The Spelling and Grammar Police patrolling ATS

It makes the people feel better about themselves by pointing out others errors. They are so ashamed of their own shortcomings, picking out others helps them over look their own.

reply to post by Haydn_17


Why is it someone always comes out with this garbage (posting gobbledygook) when this issue comes up? It proves nothing and it is such a cliche - at least try to be original.
I take it most posters want to communicate? Call me old fashioned but a post full of grammar and spelling mistakes does not help you get your point across. Plus you just might come across as someone who is sloppy and lazy or mentally challenged

I'll be frank... presentation matters both here and in the "real" world. Those who wish for their words and messages to have impact and meaning and to be taken seriously, really should take that into account.

Having said that, it's not difficult to overlook small errors. We all make them and to point them out or attack another solely for this, does show lack of substance. It's very easy to do, when someone can't find anything else to debate you on. For those who do this, grow up. It only makes you look ridiculous and it's quite transparent.

Like it or not, you are what you post. If you post drivel, well spelled or not, you'll eventually be known for posting drivel. Spelling and grammar are just clues as to how educated you are. I think it is fairly obvious if you type "teh" for "the" that it is a simple typo and not much to get worked up about. With allowances for non-native English speakers, which is also fairly obvious in context, if you continually mistake their for they're, its for it's, met for meant, use poor grammar, fail to use paragraphs, and generally sound like an unschooled idiot, then you probably are. It's not that I'm going to point out your deficiencies to you, I'm just going to ignore you because you're not worth taking seriously.

You complaining about being taken to task for spelling and grammar is not going to change my mind. You saying I should not pay attention to those things does not sway my opinion. Yes, I should pay attention to these things and if it matters to me, it matters to me no matter what you think. If you would pay attention to paying attention to your own spelling and grammar rather than railing against people who do, you'd probably become a better poster with a better reputation. You are the one responsible for limiting and defining your own reputation. Bad grammar and spelling is not your civil right and it does not make you into a protected class. It's legal to discriminate against you if you act like an idiot. Feel free.

I can usually understand what a person with terrible spelling is trying to say through the context of the post, and as long as the thought/idea the person has come up with is passed on to me then i don't see the problem, although i will say that people who spell lose as loose and border as boarder infuriate me...it's almost like my own personal 11:11 type phenomena, it's not the fact that they spell these words wrong it is the fact that i see it absolutely everywhere i look on the internet.

Originally posted by havok
Actually I hate the posters who continue to use short hand text type.

Well said Havok. I don't mind people not being 100% perfect in their spelling, as long as it's not atrociously hard to read. I also don't mind "lol" or "rofl" as it'd be even lamer to write it out. "Oh my! I was rolling on the floor laughing!"

But yeah, liek when ppl write liek this n stuff its annoying. Using shortcuts like, "u" instead of "you" or "r" instead of "are". That's just being lazy. Show some pride, this is ATS!

reply to post by Haydn_17


Number one offender right here I'm coming out right now and saying I don't proof read anything I type and hit enter.

How about a spell checker for ATS. Wait now there is a thought.

reply to post by Advantage


I still don't understand that mentality that you should help a child to learn but the moment one becomes an adult its perfectly ok to make mistakes that your 10th grader won't, without making any effort to try to help them.

Yes I know it sounds a tad pretentious, but I'm not trying to say that I'm more intelligent than someone simply because they misspell, or anything like that. As I said in my first post, if it was me I'd appreciate being told I'd spelled something wrong (so long as I'd done it more than once and it wasn't just a mistype) so that I could learn from it and...well...spell correctly.

It's up to the individual whether or not to take the help offered and, indeed, whether or not to take it as an offence. It is, as I and several others have said already, how one types the correction. As someone said, it takes a very weak person to take offence or get annoyed by such a thing, even if it is meant maliciously.

Its the way that the "help" is offered - In most cases the tone that noticed used here when individuals correct others is arrogant superiority .. Rather than a polite attempt to help others.
Manners are as important as language when making an impression. Alot of other languages have politeness levels within the language which are just as important to remember unlike english where its mostly grammar as some constantly nag over.. Lastly english is a language that changes over time - the english today is different than the english 30 years ago or from shakespears time..

Good thread. I agree that some use grammer and spelling as a troll method, I would rather someone say ,hey I dissagree with what you say and here is my opinion. I would also like the Mods to drop in on threads (its happening more lately) to show their intrest and presence ( hang on while I bring up another page to make sure I spelled presence right) I will be right back..... Ok I am back and yes its right... Ok now where was I...

I know this is an old thread but I did the right thing and used the search before I was about to post a rant. I think a lot of people don't think about the fact that this is an international site as well as that many people here might possibly be dislexic or not even have spell checker on their browser. Someone called me out on a very small spelling error and then proceeded to call me "Clearly Ignorant". It really upset me given the fact that I type fast, and English is not my first language. I think I do a great job with English, and anyone could have made the mistake I did. When I host a thread I do use Word before hand to make sure it's all right there, but my posts are just my very own typing and spelling.

Anyway, I looked through this memebers other posts and threads and they are always mean to others and point out their spelling errors or any other reason they can find. I guess they have fun pointing out other peoples flaws. Sad really. I feel better now that I ranted about it, lol.

reply to post by lilowl53


Yeah ... that does get a bit tiresome here on these International boards ... especially for those of which 'English' is not their native or first language.

The LULZ part being ... in my experience, at least ... those folks typically have a firmer grasp of the spoken and/or written 'English word' than many a US member here on the boards.

'magine that.

As a writer and a long time member of ATS, I will tell you that I rarely use spell check. I do my best to use grammar and spell words, correctly. Most of the time I do well. Other times, I don't.

If I catch a mistake, I do go back and fix it.

Those who post and say nothing more than " You're, not your", have no real argument against what you are saying. Insults are the last resort of a desperate man. They cannot attack what you are saying, so they have to attack you and how you say it.

This only makes them look bad. Not the one who made the grammatical or spelling error.

To be fair, intent does come into play. Sometimes a person is hard to understand. Maybe the OP is just not very good at writing their thoughts down. In which case, sometimes you do have to ask for clarification. " When you say _____ Do you mean ___? "

But this is not attacking the OP for poor grammar or spelling. it is an attempt to understand them better so they can have a great conversation.

You will never see me attack anyone for a spelling or grammar mistake. While it is usually obvious when it comes to determining whether English is not their first language or they just cannot spell, does not matter.... There is no need to attack a member for this.

If you need help understanding something that they said, sure, ask for clarification. But don't go around correcting peoples spelling and grammatical errors. It is belittling and embarrassing. It makes people think that you don't care what they have to say and would rather make fun of them.

To the grammar and spelling Nazi's. Stop it. I will make mistakes sometimes. So will you. So will everyone else. You are not helping. So stop it.

reply to post by Rocky Black


If I may make a suggestion.
My fingers and brain often work at difference speeds.
If use FireFox , they have spellcheckers
addons.mozilla.org...
addons.mozilla.org...

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe
Even without those add-ons, I see Firefox underlining mis-spelled words when I type a reply, and it's red so it's hard to miss. But it won't tell me that "Their parking their cars over their" is mis-spelled I think I can figure out what somebody means by that even with the spelling errors.

Actually I'm very impressed with most English as a second language posters. I think it's pretty good that I've only seen a major problem with one poster on a site this large, where the posts are nearly incomprehensible.