Productive Discussions on the Internet

[Tait]

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.

[Tait, MSN, RN]

I agree in principle. However, I find it petty when someone responds to a well thought out post with "you spelled communicate wrong", or "wow, don't you believe in punctuation?".

Oh no, I completely agree. I just think people should not get too uptight when their point is lost because they don't take the time to write it carefully.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

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

Depends on the post. I spent hours putting together a 4 page Word document to tell everyone about the CPNE. I hope that it wasn't viewed as verbose.

I like well-written posts, as well. And yes, paragraphs, please!

[LydiaNN]

Depends on the post. I spent hours putting together a 4 page Word document to tell everyone about the CPNE. I hope that it wasn't viewed as verbose.

I like well-written posts, as well. And yes, paragraphs, please!

Long is fine, when long is what is required to make the point. I think we've all experienced discussions in which a single statement we've made is rebutted with multiple paragraphs, though.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

You know what drives me nuts? I hate it when someone rebuts a post one line at a time. They quote a post, then pick it apart, answering each line, point by point, essentially dissecting the post. They usually use another color for their responses.

That drives me batty.

[rnmomtobe2010]

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

Nothing more needs to be said!!!!! You said it best!!!!

[rnmomtobe2010]

Matthew 7:1 "Judge not, that ye may not be judged"!!!!!!!!!!!

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I hate when I submit typos, may it be here or computer charting, because I take my communication seriously. I sort of look at computer charting as responding to an email. I want for all parties to have a general idea what has occurred, because it is safer, and yes, it is taken more seriously.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I also hate when people use all capitals or even all small letters with no pronunciation when I read the notes on computer charts. I know that we are all guilty of some typos, for sure-we are human. I just try painstakingly not to, because the note represents ME. Or the other thing that annoys me...People Who Capitalize Every Word In A Sentence...it is confusing (and then, there are those that do it and have no punctuation marks)!! And, when there are no paragraphs, it makes me even more frustrated...

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

Matthew 7:1 "Judge not, that ye may not be judged"!!!!!!!!!!!

In my ever so humble opinion, that particular Bible verse is overused in order to make people feel guilty for having an opinion.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

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".

Hi everyone! Synonyms are words that have the same meaning.For example, happy and glad are synonyms. Homonyms are words that have different meanings but sound the same. An example of homonyms would be "to, too, and two."

Thank you for pointing that out. It's therapeutic for me to be humbled by my own mistakes. :redbeathe

[Jules A, MSN]

I agree. I ALSO HATE WHEN PEOPLE TYPE WITH THE CAPS LOCK ON. TURN IT OFF. I also dislike when people on this site have to correct others. If someone says HIPPA instead of HIPAA, heck I don't know which one is correct and I could care less but we all should really know what the person is talking about anyhow.

I agree except about the HIPAA thing it makes me nuts! I just think that as nurses we should know that but yes we do know what the person is talking about. :wink2:

[rnmomtobe2010]

In my ever so humble opinion, that particular Bible verse is overused in order to make people feel guilty for having an opinion.

In my humble opinion, "he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone"!!!!!