Guidelines Forum Boosters Should Live By

admin · Site Admin Joined: 31 Dec 1969 Posts: 250

A great thread I found over at www.adminfusion.com

ljcrowefamily · Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 25 Location: Michigan, USA

Although this is an "I agree" post, I wholeheartedly do. I cannot stress the merit of using full words and proper grammar in posts. Personally, I am very turned off if I enter a new board where there are a lot of acronyms and short form words that make no sense to me. It's enough to make me not come back.

I feel strongly that if you use a shortened term you should place parenthesis and explain at least once. This is especially prudent where laypeople may come in or new users (not everyone is technology saavy).

I remember struggling with trying to figure out what DH meant in one writer's forum. I had no reference for it, although it seemed to appear in every other post. Then someone put a nice jot about their DH (dear hubby) and it made sense. However, as I was approaching the forum as a writer, not a spouse, it was very confusing. I had no problem asking what a DH was, but many others can be afraid to ask so miss the whole point of a post and lose interest in the forum.

- Lauri Jean

pea · Joined: 22 Aug 2006 Posts: 11 Location: Chicago

As a high school English teacher, I completely agree with these guidelines. I try to get across to my students how important it is to follow the conventions of writing. People judge you on more than what you say; you are also judged by how you say it.

gsnarayanan · Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 10 Location: Chennai, India

Djinn · Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Posts: 12

I am a closet grammer nazi and it gives me great pleasure to see this.

karatekid015 · Joined: 12 Nov 2006 Posts: 6

Personally as a trained this is a great post. It is very good requirments that every booster should follow. I thank who ever wrote that post. Everybody really needs to read this topic as it is so important.

phoenyxstarr · Joined: 14 Nov 2006 Posts: 14 Location: USA

I just saw this but I must say I agree with it and have always agreed with it, because I will read over each of my posts before submitting to make sure they have proper grammar and capitalization. I am guilty of using a little bit of internet slang, usually 'kinda' or 'intro', but I usually steer clear of the 'ur' and 'u' because it is so annoying. I don't even use those in chat rooms or anything. I think the reason I'm so uptight about proper writing is because of my college professor, whenever we did a paper for him automatically you had 50 pts for grammar and 50 points for content. I know several people who ended up with negative scores because they made so many grammar mistakes. I never wanted to be one of those people, so I was and am very careful with my writing and if something doesn't make sense, I will go over it and rewrite it until it does make sense.
_________________

ladykuri · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 12

Honestly, I have found that I can no longer stomach forums full of "leet speak" and text message style abbreviations. Perhaps I am just getting old, but it gets tiresome. Another point that many people seem to miss is that a signature should be tastefull, quiet and something that others can tolerate seeing repeatedly in a thread. To me there is nothing more annoying than having to scroll past half a page of blinking, flashing useless signature at the end of a person's post. It looks quite inconsiderate and immature.

As a parent, I find myself more and more frustrated with the general breakdown of the English language that seems to be an unfortunate side effect of online communication. I work very dilligently at teaching my daughters proper English, both spoken and written (well, in so much as the youngest can write, she's only 5). I feel this will give them a great advantage over many of their peers as they enter the job market and the world of college applications.

tobwrite · Joined: 30 Nov 2006 Posts: 6

If it is my job then I shall do as asked. On a personal note, I love e.e. cummings. I feel that cummings set free the artist in me. Sometimes words are a form of art not meant to inform but meant for interpertation.

..Cameron.. · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 3

I know that this could be classified as an 'I agree' post Razz

, but I think it sets some good standards. Many people on the internet today fail to abide by the most common of grammatical rules. Misspelling words can be easily prevented by using spell checkers - Firefox has spell check as a standard feature.

HardworkinMom · Joined: 27 May 2007 Posts: 17

In my country sending of SMS or text-messaging is very rampant. I really do not like it when people do txt-speak especially since sometimes my interpretation is not the same. One does not save on the sending fee even if one has abbreviated everything. I have my dictionary activated on my cellphone. That way, I almost always send messages that people will not have problems reading and understanding.

In the same way.... I am having major problems with other posters who post like they are sending an SMS. I always appreciate good grammar more than good diction. I am not saying that my grammar is perfect but I do my best to always try to stick to the rules.

kyleira · Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 14

The funny thing is, that everyone does agree to the rules of this forum. After all they are great rules especially for people who expect to be paid for their posting efforts.

However since most forums are not created for our purpose but more for people to come in and be themselves, you have to look at the fact that not everyone posting is not posting for pay.

People are human! Not being perfect or speaking the same way that everyone else speaks, is life. So expect to find errors and slang used in forums, because the intent is to make it a community for everyone not just for people being paid to be there. Remember not to tell anyone that you are being paid and live up to the expectations of this posting service.

Provide good relevant content to the forums and be as positive as you can, because negative comments are what turns other people away. The whole point of this is to help entice others to come in and join the forum.

Stormhawk · Joined: 17 Oct 2007 Posts: 11

This is another "I agree" post, though I promise it's more than a half-hearted reply.

People who gut the English language make me ill - it all began as a way to save money (120-125 character limit on text messages), but it has evolved into a language. "L33t sp34k" is a little different, as it was meant to keep people from immediately recognising what the words were saying, but now "everyone" expects society to speak in truncated words and sentences.

A cryogenically frozen person from even a hundred years ago would go insane, wondering why people would choose to say "lol" rather than just laugh. The meaning is lost even further on a forum, was it a sarcastic "lol" or a serious one? A quickly typed sentence about a reaction is far more human than three letters, which without context, mean very little.

FireOnIce© · Joined: 14 Nov 2007 Posts: 7 Location: Philippines

silver_song642 · Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 5

Yep, I have to say that I agree with these rules too. I also agree though that these requirements should be meant for only paid posters. It's already been mentioned in previous posts that people are human, and your likely to come across others who don't understand the English language as well. You really must give those sorts a break unless their way of posting just isn't acceptable.

faithhopelove20 · Joined: 19 Mar 2008 Posts: 8

momma246 · Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 6

BartsDiamond · Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Posts: 15

Sometimes I think that certain sites allow for certain ways of speaking. Some sites want and allow people to have abbreviations and slang because of the audience that they are seeking. I know another forum that I am apart of likes for us to use terms relevant to the site, but then again that is just one of many forums. To each his own. Laughing

sapphire1112 · Joined: 25 Apr 2008 Posts: 5

lalini26 · Joined: 08 May 2008 Posts: 3

I was starting to feel like an "old fogey" for using proper grammar and punctuation when posting to forums. It makes me very happy to know there are so many others who aren't offended by having rules to follow.