Guidelines Forum Boosters Should Live By

wanderer · Joined: 27 May 2008 Posts: 5

I personally refuse to feel like an old fogey (even if I am one) for sticking to the set rules of grammar, punctuation and general proper English. I think that when a post is well written it carries more weight than if it is poorly written. Sloppy writing is distracting, whether it is acronyms I don't know or poor punctuation. And the regular posters to a forum may know what a certain acronym may mean, but what if I'm a newbie trying to learn about something new?

So stand firm ye upholders of proper English and fight the good fight - or at least write the good post.

indian_rep · Joined: 16 Jun 2008 Posts: 29

I should agree to these terms to become a booster. And not only for that, But I also agree that these terms should be followed to keep a forum far away from an untidy forum.

But still, I think, it may look very professional to type in this manner which may confuse other original members about who are we. Very Happy

Just a thought. I still, agree with all these Smile

SicFounder · Joined: 16 Jun 2008 Posts: 5

I always use proper grammar and punctuation. Never really liked using 'u' instead of 'you'. I agree with these guidelines, and when I get information from another website, I always leave a link to the source. And rather than copy & paste, I just use quotes.

josephine · Joined: 22 Jun 2008 Posts: 5

These guidelines seem fair and they make sense as long as we don't forget to have a little fun from once in a while (yes, in writing). By this I also mean being tolerant and relaxed about posting to no matter what topic. This shows that we're human and adds authenticity to our efforts.

nata · Joined: 02 Jul 2008 Posts: 9

Nice tips. Fortunately, a lot of forums now have a spell checker so you can correct your spelling before submitting your posts.

One other tip you should add on the list is

"Stay on topic"

It is annoying when you see posters making very irrelevant comments just to increase their post count

larycrews · Joined: 07 Jul 2008 Posts: 2

I can't help using proper grammar, correctly-spelled words and no slang. I have been a professional writer/editor/proofreader for 18 years.

Lary in LA

trader1499 · Joined: 09 Jul 2008 Posts: 26

I think I can follow these rules Cool

I was starting to miss the English language in some of the forums I frequent.

John

BeenThereDoneThat · Joined: 14 Jul 2008 Posts: 8

I have to laugh because I am the grammar stickler in our home. My kids can't believe I insist on using proper spelling & punctuation and that I won't reply to a text they send me if it is not written properly. I've never been a fan of IMing because I am such a perfectionist in my writing that it takes me way too long to reply to an IM Smile

nanofreak · Joined: 21 Jul 2008 Posts: 5

Both thumbs up for whoever created that list as it fits perfectly with my own usual habit. It is frustrating to see people just keep blabing their mouth (or rather their fingers) with mispelled word or unproper grammar. I personally find it quite irritating at times when you're trying to have a educated discussion on a topic and a good-for-nothing spammer appear and start blurting out his so-called "comments" (which I would rather consider as hollow sentences) that makes absolutely no sense in conventional English.

buddys · Joined: 27 Jul 2008 Posts: 12

WOW! I'm so glad I'm not by myself. If my granddaughter sends me a text message, I spend more time trying to decipher it than if she had just called me and said what she needed to say!

Here's to the old fogey's of the English language!

pearlofafrika · Joined: 02 Aug 2008 Posts: 7

"Whitespace makes posts readable."

Yes! This is like my new motto. I hate when posts are all wordy, with no breathing room. Laughing

cheeeryl · Joined: 05 Sep 2008 Posts: 13

I understand why we need to be careful with spelling, punctuation, capitalization of letters, etc. We, of course, should set standards or guidelines to our posts because they will reflect the quality of writers that ForumBooster has.

marixo · Joined: 20 Oct 2008 Posts: 5

I love the guidelines. They should be required of every existing forum on the Internet.

I don't think I could take anyone seriously that would write consistently in online "slang". It wreaks of laziness.

sayantan04 · Joined: 04 Nov 2008 Posts: 33

You know when you are someone born and brought up in India, and in a English medium school,its quite easy for you to be grammatically correct.For me I never had any grammatical problems or any spoken English problems,but the problem that I had was I could never stand someone speaking improper English in front of me.When I came to such forums and was knew to social networking,I had problems adjusting with such forms as "cuz"(because),"tc"(take care),"wassup"(what's up?) etc.But some rules like this are quite necessary in the sense that they destroy the habit of a person to speak proper and complete English.

peachy · Joined: 22 Nov 2008 Posts: 5

This is an excellent post on basic guidelines for posting.

Sadly, many posters are unaware of basic netiquette and don't realize that a post in all capital letters is the equivalent to screaming at someone you are having a conversation with.

These same people are often the ones who don't realize that including no punctuation is the equivalent to never taking a breath when speaking to someone.

Screamers who never take a breath can easily put people off. Wink

Cathy couey · Joined: 24 Nov 2008 Posts: 5

Personally speaking, I would think that people would do these things automatically since they are being paid for a job.

Sometimes it just irritates me that people do not think enough of themselves or their employers to put in their absolute best effort.

I do not understand the lack of quality work everywhere. Maybe someone could give me some insight as to why the work ethic of so many has declined so far.

As far as the list of rules goes, it is an excellent list and well thought out.
Thank you for sharing it with us.

Demonkunga · Joined: 25 Nov 2008 Posts: 5

I agree. Proper spelling, grammar, punctuation and everything is very important when on a forum such as this one. One reason it is so important is because when you write/type you can't display emotion. So you need to be are careful as you can be when writing/typing.

People judge you on the internet by how you type. I know I do. Razz

livelifefully · Joined: 02 Dec 2008 Posts: 7

Hooray, to the proper grammar , appreviations and correct spelling part of the rules! Why is this a pet peeve to so many people?

I think it's because some of us don't understand the appreviations! My kids drive me crazy when they text or send me messages on myspace and I spend an hour trying to figure out the puzzle. (ie TTYL, BRB) I'm learning but it can be frustrating at times. Confused

It can say alot about someone when they can't take the time to use a dictionary. I've thrown piles and piles of resumes in the trash with spelling errors. Frustrating!