Productive Discussions on the Internet

[Tait, MSN, RN]

This is a response/opinion to the numerous posts in the "nurses vs doctors" thread pertaining to "spelling and grammar".

Does it matter?

From my personal standpoint I DO believe that spelling and grammar are important when posting.

When we argue/discuss/lecture etc in normal day to day life we have a luxury, the luxury of the non-verbal. You can sense emotion, poise, commitment and strength (or all the opposites) from a person when they are sitting right beside you. When you read an article that you find convincing or moving you often base it on how well it is written and how supported its arguments are.

When it comes to online forums/discussions I believe there is only one thing we have to confirm or deny our commitment, emotions, poise and strength over a non-verbal medium. That is our writing.

When people come to the forums with posts that are full of misspells/slangs/wall o' text and numerous grammatical errors, personally I will say I have a harder time taking anything they say seriously. That is just me.

I peruse several forum sites from nursing to video gaming, and across them all the rules are the same. Those who are eloquent are generally more responded to and respected. Even down to the 15 year olds playing World of Warcraft. Look back at the posters here and you will see many who take a few extra moments for paragraphs, spell checks and some of those who even document sources for their information and you will see they get a lot of positive feedback, even when their ideas go against the popular consensus.

Now is it fair to openly bash someone's ideas because they are poorly written? Not necessarily, but it is fair to assume (especially here where there are many,many well educated professionals) they are trolls, with no particular intent than to stir up drama.

There is also an exception for posters who do not have English as a primary language, and for that we can afford some leniency.

Just some thoughts from the Taitter mind this sunny Saturday afternoon.

[hypocaffeinemia, BSN, RN]

Hear, hear!

I can't even finish reading a paragraph let alone take anyone seriously when all rules to effective communication are thrown out the window.

[racing-mom4, BSN, RN]

Not to mention allnurses has spell check feature so when I do misspell something I see that lovely red line under the word!!!

I also like to see separate thoughts spaced out in paragraphs. Many times I have looked at a post only to see the immense size and ignored it because I cant read that much crammed together.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

I'm guilty on the spelling error front. I do appreciated a concise post. separated into paragraphs. I skip over overly verbose ones, and paragraphs are a must for readability.

One thing that makes me dismissive of a post is one that contains too much internet slang, such as 'u' instead of 'you'. That particular abbreviation makes me feel as if I'm speaking with a teenager.

[hypocaffeinemia, BSN, RN]

Firefox 2.0 and above (version 3 is in the end-stages of beta) also has a built-in and non-obtrusive spell checker.

[Tait, MSN, RN]

Firefox 2.0 and above (version 3 is in the end-stages of beta) also has a built-in and non-obtrusive spell checker.

Yeah I have this, love Firefox. Haven't tried beta but my fiancee seems to like it.

[MikeyJ, RN]

Totally agree with everything that has been said. If I click on a posting and it is one massive paragraph with no breaks, I refuse to read it. Furthermore, if someone writes with no punctuation, I again will not read it. If I cannot understand a posting the first time around due to poor grammar or because it is so broken up, I will not read it again.

There obviously must be some forgiveness given because this is an internet forum; however, if someone wants to be taken serious, they should try their best to appear that way.

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

I agree. No paragraphs and no punctuation, along with "text-message shorthand" make for difficult reading and I often just give up.

Mistakes do happen, and I'm not perfect either, but a little effort is appreciated.

[Jules A, MSN]

No one is perfect of course but I agree when it is littered with errors etc. it comes across to me as the OP didn't care enough to be articulate. On a nursing professional site I really don't get it. However, I have heard that "kids" now a days are even speaking in the text message shorthand stuff. Not that it makes it correct just that maybe it is the wave of the future, sigh.

P.S. how about the posts, well written or not, that are longer than my tattered copy of War and Peace?

[leslie :-D]

in the "nurses vs doctors" thread, it wasn't only the grammar/spelling i noticed, but the content itself.

i mean, who even gives a 2nd thought to who is smarter?

even if it was tongue-in-cheek, which some have proposed, it.just.seemed.so.juvenile.

and that scared me, especially if this poster was indeed a doctor.

never read overly verbose posts.

never.

in regards to spelling/grammar, yes it does bother me.

but we do have to distinguish between typos vs genuinely misspelled words.

as for those who don't know the difference between loose/lose, than/then, there/their, etc....

well, that too, is unfortunate.

oh.

and to/too.:)

leslie

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I'm very guilty of making errors, so I'm not very anal and don't cringe when someone else does. I didn't get 40,000 plus posts by stopping to proof every one. LOL

I do get bothered with text speak type of posts, people that use "u" instead of you, and "cuz" instead of because.

But like others, there are posts that I read and respond to and those that I don't. Content is more the deciding factor, but I do appreciate good communication skills.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

I am biased in that I see a person's writing ability as a measure of his or her intelligence. If a person's writing is full of errors, I do tend to view that person as less intelligent. The exceptions are, of course, for those for whom English is a second language, and for the occasional typo.

Because of this bias, I make an effort to overlook poor spelling and grammar and take in the content of what is being said. But, it is very difficult at times.

Some of my pet peeves are lack of punctuation, and incorrect synonyms, such as "they're, their, there", and "two, to, too". "Loose" instead of "lose" is not an error of synonym, but just a plain old spelling error (and yes, it bugs me). I also can't stand "would of" instead of "would have". Another one that bothers me is the misuse of "a" or "an". For instance, it's "an RN", not "a RN".

I know I'm guilty of misspelling, grammatical errors, and typos, and I'm not referring to the occasional error. The posts that are full of error after error are the ones that bother me.

I was just thinking about this last night. I was looking at our local personal ads just for fun. One woman seeking man ad was so poorly written, that I was thinking there wouldn't be a snowball's chance in heck that I would respond to that ad if I were a man, because I just could not see that person as an intelligent human being due to their poor writing ability.

Lest anyone label me a judgmental snob, please know that I am aware of my bias, and work to overcome it on a regular basis. I think I should be given credit for admitting to my bias, rather than criticism for having it.