Do typos and bad grammar bug you as a reader?

Spillthebeans · Dec 2, 2007

This question isn't specifically about writing so hopefully it belongs here.
With the rise of the Internet, it seems like everyone and their pet is putting up content for the world to see. Since, like a lot of people, I have limited time, I try to filter out much of what's out there. If I read a blog or article on-line and it's filled with spelling mistakes and bad grammar or AOL-speak, I usually don't finish reading. For forums or e-mails, I'm a little more forgiving since they are usually shorter.
So do other people have little patience for badly written material? Do you stay away from badly written blogs? Do you stop reading forem threds if tehy bceome a typo?

SpookyWriter · Dec 2, 2007

Spillthebeans said:
This question isn't specifically about writing so hopefully it belongs here.
With the rise of the Internet, it seems like everyone and their pet is putting up content for the world to see. Since, like a lot of people, (The comma is unnecesary since you already have included yourself in the inference) I have limited time, and so (conjunction) I try to filter out much of what's out there. If I read a blog or article on-line and it's filled with spelling mistakes and bad grammar or AOL-speak, I usually don't finish reading. For (Never start with a preposition) forums or e-mails, I'm a little more forgiving since they are usually shorter.
So do other people have little patience for badly written material? Do you stay away from badly written blogs? Do you stop reading ~~forem~~ forum ~~threds~~ threads if ~~tehy~~ they ~~bceome~~ become a typo?

I so agree.

Magdalen · Dec 2, 2007

I was a proofreader for 10 years. I can tolerate a typo in the heat of a real-time exchange of thoughts. But not in a (presumedly) edited publication. I am at once annoyed and amused by typos, especially in a book for which I've just paid $10

Spillthebeans · Dec 2, 2007

SpookyWriter said:
I so agree.

didn't you get the joke at the end? but thanks for the corrections.

SpookyWriter · Dec 2, 2007

Spillthebeans said:
didn't you get the joke at the end? but thanks for the corrections.

Sure I did. But what about the rest.

Spillthebeans · Dec 2, 2007

SpookyWriter said:
Sure I did. But what about the rest.

eh, forum.

SpookyWriter · Dec 2, 2007

Yeah, you keep telling 'em about does forems. Yuk yuk yik.

SpookyWriter · Dec 2, 2007

P.S. Welcome to Absolute Write. We can speel and cheet at kards. Enjoy yous stay.

joetrain · Dec 2, 2007

since it seemed you weren't referencing any kind of literary, systematic deviations, i put always, meaning i always notice (if the infraction is obvious enough for my degree of interest) and am a little jarred. if they are legion, i stop reading.

SpookyWriter · Dec 2, 2007

Now you're a poet?

Magdalen · Dec 2, 2007

I've always been a poet. I just got paid to correct other people's mistakes for a few years.

sassandgroove · Dec 2, 2007

I have never claimed to be perfect in my own, but I do notice.

It usually doesn't bother me here, or in quick emails.

It does bother me in the newspaper, magazines, and business correspondence. It even bothers me on our internal database. Our sales reps make notes on the contacts, leads and clients in the database. If I am in the database making updates or adding notes and notice a typo or error I correct it, even though there are only a few people in my office.

We once received a letter from a local school seeking donations. It was so bad I wanted to correct it and send it back asking them how they expected us to support them if the teachers weren't even educated enough to write a letter. I showed it to my boss, and she tore it up before I could.

Now I am paranoid Spooky or someone else will come along and find errors in this post.

RLB · Dec 2, 2007

joetrain said:
Last edited by joetrain : Today at 10:34 PM. Reason: since it's a grammatical error thread and all

MonaLeigh · Dec 2, 2007

Unfortunately it doesn't really bother me b/c I'm not good with grammar or punctuation. I am pretty good at spelling though. Thank god.

RLB · Dec 2, 2007

In forums, unless it's constant, I usually assume they're just typos. I'm way more critical of my own posting though. Today I noticed a subject and verb that do not agree in one of my recent posts, and it's taking all my willpower not to go back and edit.

joetrain · Dec 2, 2007

RLB said:

damn zealots.

Backward Masking · Dec 2, 2007

joetrain said:
damn zealots.

Damn zealots.

joetrain · Dec 2, 2007

joetrain said:
any kind of literary, systematic deviations,

with these i freely belabor readers.

here at least.

joetrain · Dec 2, 2007

zealot

Voyager · Dec 2, 2007

SpookyWriter said:
Sure I did. But what about the rest.

That's why 99% of Spooky's replies in forums are cryptic oneliners. He fears the red pen he himself wields.

Zelenka · Dec 3, 2007

In a forum I don't really bother (although I did laugh once on another forum, where someone told me my work was badly edited and ranted on about the terrors of badly edited prose, and spelled 'edited' wrong every time).

In published books it tends to jar me but it really bugs me at work for some reason when I see it in scripts.

scarletpeaches · Dec 3, 2007

Yes, always. It's a sign of lazy editing.

In forum posts...well, I don't like them but they're tolerable, unless they come from someone who consistently spells words incorrectly and murders the English language. We all post typos at times, but if it's constant, it looks lazy.

Maryn · Dec 3, 2007

For me, error-studded material is indefensible in print. Online, it depends on the context.

A place like IMDb's message boards, for instance, has people from all over the world posting about movies and more. I can forgive grievous errors made by someone for whom English is a second language. However, on its board for screenwriters, I'm far less forgiving. If you want to write for a living, you need to learn the basic mechanics.

I'm occasionally wryly amused by someone who is or claims to be a professional writer yet blogs or write summaries for their work at Amazon which are riddled with blatant mistakes. In between the lines, I read vanity press. I do not hesitate to announce that they paid to publish when they come to a forum pretending to have discovered their own brilliant book. (They could at least choose a user name totally unlike the author's name, for cryin' out loud.)

Maryn, stopping before she spins into full-out rant

The_Grand_Duchess · Dec 3, 2007

I call people on it in writing forums. If a blog is too filled with errors then I'll stop reading it. It amuses me when I catch a few in books.

Nakhlasmoke · Dec 3, 2007

Sometimes in forums one has to look past the spelling and grammar and see the content.

An edited book is a different thing altogether, and that does irritate me, even though I am aware that errors will invariably slip through.

Do typos and bad grammar bug you as a reader?

Do typos and bad grammer bug you as a reader?

Yes, always

Yes, sometimes

Yes, occasionally

No, never

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