An IQ based forum I belonged to listed the IQ’s of the members but did allow some who were ‘unclaimed”. Sometime within the 3rd year of it’s existence, a very ambitious moderator got the idea to start listing the unclaimed members with an IQ based on their writing ability and vocabulary. Whilst the owner of the forum was okay with it I was totally against that because the way I saw it, it either took away from some members or gave credit to some who didn’t merit such a rating. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and I like to look for the strengths. Our first instinct when viewing someone who finds it difficult to write properly is that they are some sort of dullard but for the most part we also find that our first instinct needed to be repaired because there was some brilliance hiding in the background. On this forum, let people be people. We all have something to say no matter how grammatically correct or incorrect it might be.
According to Ken, you’re okay as long as you do not use too many vowels. I write “whilst” which only employs another consonant and deletes a vowel as does your use of “misspelt” so we’re both safe.
As far as moderating the grammar and spelling, I mostly leave it alone unless someone asks me to correct something for them. If it is in the title of a thread, and I notice it, then I do try to correct the spelling issue, or maybe re-write the title so that it better explains the topic of the thread, as opposed to something vague and meaningless , like “Guess what happened to me today”, or something similar to that. It will be easier for people to know what the thread is about if it says something plainly, like “ yikes, I had a flat tire today” , instead of the first example. There is a time allotted to each post where a person can go back and make corrections in what you wrote, and if it is past that time, then I am glad to make the changes for anyone who asks me to do so.
Yes, quite a lot of editing can be done in a quoted response. I often delete a lot of verbiage to shorten such quotes, in the belief that if the quoted comment is lengthy, not all of it really needs to be copied to indicate what I'm replying to. I see repetitive use of QUITE when the writer means QUIET -- the main misspelling that catches my eye. But I like seeing the British variants you've noted. I'm with you on al-00-MIN-ee-um. LOL
I don't do bullet list and also I won't tell Ken what he should address. He has made many "State of the Forum" posts but on different threads which may be the best way. I was just thinking that having a thread with such an address all in one place might be convenient and get more visibility. His post #4 on this thread is what I am suggesting. Each time he makes a post his thoughts and concerns might be different.
I agree 100%. As soon as someone sets out to assert his or her superiority over another human being, the premise is disproved.
This is a good discussion. I also use Grammarly, but I am in charge of Grammarly, not the other way around, and I don't always agree with its suggestions. On the other hand, it often catches typos or grammar problems that are usually the result of my incorrectly editing something in the middle of the sentence. Spelling and grammar have never been weak spots for me but I find that, as I get older, I sometimes drop words and am less likely to catch my typos, so Grammarly helps. Grammar errors are sometimes the result of regional differences in the use of the language, and I kind of like that, and wouldn't want to edit it out so that everyone's words look the same. In context, a slang word or a looser form of grammar can have an intended effect that I wouldn't want to interfere with. For example, if I disagree with what someone is saying but don't want them to think that I'm angry about it or something, I might say, "I ain't buying it," and then go on with my argument. A few problems come to light when I think about editing spelling and grammar. In no particular order, the ones that come to mind are... It could be far too time-consuming. There's always the chance that an edit might inadvertently change the meaning, and I wouldn't want to do that. I want the forum to be inclusive to people with varying degrees of command of the English language, and I'm afraid that being edited frequently might put people off from participating in discussions. Some people might be angered by the practice. We have people from England here and we all know that the English don't know the first thing about the language. Finally, did I mention that it could be time-consuming?
I rarely take part in discussions for the very reason I was sick to death of ‘being chatted “by the FORUM POLICE for using slang and or spelling different to some posters there was no allowance for the fact I live in Australia . I said at the time there’s always the option of the ignore button if my Aussie way of spelling / grammar upset anyone I was even shamed at the mention of using goggle. I grew up in a very isolated town in New South Wales , with the nearest other town being 300 km away or 500km from the city of Adelaide we had a different way of describing something where I was born / raised. I can tell you I ( we) traveled around Australia for 2 years in our caravan if I happened to visit any tourist spots where I spoke to anyone they quite often said your from Broken Hill aren’t you ? . Prior to COVID we used to travel to Queensland for a month each winter I was constantly asked how long I’d been in Australia from New Zealand
I once worked for a Japanese company. About 75% of my coworkers were Japanese, many of them field engineers. Those poor buggers would travel to Boston, to Chicago, to Huntsville, to Biloxi, to Dallas, to Los Angeles, etc. I'm laughing right now at the memory of those confused faces when they returned to DC. "Yes, Koyama-san, they were all speaking English." I'm angry at @Kate Ellery experience with her language being challenged so often. At some point it's not really meant to be helpful...and the person on the receiving end knows it. And I bet if we strictly applied all of the rules of grammar to all English (American) posts, they would quickly become unreadable to the modern eye. Just start with changing all sentences so they no longer end with prepositions and see how stiff things become. ps: My mother was English. I just might start peppering my posts with going up the frog, or up the apples & pears, or getting knocked up in the morning.
I might make fun, as I did in a post above, but I can't imagine anyone being upset over someone using English or Australian spelling or grammar.
Sometimes people who came from Broken Hill NSW are classed as a bit odd ..the way they go about explaining stuff ya know .. It’s been said it was caused by to much inbreeding cause just about everyone in BH was related including the pet dogs due to the towns isolation. However …..my heritage dates back to Cornwall , my Grandmother wasn’t born in BH but in South Aust so her parents introduced some new blood into the town by moving there with 8 Children https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Hill
We're pretty tolerant here. I even let Canadians say "eh" as many times as they want. Then again, I grew up in the UP of Michigan, so I'm used to that.
If we're gonna start nitpicking spelling or expecting people to use spellcheck then I will have to say nay. People are who they are. I don't think any site needs to go that far. I have no issue with digging around in old threads to find something to breathe life into again.