Good Grammar

ShadowSniper8 · Joined: 11 Jul 2008 Posts: 13

As you may have noticed, most of my posts have correct spellings and correct grammar. This makes my posts very easy to read, and second of all, make me sound mature and not like an "a**hole". Don't use chat or "1337" speak, it's just stupid. This applies to everything, not just forums, it applies to websites. Your website will NOT look good with misspellings and bad grammar. Especially as a company website, your rating will go down to the floor.

Firefox 3 has a built in spell check, use it! It will give a good look to your website!

Savage21 · Joined: 14 Jul 2008 Posts: 5

Great tips. Just to add/agree a little bit...

Proper grammar is essential if you are going for a professional look, whether it be on forums, blogs, or your own website content.

If you go around using chat and "1337" speak like you mentioned, people won't take you seriously and you probably won't get your message across or question answered. If you find yourself struggling to stay clean, use some of the built in spellcheck features that most common web browsers now have.

Practice, read some online tutorials and articles, and don't forget to use that spellcheck. In addition to some other things, such as respect, the better your grammar is, the more likely you are to be respected in the community you are participating in.

Pareidolia · Joined: 25 Jul 2008 Posts: 22

victel · Joined: 01 Aug 2008 Posts: 5

I agree that good grammar and spelling is very important. Also it is very annoying WHEN PEOPLE TYPE IN CAPITALS simply because they don't know it is thought of as shouting!!

Obviously some forums attract international users and English is not everybody's first language. The admin posts should be word perfect (or as good as possible) because it keeps up the credibility of the forum but if you have 1000 members, not every one of them is going to be grammatically perfect (or even make sense all the time!)

KaraSwims · Joined: 23 Aug 2008 Posts: 5

I suppose the flip side of grammar is when and when not to point out another member's mistakes. If it becomes a distraction (like all capitals), I think it's necessary. But other than that, the "grammar police" can intimidate posters and make people hesitate before writing.

Samurai Jack · Joined: 24 Aug 2008 Posts: 16

Pareidolia · Joined: 25 Jul 2008 Posts: 22

People being paid to boost a forum should write in a way that makes the target users of that forum feel comfortable. People offering the perfect food don't always have the most entertaining parties. Given a choice, I'd drop into whatever vernacular boosted the forum best.

This thread strikes me as rather self-conscious.

Louise311 · Joined: 27 Aug 2008 Posts: 5

Totally agree I have always hated ready anything which is full of text speak or in capital letters.

makingmillions · Joined: 06 Sep 2008 Posts: 10

You are absolutely right. Proper spellings and grammar are an absolute must. It makes your write up more readable too. I would add a small tip. I have noticed several write ups, especially on forums, that hardly bother about the simple thing called "paragraph." Now, a paragraph is as important as grammar or spellings, and the paragraph is the most ignored of the lot. A paragraph helps the writer split his/her ideas into smaller chunks of matter, which makes his/her article more digestible for the reader. I hope this little paragraph of mine helps those eager to make a living with their writing skills.