It's" and "Its" are very different words. The first word is a contraction, the second is not. A contraction is two words that are merged together with missing letters replaced by an apostrophe. "Don't" is another example. Any time you remove letters from a word, an apostrophe is necessary. (i.e., internet becomes 'net)
5. "Me too" posts. If you agree with someone's post, that's great. You don't have to tell me unless you have more to add.
6. Posts from people that look like they are knowledgeable engineers when they may not be. I'll look at specific posts from people that I already trust.
7. Duplicate posts. If someone else has already posted on the subject, and you are not seeking clarification, there is no need to post it again.
8. Search for the answer before you post your question. If you don't know the appropriate key words, ask someone else (i.e., a mentor, a teacher, a librarian, etc.).
9. The use of "well" versus "good". I was mortified when I overheard someone at a major university say "The Chancellor did a well job of recruiting for next year." (I actually wanted to slap the person.)
10. For those of us that hate being politically correct, the accepted term for a single person in writing is to use "he". (i.e., Can you find out if he knows the answer?)
11. If you have multiple issues on separate topics, post individual threads. If you have multiple issues on the same topic, post in an individual thread.
12. If you have a follow-up question, you may choose to post a new thread. If you do so, please reference the original thread in the title and/or the text. I'd like to be able to find the original thread quickly. Please see the subject line for this post as an example.
13. If you do not choose to post a new thread for a follow-up question, please change the subject line. It will help me get an idea of whether I want to keep reading the thread. Please look at the subject line for this post for an example. (You may change the subject line by selecting the "advanced" button at the top of the text box when creating your post.)
14. If you have several issues that you are putting into a single post, consider using numbers for the following reasons: Easier reading of the post and easier referencing in responses to the post. Also hit the "Return" or "Enter" key before typing the next number. (Review this post for an example.)
15. Please read the entire post/thread before making any comments. You will often find that someone else has beat you to stating what you were thinking.
16. The incorrect use of ellipses (...). As stated previously, ellipses are used to denote that one is thinking of what to say.
17. Smilies do not have to be all over a single post. If they are in your signature, that is great. If they are in the body of the text, they are more than annoying.
This is not a chat room, it is a message board.
18. If you are going to use acronyms, please explain what they mean after the first use in parentheses (). For example: CDR (Change Design Review) can be used to determine if something can be manufactured.
19. Not giving credit where credit is due. If you copy ideas from someone else, give them credit. If you take information from a book or a magazine, even if you paraphrase it (put into your own words), you must cite your source. If you don't, this is called plagiarism and can get you into legal trouble.
20. When naming a book, magazine, or movie, the title shall be
underlined or
italicized. See below for an example.
Not all of the ideas in this post are mine. Some of the other ideas are ones I saw while reading each and every post, except the poem, on the previous 7 pages.
If you have questions about grammar and are still in school, in addition to using Strunk and White's
The Elements of Style, see if you can borrow a book from the library or textbook room on the subject.
I hope you enjoyed this post.
indieFan
P.S. How much extra credit do I get for the proper use of a semi-colon (; ) rather than a colon (: )? (Extra spaces required to prevent smilies from showing up.