I was just wondering how many members agree with me if I say that there should be a small guide to Forum Etiquette floating about here, since I have spoken to several long time members who all seems to agree the same thing:
There has been a sudden wave of members who either type completely in upper case or completely in lower case, who abbreviate their posts to txt-speak, or who do not use punctuation.
I do realise that it is easier to type this way for a lot of today's youth, but as far as I know the forum used to pride itself on using othodox spelling and punctuation as a form of communication. Others may not quite feel as strongly as I do about it, but this new form of what i see as 'lazy' typing seems almost aggressive and rude. I know this is not the intention but...you see what I'm getting at
What do other's think?
"The alarm, Master! The opposition's tracked them! Oh good grief...look - Lord Fear's frozen Christopher!"
Well I've always used orthodox spelling & punctuation as it's the way I work. Whether or not other people do isn't always something I notice. Still I think you have a very good point in members who intentionally avoid using orthodox methods.
For the future of the English language's sake, please!
Text speak is something that gets right under my nose (well, not litreally, but it ticks me off). You'll only catch me doing it if I'm in grave peril, I'm running out of space on a message, or I'm being secretly ironic.
I don't hold anything against the people who've been 'lazy typing' (knice phrase, incidentally), because of the abscence of any guidelines, but a small, simple list would be welcome. And made a sticky post.
Otherwise I
may as
well
right like
rubish
like i am doin write now
I agree text speak should be avoided in the forum. Just because some chatrooms have a sign saying "Please leave your English and gammar at the door" doesn't mean that this message board has a sign.
I agree that forum etiquette is important, and is often conspicuous by its absence. I've not been a regular forum/chatroom user for all that long, in the great scheme of things; and I tend to follow the proverb 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do'. In other words, I take the tone and etiquette level of the majority of users to be best practice, and follow it in how I express myself. Most people on this forum are polite and articulate, so I think that the 'when in Rome' approach is one that works round here.
The only difficulty with setting etiquette guidelines would be how stringently to enforce them. I value good spelling as much as I value good etiquette, though not everyone would agree with that. And sadly, a pedantic approach often creates a less pleasant ambience than ignoring the problem. Users may end up feeling that their individuality is constrained.
I suggest that the Moderation team does what it's probably planning to do anyway: takes note of the opinions building up in this thread, and assesses the 'scope of the problem', before deciding on any action.
I think that this is something that is going to have to be looked at very carefully indeed. What is the difference between a rule of etiquette and a pedantic constraint?
I don't really mind the manner in which KM forum users post, even though 'text speak' does irritate me. As long as users are courteous and friendly, they are very welcome.
Having said that, when posts are reasonably well-spelt and grammatically correct they are much easier to understand and more pleasurable to read, so it's always good to make an effort.
Wills Of Doom wrote:
I don't really mind the manner in which KM forum users post, even though 'text speak' does irritate me. As long as users are courteous and friendly, they are very welcome.
Having said that, when posts are reasonably well-spelt and grammatically correct they are much easier to understand and more pleasurable to read, so it's always good to make an effort.
I agree. There is sometimes a link between presentation and impoliteness, but not always. I am ok with the occasional shorthand abbreviation, or friendly 'lol' perhaps.
Excess text speaking, and deliberate grammar laziness is I agree sometimes a problem. The trouble is, identifying 'deliberate'. Spelling and grammar maybe a genuine problem for some users.
Last edited by 123Pooka on 18 Aug 2004, 20:49, edited 1 time in total.
The only way is onward, there is no turning back. Oooh nasty, didn't realise the road ended there!
