Do grammar and spelling matter on a message board?

Does grammar/spelling matter in posts?

  • No

    Votes: 12 7.9%
  • Spelling does, grammar doesn't

    Votes: 4 2.6%
  • Spelling doesn't, grammar does

    Votes: 4 2.6%
  • Both matter

    Votes: 123 81.5%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 8 5.3%

Seinfeld references aside, there is a difference between professional and informal writing, and it applies to message boards, which are the new form of the "Water Cooler" in the Twenty-First Century.

Are you 100% grammatically and politically correct when socializing with friends? Most people I know are not - partially because of the informality, but also to drive a point home.

When I use "ain't" or "this is not problem" (instead of "not a problem") or "wanna" (instead of "want to") on a message board, I am trying to convey a feeling of casual behavior and a sense of who I am. Coincidentally, because I am not the best typist in the world, spelling mistakes occasionally slip through. Sometimes the two mingle in such a way that some posters cannot distinguish between the two. But as I said earlier, poor spelling and grammar, as long as they do not create barriers, are not a large problem. In the list of "major problems for a message board," this issue does not rank very highly.
 

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(shrug) I don't think I asked to be attacked for my opinion on this thread, nor did I fire an opening salvo against anyone in particular who didn't agree with me.

If I skip over messages that require more than five minutes of deciphering, why should that anger anyone here? Sheesh. What a bunch of anti-grammar Nazis.

(And I mean "Nazis" in a good way -- the kind with long furry ears, soft cotton tail, whiskers, hopping around fields of daisies...)
 

Actually, making comments designed to hit a nerve, like

BVB said:
If I'm not interested in reading someone's message, then it's his fault for not working hard enough to earn my attention.

and then asking in a snarky way, "Hit a nerve, eh?"

does in fact constitute a plea to be attacked.

So your needs were obliged.

Umbran said:
Hm. Sorry, Tom, but where I come from the term "grammar-Nazi" doesn't invoke Godwin's Law, because it's not a serious reference to Nazis.

What exactly does "Nazi" mean in Boston?
 

OK, let's get overt --

Let's agree to disagree on this one, can we? No one needs to be attacking one another over something like grammar on a message board.
 


Henry said:
Let's agree to disagree on this one, can we?

"...on this one, shall we?" :D

Only kidding, Henry! I'd hate to do anything that would offend Eric's grammar, and she hates idiosyncratic nitpicking.
 
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