[POLL] Do misspelled words and blatant grammatical errors make you take a post less seriously?

killion81

I have noticed that when reading a thread, I'll come across a post that has several misspelled words, a commonly misspelled word (that is not difficult to spell) or very poor presentation through lack of punctuation, paragraphs and grammar.  I generally don't mention this but it definitely makes me take the poster's opinions less seriously.  I understand that not everyone speaks English as a first language and there are different levels of education that people obtain.  I also understand that an automatic dismissal of an opinion due to poor spelling or grammar could be considered shallow to some degree, but I honestly can't help it.  It's a subconscious thing.  I'm simply not going to have as favorable of a response to a post with spelling and grammar errors as one that is well spoken and spelled correctly.  I'm curious if other people feel the same way, or are they more forgiving than I am?

 

I'm not claiming to never have brain slips myself.  I imagine it happens to everyone now and then, particularly when it's early and not enough coffee has been consumed. :P  Also, typos happen to the best writers in the world and I don't hold those against anyone (unless it's in a professional or graded document that should have been proofread until it was perfect).

 

Aelfinn

Depends on the context, but generally yes. Someone that can't be bothered to present their thoughts in a clear fashion often has little of note to say.

Cleffy

Affect - Act upon.

Effect - Result of an action.

They're - Tell the action of a group of people.

Their - Tell what a group of people possess.

There - A location.

AkaJetson

If there's an argument on a topic I know nothing about and one person in the argument is constantly making bad spelling and gramattical errors then I will assume he is in the wrong.

frodus

Posting on a wed site anonymously,compounding the fact that vary few actually visit it in the big picture of things ...I could care less..falls into the pride emotion category.

Yeah spelling NAZIS always crack me up..As if I'm writing my final for my professor..

You never for know if its on purpose tho.

Cyberspaceballs.

 

But here's a pic of a dog

Barrikor

If a person cares about what they're posting then they'll proofread their post.

There's a small dev forum that I follow; half of the regular posters on that forum speak English as their second language. The surprising thing is that folks who don't come from an English-speaking background tend to write posts that are very easy to understand --- They put effort into making sure that people can understand them; born English-speakers often get lazy and take it for granted that everyone can understand what they are trying to say.

(Of course spelling words wrong on a web development forum gives away the fact that your web browser doesn't have spell-check, which could get you burned at the stake for being an Internet Explorer user...)

On the other hand, if there's only a typo here-and-there, or just a common mistake, then it's best to overlook the mistake and instead focus on the content of the message. I hate it when a grammar nazi starts hijacking a forum thread just to point out someone else's mistakes without contributing to the actual conversation.

(All IMHO of course. Other folks might view things somewhat differently than I do)