I would drop the blog. If the writers cannot write well enough to catch the errors, how well can they express what they actually want to say? Something that stuck with me from college is this, “Writing is thought made manifest”. If their grammar and writing is unclear and confused, so will their concepts be.

I might try to leave a generalized comment that the grammar made it difficult to fully appreciate the point of view. But if you don’t say something they may never improve.

very nicely said, Glen. @glengorham @joanmuschampfagnani

As a no-longer-teaching English teacher, I ditto your thoughts exactly, Glen, and break out laughing at the same time.

You see, I’m having waaaaay too many Senior Moments lately, as well as finding that I’m a-needin’ my spectacles more and more when editing, lol!

For example, I type like a banshee racing toward prey most of the time and rely on my editing process to correct my brain blips that result. I’ve always taught students to NEVER stop in the middle of the writing process to FIX things.

Get the thoughts down on paper or screen as fast as possible without stopping your train of thought for anything. Worrying about fixing things should come much later when they edit — a totally different analytical thought process involved with different skills and actions required.

Soooooo… when I write in forums, this becomes a HUGE problem for me, for my intention is to get my thoughts across as quickly as possible and posted as quickly as possible, so I can go on with the next shiny thing my brain fancies. Especially here in SME’s Clubs, where even going back to edit your post when you DO see a mistake after you’ve already posted it will deduct points for even editing them.

A good example — my “fast-writing non-stopped brain” apparently thinks the homonyms “there, their, and they’re” are ALWAYS spelled “there,” while “you’re and your” blips out in varying spellings, but usually the wrong one.

So too, my “fast-writing non-stopped brain” blips out certain other homonyms with one spelling highly weighted over all others. It’s just something I’ve noticed, though I’m a great editor for catching such things and know to look for these words particularly when I edit something important.

However, when writing in forums, it slows me down to always have to go back and edit, so alas, I usually don’t. Embarrassing? You betcha. Do I care anymore? Nope, nada, zilch… I’m just too old to care anymore, lol, and have sooooo much more to do with my time. Sorry, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. So their! (See what I mean, tee hee)?

On the issue of recognizing misspellings in the first place, as opposed to brain-blipped transpositions, research shows 50% of people can spell and 50% can’t. This has always been my experience with students, so I NEVER graded for “spelling.” I DID, however, grade for editing or not editing misspelled words. So to me, when I read forums, I EXPECT to see at least half of all comments with lots of misspellings and I’m usually not disappointed.

The grammar issue? Well, now with so many international English speakers online joining in the conversation, I usually take the attitude that if I read a writer who has poor grammar, I just assume they’re from another country. That way I smile and think to myself, “So glad to see them practice their English.” It’s those who don’t practice who don’t improve, so I always encourage ALL attempts.

My experience, too, is that most people don’t have the courage to put their brilliant thoughts out there for others to ponder, simply because they’re too embarrassed about their lack of grammar and spelling skills.

Oh, pooey! I’d rather hear the hearts and minds of those who have the courage to dare express themselves, despite all their shortcomings.

The fact is that those who can afford to hire editors always hide their own grammatical shortcomings. I’ve made my entire living writing for brilliant people who can’t write, spell, or construct even one grammatically correct sentence. That’s why they hired me. And I can’t remember one single story or letter to the editor that I didn’t have to “fix” before publishing in my community newspaper.

So all those pithy, concise, and brilliant comments you always read in your community newspaper by local people are probably being written by those you would otherwise consider total idiots, if you based your opinion on their brilliance with their actual unedited grammar and spelling skills.

So bottom line — you can judge a book by its cover, but unless you read the book and heart and mind inside, you’ll never know the whole story.

Just my two cents that makes the inevitable online grammar/spelling assault a bit more tolerable to me.

Robin Carlisle

@joanmuschampfagnani @deairby @kristi-hines @glengorham

@atlantarobin you’ve brought up a number of interesting points to be sure. especially considering non-english speakers.

@joanmuschampfagnani

It really depends on the blog and the subject matter. If it is so bad I don’t know what they are trying to communicate, forget it.

I think this also varies on the readers educational level. People trained to write will see stuff I miss every time. In grad school, I would write, proof, write, proof, etc. I would have a few buddy’s read it and my wife.

It looked and read great.

I would get an “A”, but it had red ink all over it correcting grammar mistakes. I don’t think you can make everyone happy on that topic.

However, glaringly obvious stuff is an issue, especially with spelling. My wife will come into my office and ask, “what are you doing?” Oops, I already know there is an issue, now I have to wait for her answer. Ouch!

@atlantarobin

Robin, I am also a “no-longer-teaching English teacher.” As part of my job, I do a lot of editing and proofreading, so errors jump out at me. If I know the blogger personally and the error is a big one, I’ll usually email the blogger privately and let them know — if I had made the error, I would want to know!

I proofread my own posts multiple times, run a spell/grammar checker, and read them aloud to catch words I left out and to check for flow. I still make mistakes, of course. I found two in a post I published this week (I had written it late at night — big mistake).

What bothers me most is some of the “big-name bloggers” (NOT Social Media Examiner) who consistently misuse its/it’s. Come on, people, you learned the difference in third grade!

@laurachristianson I may have learned “its” and “it’s” in the third grade, but I still have trouble with them. 

I have to admit, after editing for legal documents and reports (I always look up the “it” issue) I tend to notice spelling and grammatical errors.   One or two are fairly easy to ignore but more than that and I find them very distracting and it is hard to focus on the topic at hand. 

@laurachristianson here is something I learned.  Affect is to Act.  Effect is the the consequence or result of an action. 

Affect: To consistantly misuse words. 

Effect:  I will not read your blog.

For blogging, no, I don’t worry about it. Typically, I find no matter how much effort I put into proofreading, I can return a month later and find 2-3 typos, misspellings, or other instances of substandard prose.

When I’m writing for professional publication, I have the time to shelve a submission for a week or two, whence I catch the obvious problems.

Hmm, I thought I might see some of this going on in this thread, a lot of stickler types, it is a good question. Yep.

I am amazed, and have been for some time, at the polarity between people who are grammar obsessed, and those who are basically deconstructing the English language as we speak, making it some kind of mess of things, a bunch of trash talk rubbish.

I am somewhere in the middle, I used to write for blogs and zines, and would use the exercise of ‘creative writing’ as a way to break away from convention, what is to be expected. Some stickler types would go in to read these with a grammar-obsessed mindset and simply could not appreciate the content at all, they literally couldn’t get past the first word. This is sad to me. missing the point.

On the other hand I am repelled by, and often make judgement, on people who use trashy, abbreviated, nonsense, words like ‘plz’ and ‘ur’ etc. Urgh.

Either way, it is an interesting thing our language, and an interesting discussion, I have definitely been known to make mistakes on my blogs, but I don’t get all worried or too stressed about it, this is a quick, high turnover, content-driven thing and I am more interested in the bigger picture so to speak.

*)

AB

It happens and no one is perfect. I won’t judge a person, their blog or content because they didn’t spell a few words correctly. If their content doesn’t match your taste or expectations, don’t read it. 

There are so many different types of blogs out there written in different styles and flavors and I don’t need to try and act like I am their teacher. We are all different and that is what makes us all so unique. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff.

I think that a few errors makes you look real because no one is perfect. I know that a few big time online marketing guys make mistakes on purpose, so it doesn’t look too polished and to see if people actually find the mistake. That tells them that they are reading their content at least to that point.

I love to write, and enjoy reading a well-written story/post/opinion. To me, it’s about the structure, pacing and flow of the writing first, with spelling and grammar being secondary. (Probably because I’m not the best at grammar so I’m going to give that a “compassion pass!”)

I have to say, I’m far more forgiving of errors in blog posts than I am in a published document…I figure the blogger is relying on spell check and maybe a spouse/assistant for editing, if there’s even anyone else awake when they’re writing. If an editor, fact checker and proofreader have had a go at a document, and there are still errors, I’m out….

Seriously? A thread on grammar? Woohoo!

I’ve been actively writing for almost 20 years, and my mother was an English teacher! I had a very structured (and very well-spoken) childhood. I don’t always get it right, but I always have Mom in case I get stuck. She doesn’t even charge that much!

Anywho… come on over and join in the hilarity!

http://writegooder.com/

I believe in educating through humor. Most mistakes are more common than you know. It happens. Why not make fun of it and just… move on! In fact, I believe the Internet is one of the greatest places to hone your grammar and overall writing skills. My case? I’m sure most of you are just SCOURING this post for any errors. Booyah! Bring it on!

We all make mistakes. It’s human nature. But if we just make light of it and help each other out, we can all become better speakers, writers, bloggers, etc. And in the end, we all become better communicators. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

Anyone here who needs something edited, or just a second set of eyes, just drop me a line. Always glad to help.

Have fun out there, and stay AWESOME!

Awesome Ted

Hi Ted.  @ted-uram

I perused your blog the other day when we were connecting here.  I liked it then and thought it quite funny.  You do gooder.

Eileen ;D

anyone wanna check out my blog post and see if it meets your standard in terms of grammar? http://www.unlockchiropractic.com

@Eileen Thanks! I appreciate the kind words. I feel I get carried away sometimes, but it’s just so much fun! Have a great weekend!

When it comes to spelling and grammar, I begin by looking is the overall goal of the blog.

For example, I regularly read a technical blog. This young man offers tips, guidelines, and news on blogging platforms, comment systems, and operating systems.

By presenting himself as an expert, the typos and grammatical errors (found in virtually every post) have a negative impact on his credibility. One is forced to wonder: If he can’t edit his writing or, at least, run a spell-checker, how sloppy is he with the ‘facts’ he’s presenting?

As a picker-of-nits, I edit the daylights out of what I write. Every now and then, especially when I work late at night, something may get by me. Hopefully, not too often.

Hate me or love me, I have to comment on this post.
My spelling sucks but I’m learning to improve on it. It’s been years sense I was in school and grammar was not my strong point, for that mater it was not a point at all. To this day I struggle with punctuation and grammar what is it? and how does it fit?. I dropped out in high school, I did go back for some up grading. I still didn’t learn punctuation or grammar.
When my kids where in grade school they could read better then me and they still can. I have learned the most by blogging and no I’m far from a pro but I’m getting better.
In a way you could say that this post sounds like, if your not perfect in English you should not post or blog. Yet this is finding a way out for many, which they may not have other wise.

My secret dream has always begin of becoming a famous author but this English thing stopped me for many years. Now I have come to a point where I don’t care what people think. I can get somebody to check my grammar and correct it if need be. To answer your question: yes it bothers me when people make spelling mistakes and they should use spell check as for the grammar (I may be braking the rules here) but there is a program that you can get to help with that too. I think it’s called grammarly and I think you can find it on http://www.grammarly.com if this is against the rules then I’m sorry but I feel you the reader should know.

I have tried it once and it’s not perfect either, it only high lites the sentence but not what you are trying to say. It’s still your own thought, computers can’t read minds yet.

This is just my thought on this post and it’s not meant to offend anybody.