It seems everything i do on here is wrong. (confusion)

[Luke]

Not touching opicuwac's post with a ten foot poll.

I gave your name a ballpark guess when spelling it, and I was somewhat close right? No disrespect.

I also hope you got the "poll" pun.

[dsheinem]

What JT, Luke and brunoafh said... but I've been wanting to say this for a while. Not to cookie personally, but just in general. People that don't type correctly don't see a reason why they should. I would like to explain why, if I may.

It seem that i bother others on here because of some things i do.
I don't spell very well or use punctuation i apperently reply at the top when i quote
things and alot of people think i am a dude i am sorry if i offend anyone with my simple child like ways it is who i am i joined here so i could learn more about things i enjoy and to be able to chat with like minded people i have had many good times on here and a few bad times so with that all being said feel free to exspress your thoughts with what else i am doing wrong here

First off, take this as constructive criticism and nothing else (don't be offended). And this goes for every one, not just you. Sorry if it seems like a long read, but please try and read it all. I'm only trying to help.

Your entire post that I quoted consists of exactly two sentences. If you don't see anything wrong with that, let me try to explain. We're all here on this forum to communicate, that's pretty much it. Our only way of communicating on this forum is through text, that's all we have. So that being the case, it is imperative that we try type as correctly as possible.

No, I'm not the spelling police. Mario as my witness, I'm probably one of the worst spellers on this forum. But there's a little thing called spell check that's built into most web browsers these days. When you're posting, words that are incorrectly spelled will have a red line under them, right-click those underlined works and you'll be presented with suggestions for the correct spelling. It's really a simple thing to do, and it helps out a lot. You're on the internet, there's no real excuse to spell words wrong unless you're too lazy to fix them.

No, I'm not the grammar police either. I probably don't have the greatest grasp of grammar here, but I strive to be correct and to learn how to be correct. If you ever read any of my posts, especially the longer ones, I'm sure it's easy to pick out my grammar mistakes. I'll often not stay in the same tense. But English is my first language. How well I know the language is a reflection of me. I've been alive for almost 25 years now. If I haven't bothered to learn the difference between 'your' and 'you're' by now, what does that say about me as a person? I like posting on this forum, and I plan to be alive for a while longer, so I might as well try and learn my first language better.

But really, if you're unwilling (or whatever?) to make an attempt at grammar, is it really too hard to use a period or a comma every once in a while? You're entire post was pretty much one giant sentence. Spelling and grammar aside, no punctuation makes it very hard to read. It takes us longer to read a post like that then if it was typed out correctly. Picture THIS post with no periods or commas... can you see how difficult it would be to understand? Periods and commas exist for a reason! Don't use them for yourself, you know what you're saying. Use them for the people reading your posts! They're the ones that have to understand what you're saying, try to make it easy for them.

Now I'm all for posting how you talk in real life. I use a lot of slang and combine words with apostrophes even when they're not legal conjunctions. If that's how I talk to my buddies in real life, why not convey my attitude online the same way? But how you post, is that really how you talk in real life? No offense trying to be made here, but when one types like that, one comes off like a 3rd grader. Like it or not, that's how it sounds. We don't know what your voice sounds like, we don't know what your face looks like. We have no body language to help. All we know are the words you type. This is why it's important to make an effort at typing this up properly.

And again, I'm really just trying to help. Please don't take this offensively. This is what it is. If you don't feel the need to use a period every once in a while, that's your own shortcoming. I've explained why it's annoying. It's not that it just rubs people the wrong way or something, it's just straight up annoying to read a post with no punctuation. Don't be upset with people for finding it annoying.

About you posting on top of quotes... I'd be lying if I said I didn't also find that annoying, but to a much lesser degree than no punctuation. Again, let me try to explain why. When we read things, in English, we read from left to right and from top to bottom. When we're reading a thread on a forum, posts are read from top to bottom. So it's only natural that if you're quoting a post, you put the quote on the top. When you're replying to a post, below the reply box, the posts are in reverse order, but that's only for a convenience factor.

And just so you know, typing this post out, I must have had at least a dozen words spelled incorrectly. Nothing a right-click didn't fix. I even Googled something on three separate occasions to make sure I was saying the right thing. And before I submit this post, I will proof read it to make sure it doesn't contain any errors (to the best of my knowledge). It's worth it, if for nothing else, for the respect of the people that are going to read it.

very well stated

[mjmjr25]

Golly, we are really that concerned w/grammar. If it bothers someone whom is reading it, trust me, they have much larger issues than you - geez.

I've never had a problem understanding anything you've posted. This is a video game forum, not english lit or even a book review site. Do the Water>Duck>Back thing and don't feed it.

We all are going to annoy each other with our opinions at one time or another - it's the nature of the interweb, very easy to criticize folks and very tough to tell when the criticism is mean-spirited or constructive. And most unfortunately, passive-aggressiveness will always be king of a text only environment. Don't worry about it, you and fox are both welcome and great contributors thus far. Let the criticizers do their thing, just don't let their thing weigh you down.

I'd much rather read an informative / funny post than a rambling of what is "expected" of you.

[gtmtnbiker]

I don't spell very well or use punctuation i apperently reply at the top when i quote
things

As others have mentioned, using correct spelling/punctuation is important to me because it is easier for a reader to read. Otherwise, I'll skip over the post. As much as it will irk me, I refrain from criticizing someone on this. The way you quote doesn't bother me much.

I'm no English major. I detested English classes when I was in school so I feel that my writing is kind of blah.

If you do any kind of professional work, it would behoove you to improve your writing skills if you want to go far in your career. Look for classes at your local community college or an evening program at the high school.

In any case, you should continue to post here and other forums. Good luck!

[Curlypaul]

... but I would hardly say anyone has got at you about posting above a quote (they haven't said ' that's WRONG, don't do that' or anything)

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 5&start=22

We've always had a problem here with the grammer police (where the hell is Niode lately?) so I wouldn't take it too personally Cookie. I don't see the problem with posting above the quote. Makes no difference to me.

I think people just assume that you are a girl because this place is mainly male. There was some discussion here a while ago about adding gender to the user profiles but I think the idea was disregarded as it was felt that people could reveal it if they wanted, or keep it secret if they preferred. We've all seen females get swamped by juvenile asses on the internet.

[brunoafh]

There is a big difference between being a grammar nazi and expecting someone to follow at very least the basic conventions of English. There is no reason to purposely avoid them.

[Ziggy]

There is a big difference between being a grammar nazi and expecting someone to follow at very least the basic conventions of English. There is no reason to purposely avoid them.

Well said! That's a point I was trying to make that probably got lost in my big-ass post. I'm far from being perfect at the English language, and far from a grammar nazi, but you gotta use a period every once in a while! At least!

Also, about posting on top of quotes, referring to the link that Curlypaul posted, that's just confusing. Every one else posts under quotes, so if some people are posting on top, it makes it confusing to read. Again, we read things from top to bottom. If you post on top of a quote, then some one quotes that and posts on the bottom, it's confusing! It will take extra time to figure out the correct order of the posts.

[AznKhmerBoi]

I used to get flammed on pretty bad about my english/grammar, luckily i was somewhat excused from it due to fact that english is my second language .
I dont know if i have gotten better sinced i was last ridiculed?

[harper]

I used to get flammed on pretty bad about my english/grammar, luckily i was somewhat excused from it due to fact that english is my second language .
I dont know if i have gotten better sinced i was last ridiculed?

I know if people expected me to post everything in Spanish (or any other language other than English) I'd be screwed, so I say you're doing a fine job. haha

[Dylan]

Your English isn't bad for a second language, you just do that damn thing where you post above quotes.

I used to get flammed on pretty bad about my english/grammar, luckily i was somewhat excused from it due to fact that english is my second language .
I dont know if i have gotten better sinced i was last ridiculed?