I am writing to let you know that I will be glad to write your questions to the MRR forums. Though I am no literary giant, unlike you I manage to post without getting shot down for my spelling.
By the way thank you for quitting school at age 13 in 1935 to run the family farm along with uncle Bill because your dad could no longer do it, because of the wounds he suffered in WW1. And at 17 going over to Europe to WW2 in 1939. Not seeing your home or family for seven years until 1946.Then right back to work on the farm for post war crop transition.
Not being able to read or write well did not steal your courage to go ashore on Juno beach on D-day, but it does take away your wanting to participate on these forums. The shots fired by some for your spelling issues scare you more than those bullets and bombs did.
By the way Aidans friend has dyslexia so bad he cannot even play video games never mine go on a video game forum. You most certainly won’t see him on the MRR forum even though he has a keen interest in my layout. His dyslexia doesn’t effect his enjoyment running my trains. It most certainly will curtail any interaction with fellow modelers. And we say kids can be so cruel.
At 88 enjoy your layout and next time your VCR flashes 12:00 I’ll be right over to fix it.
Brent, cudos to Uncle Al, i have the utmost respect for anyone that put their life in the line in defense of freedom.
Just because a person can’t read the NY Times or write like a world class poet, doesn’t mean they don’t have something valuable to say. yes sometimes people get petty with how others use words or the spellings and we ALL need to remember that the forum goes around the world and not everyone has English as a primary language. there is a spell checker that can be downloaded and used with the forum and everyone should use it.
as for Aidan’s friend with dyslexia, i for one would not have a problem talking to him/her, it may take a few questions to understand whats needed but thats OK. anyone that wants to find out what its like trying to understand something just needs to read the Assembly instructions on a table make overseas.
best of luck Brent and to Uncle Al, you have the High Ball Sir.
Many young men and women gave up educations to keep families togather during the depression and WWII and we all owe them a deep debt of gratitude… Some were able to get back and continue their educations, others, as your uncle were not. You are truely saying thank you to him by helping, whether it be putting his questions on the forums or retiming his VCR. I hope he and all in his situation can continue to enjoy their layouts or other hobbies for many more years regardless what a few callus people say.
Also, those with disabilities should be complemented for what they can do, not critised for the quality of their work. If they contribute to a layout, their work should be given a place, much as a grandchilds work should. It may not be perfect, but they have given it their best, as we all should.
I salute all the veterans and those that struggle to keep up what they have. Those of us born without the silver spoon will always be great full for what has been sacrificed. To those that are mean spirited and can not be bothered with the elderly or disabled will some day realize their errs.
I, too, salute you sir. For you to done the things you did in those times out of a deeper connection to humanity, dignity, and struggle with those who would be stone hearted. Thank you from our family—
I think it’s a very good and honest way of saying that not every poster on this forum has a command of grammar or spelling, but has a right to post and either ask for, or share information about the hobby. And that we, as fellow posters–who HAVE a command of grammar and spelling–should read and and either answer the posts to share information if we can help, or not answer the posts if we do not have the information that can help the original poster. Not come down on the poster because their grammar or spelling isn’t up to our supposed standards.
We are NOT a Forum of Grammar or Composition Instructors, we’re a group of people who have a common interest and love–Model Railroading.
There was an interesting article some years back by a professor at Yale–I believe–who composed a paragraph in which only the first and last letters were properly spelled. Every ‘middle’ portion of each word was mis-spelled. Yet, as he proved, the words were totally understandable because the FIRST and LAST letter of the words were correct. He proved that the average reader does not ‘read’ as much as they ‘skim’ over the writing.
If a person on this Forum does not have correct grammar or spellling but can get their point across and I can help them, I do. Or at least try. If I can’t help them with their particular problem, I just go on to another thread. I don’t denigrate them for their ‘perceived’ lack of education. For all I know, they may have a model railroad empire the equal of the late John Allen, for crying out loud.
English is an EXTREMELY hard language to master, even for those of us to whom the language is supposed to be “Native.” It
Thank you all for the kind words you posted about my hero. It has been a while since his stint on the forum. I think it lasted all of three post until his public undressing by someone because of his spelling. I wrote the letter to him as a way to vent after reading a response to a posters question. It started by reviewing the posters spelling mistakes and incorrect wording. I am not sure if my uncle will see this or not, but I’m sure I’ll find out if he does.
Every time someone post with spelling errors or poor sentence structure I make a special effort, and yes sometimes it is an effort to get through it. I have known many people with literacy problems and never was it because of laziness or the unwillingness to learn. It was always because of circumstance.
Next time you see someone taken to task over their spelling on this forum, note how many post they have and then see if the person comes back again. Like my uncle they probably will have very few post and not return. This doesn’t help our desire to expand interest in the hobby.
My sons eleven year old friend Richard has Dyslexia. It is just about as bad as it can be. He shows a very keen interest in trains and like I said earlier he doesn’t have to be able to read to enjoy running them. If he ever improves enough to venture on to a forum lets hope he is treated with kindness.
Like Ken, I was wondering about the meaning behind this thread - now I know. Thank you for your post!
It is about time, that we all exercise a little more respect and tolerance for those people, who suffer from an impairement in any form, bet it physical or mental, and that we send out signals, that they are welcomed in this forum. We also should invite differing opinions, providing they are voiced in an orderly and polite manner.
I have to admit, that there were times when I thought about not participating in this forum any more, following some comments I received to my contributions. Not only were they rude, but they showed a high degree of disrespect for those, whose native language is not English.
With a little more respect, the world would be a better place!
I agree we should be more considerate of others since we have no idea what disabilities the person has sitting behind the keyboard…I know with the limited use of my right hand my modeling as suffered especially brush painting structures-a thing I love to do…
There is in any anonymous mode of communication–be it amateur radio, CB, or here–this assumption that we all are essentially the same.
This assumption can create issues if we do not pay attention to the nuances thereof. We need to think OTHER than thinking that we can bounce on everyone who misspells a word, or does a grammatical error. We need to think “do I want to be attacked for something like this?”. If we did this more we may have more people INCLUDED in this forum.
This is a strong point here
Eric, A disabled child that a few neighbours and I are helping in building a layout for --has CP. It is enough of an issue that certain physical movements are problematic. He tries to make structures–to his level of ability. We may have to fix them up but he is happy doing this. He also has speech issues–it does take effort for him to get what he wants to say out. One has to learn how to communicate in this scenario. I’m going to get him on a forum eventually–we need to get him a computer first–I just hope that when he does make his first forays he’s not blasted off by the spelling and grammar police
It does my heart good to see a thread like this with so many positive comments about tolerance and respect for others, disabled or not. Being the father of an autistic teenager, I know full well the cruelty and flat out ignorance of people. I’ve also witnessed amazing compassion and understanding from people. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our moderators for doing a very commendable job on this forum and keeping it civil and giving folks an elbow in the ribs when they need it.
The author of that post definitely was informed that what he posted was inappropriate, although a little late due to a mixup. Singling out a member for correction of defects or deficiencies in their posts amounts to harassment, and that is intolerable. If anyone has a problem with what another person posts, either contact that person privately and offer to help, or at least to understand more about that person, or file a report of abuse using the appropriate link afforded in the margin of each post.
Let the moderators decide if you feel that what any one of us (yes, us…mods and regular members alike…) post needs some rethinking. Let’s not embarrass a person on the basis of what they post when it is not truly offensive, but maybe just hard to understand.
I’m saddened to hear that your education was cut short due to family issues. Life sure does have a way of altering “what could have been”. Your service for this country, as admirable as it is, was for naught. Our society, crying for equality and respect for our fellow man, still manages to oppress and segregate its members. The freedom that you fought to preserve is still taken away when the powers that be decide a message needs to be sent to the general public. Nobody really cares so long as their “freedom” is not affected, a blind eye is turned and all is well.
Thankfully there are some good resources that are available to anyone with an education level equal to