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Originally Posted by ShaniFaye
...but I have seen other people post on here with the same kind of problem and the only thing people can seem to say is...get spell checker, learn how to punctuate etc. Well let me mention that its not always that simple and I'll leave it at that.
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With the AOL chat rooms and IM's, the stupid abbreviations for common words... r, u, b4, etc., and the general lack of punctuation found in many people's writing styles, it is most likely that a healthy 80% - 90% of what is complained about is people whose spelling/grammar abilities are not impaired, but rather they are of the group who don't care if they spell correctly or use punctuation. They are used to informal chatting and IM'ing, and not making cohesive sentences about broad topics.
So, let's also bear in mind that some people simply never learned or couldn't learn how to spell properly, or do not use english as their primary language. Let's even break that down to 40% of the total "don't type/spell/puncuate" crowd. Hell, I'd even go 50%.
The problem with assuming people are insensitive is that you have no idea how few people know what the hell dyslexia is, how it affects the mind, and how it can affect a person's ability to type coherently. Even assuming that 30% of the total of the "garbled" posts are from dyslexics, it is very likely that a solid 80 or 90% of those posting "how about some punctuation, grammar, or spell check" HAVE NO CLUE WHAT DYSLEXIA IS. Those who DO know what it is may not know it even manifests itself in the typing of a persn with it. Of those that do, which is an even
smaller number, are likely not complaing about the way the post is written.
The problem is people don't know, and the cause of the "bad grammar/punctuation/spelling" is WAY more often than not the chat people who don't care how they type, or people who don't do english all that well to begin with, foreign to the US or not. I understand that there are many, many people with dyslexia... but the patterns we see are overhwlemingly that of the "chat room" people.
Now, as a Mod...
MOD NOTE: **IF YOU THINK THERE IS A MAJOR DISSERVICE BEING DONE TO THE BOARD BY A PERSON WITH HORRIBLE SPELLING/GRAMMAR/PUNCUATION, STOP AND THINK A MOMENT. WE ARE AN INTERNATIONAL BOARD WITH PEOPLE FROM MANY PLACES WHO MAY NOT DO ENGLISH AS WELL AS YOU DO. WE HAVE PEOPLE WITH ISSUES THAT MAKE POSTING DIFFICULT OR NEAR IMPOSSIBLE... BUT THEY MAY BE TRYING ANYWAY.
PLEASE BEAR ALL THAT IN MIND- AND IF YOU MUST GRIPE, GRIPE TO A MOD BY REPORTING IT- DO NOT HAVE OUT YOUR PERSONAL ENGLISH LESSONS ON THE BOARDS.
THANK YOU.
- analog.