Please!

Is it too much to ask for Capitals at the start of sentences, for Proper Nouns and the pronoun "I", as well as commas between phrases, full stops (periods) at the end of sentences and breaks between paragraphs?

Just asking ... I tend to glaze over when completely unformatted text hits me.

It's probably being texted from an IPhone or other such primitive device.

wingfield wrote:Is it too much to ask for Capitals at the start of sentences, for Proper Nouns and the pronoun "I", as well as commas between phrases, full stops (periods) at the end of sentences and breaks between paragraphs?

Just asking ... I tend to glaze over when completely unformatted text hits me.

i completly agree wiht u post!!

AncientMariner wrote:

wingfield wrote:Is it too much to ask for Capitals at the start of sentences, for Proper Nouns and the pronoun "I", as well as commas between phrases, full stops (periods) at the end of sentences and breaks between paragraphs?

Just asking ... I tend to glaze over when completely unformatted text hits me.

i completly agree wiht u post!!

When I was in high school, I got pretty deep into coding and text-speak, and had the poor judgement to let some of that lingo infect my vernacular when I wrote an English paper. I don't remember, exactly, what my teacher said. I don't even know, now, what my doubtlessly poor grade was. What I do know is that since that day, I've become something of a Nazi.

I'm pretty sure that the first time I fired live rounds at another human being didn't have such a dramatic impact on the trajectory of my life, so kudos, Ms. Butler.

The main thing is that, if we can't read what the person in question is posting, what is the point of posting it?

I am missing out on something that might be interesting or of relevance to our discussions. RFC doesn't use bad English or punctuation here and the rest of us should follow his example!

As the years go by, the difference between the reading and distance parts of my glasses gets ever wider. A wall of unformatted text is impossible for me to digest.

wingfield wrote:Is it too much to ask for Capitals at the start of sentences, for Proper Nouns and the pronoun "I", as well as commas between phrases, full stops (periods) at the end of sentences and breaks between paragraphs?

Just asking ... I tend to glaze over when completely unformatted text hits me.

Yes. Yes it is. It is with sadness that I inform you that, as this site hosts an international audience for whom in some cases, English is a second language, it may very much be, as you say, "too much to ask."

Further, as Keith_w has pointed out, in many cases it may be that “It's probably being texted from an iPhone® [incorrect logo punctuation corrected] or other such primitive device.” As such, the device no doubt lacks anything like proper spelling or grammar correction software. What can you do in the face of such barbarianism?

And my gosh, if I might stoop to vulgarism, no one even seem to know how to properly indent paragraphs or use proper APA quotation styles; or footnotes and end-notes, for that matter. In truth, it seems the site does not even allow paragraphical indentation!

It is shocking I grant you, but what are proper, well-bred people to do. It would seem that the hoi polloi are everywhere nowadays. Keep a stiff upper lip though and remember that a proper gentleman can prevail through anything. God Save the Queen!

Cheers;

Larry

P.S. By the by, Wingfield old chap, I believe your use of the ellipses is incorrect. May I refer you to http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/ellipses.html as a reference. Try not to let the side down again. Such lapses are how it all starts!

Larry wrote:
P.S. By the by, Wingfield old chap, I believe your use of the ellipses is incorrect. May I refer you to http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/ellipses.html as a reference. Try not to let the side down again. Such lapses are how it all starts!

I do not possess the particular grade of a sense of humour that permits me to take this well.

As for the three dots, they do not and were not intended to represent an ellipsis. I could have used two or four.

Perhaps I'll just disappear until a certain poster has gone quiet and posts become legible once more. [Alternatively, it might be good to reappear when people do not pillory others who ask for just a little consideration.]

wingfield wrote:

Larry wrote:
P.S. By the by, Wingfield old chap, I believe your use of the ellipses is incorrect. May I refer you to http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/ellipses.html as a reference. Try not to let the side down again. Such lapses are how it all starts!

I do not possess the particular grade of a sense of humour that permits me to take this well.

A pity. I find that an ironic nature is all that gets me through the day, on some days. Especially the ways the world seems to be going. Reality is depressingly consistent on its delivery of bad tidings. Kindly observe good sir, that here we discuss, in the company of others, a completely fictional reality that we share a common interest in. The people who write here are neither professionals, nor are they all of the same age nor educational background. Nor, as I observed, are they all native speakers of the English language.

Could their posting be improved by running them through a word processing program? Most assuredly. Further their logic is often askew and their conclusions often illogical. I do not, myself, ordinarily hammer them on these points, as they are, to me, merely brethren of a common interest. Since I do not come here to judge them, nor do I know upon what path they have walked in their experience or education I simply celebrate that there are sufficient of them so that Mr. Weber can continue to support himself by writing the books I enjoy reading.

wingfield wrote: As for the three dots, they do not and were not intended to represent an ellipsis. I could have used two or four.

That is certainly their understood meaning in normal English usage.

wingfield wrote:Perhaps I'll just disappear until a certain poster has gone quiet and posts become legible once more. [Alternatively, it might be good to reappear when people do not pillory others who ask for just a little consideration.]

You must, of course, do as you see fit. I am however afraid that your request for "consideration" appears to me, to be simply a thinly disguised critique of the writing skills of others, in which you failed to consider the potential factors of age, education, social background, native language (or experience with English, if you prefer) for the wide variety of posters who post to this site. I might even concur with you as to the difficulty of reading some of these posts. They are however, I most assuredly inform you by experience, nothing to compare, to the difficulties of attempting to read and assist my dyslexic and dysgraphic daughter in learning to read and write through her school years. A task that I assure you teaches both patience and sympathy for the writing difficulties of others.

The next time you are having trouble reading the writings of another, you might want to consider where they might be coming from before you register a complaint. Feel free, of course, after considering such factors, to then complain, but perhaps in a more, considerate manner?
A gentle reproof, buttressed by wry humor, might be the very ticket.

Cheers;

Larry

wingfield wrote:I do not possess the particular grade of a sense of humour that permits me to take this well.

Perhaps I'll just disappear until a certain poster has gone quiet and posts become legible once more. [Alternatively, it might be good to reappear when people do not pillory others who ask for just a little consideration.]

Wingfield, I'm sorry that our lowbrow sense of humor offended you, but it is a valid point that some of the posts made here are done using phones, and I have quite a bit of fun trying to translate some of my friend's emails to me when the word recognition software on their phones fails in rather confusing and sometimes hilarious ways.

As for proper capitalization and spelling, constant texting has resulted in a written slang that I find difficult to understand myself at times. Fortunately cell phone companies seem to be getting the message that we're unhappy with the length allowed for texts, and Verizon, for example, has done away with the 110 character limit. It was with great relief I was able to stop counting how many characters were in every text I sent, and I was especially grateful that I could stop using silly abbreviations and word substitutions. So perhaps we'll see fewer posts with those in the future.

For those who bravely post here when English isn't their second language, I say "Bravo!" I could theoretically post on any Spanish website, but I'd be tremendously reluctant to do so! It takes bravery that I don't possess (as an English minor) to post in a language that is foreign to me. Since they generally have quite different outlooks and life experiences than I do, I find their posts mentally stimulating, although I'll grant they're difficult to understand at times. When you see one of those posts, think of the intestinal fortitude it took for the person to post it.

I don't disagree with you, but for example, I find that given the strange spellings of names that RFC elected to use in the Safehold series, and has since said was a mistake and that he wouldn't do it if he could write the series all over again, I sometimes just write the person's English name. I have particular difficulty spelling King Ronald of Dohlar's name correctly. (See, I just did it again!) I even have all those weird names entered into the spell checker of my browser - I use Firefox and highly recommend it. It saves me from numerous misspellings in almost every post I make.

Not all of us are writers, but we're all fans of RFC who is, and we bring different abilities and attitudes to posting our prognostications about and analyses of his work. I, for example, spell check everything and repeatedly proofread my posts for errors in spelling and sentence structure. I also happen to be a writer on the side - technical, not creative I'm afraid, and I spend a ridiculous amount of time creating and proofreading each post. Most people don't do that, and I understand why. (Yet I've probably still made a few grammatical mistakes in this post. Sigh...)

Finally, we do our best to make people feel welcome here, despite any shortcomings they may have (or feel they have) in trying to write a comment in English. The errors that appear may be due to habit, a casual attitude in writing, or the difficulties of writing in a language that is not their own. I'm grateful that all those people post messages, since sharing ideas and furthering the discussion is the reason I lurk on this site and bloviate all too often!

I'm not trying to single you out or lecture you - in fact, welcome to the forums and please enjoy the virtual beverage of your choice! I'm merely pointing out reasons why some posts aren't grammatically correct or contain improper or casual spelling. Let's just be grateful for those who have the courage to share their opinions, regardless of the style in which they do it, since this site and the discussions it enables are made richer by their contributions.

Should you find errors in my grammar or spelling, by all means feel free to point them out! (Although obviously I'd prefer that you do it using a private message.)

Despite all the proofreading I do, I still make mistakes, just like everyone else. I also tend to ramble and use too many commas, as everyone who's put up with my nearly one thousand comments will attest!