A friend of mine joined this forum about two years ago but left after a few weeks because a few of our “High and Mighty” members made fun of his grammer abilities. My friend, a 70ish year old farmer with a grade 5 education felt that some of the people here were far to worried about typing and grammer skills then they were about model railroading. For all you “High and Mighty” members out there that think everybody should just bow down to you and fix, edit or whatever every post that has a grammer error in it then you guys really need to get a life. What if you don’t have the schooling to even realize you made a grammer error? Then what do you do? Are you “High and Mighty” members that think they are better then everybody else going to start teaching grammer now? The funniest thing is my friend is a multi millionaire, has a good family and is proud of his life. Sure he could go back to school but is it really worth it to him? I doubt it. Personally I’m fed up with you guys and you should really maybe start thinking about whats more important in your lives, having a wonderful hobby or picking on people with less grammer skills then you on a free forum on the internet.
Sadly, this topic always polarizes our forum into two groups. It’s too bad, too. What one person sometimes intends as a suggestion, will - unfortunately - get interpreted as a criticism by another. (I’m NOT singling anyone out here.)
Over the past 2+ years that I’ve been coming here to the forum, I’ve learned a number of things. One thing in particular is that we all share a common love and interest in MRRing, but we also come from a variety of backgrounds, upbringings, vocations and education. And that’s a good thing! [:)][tup] How boring would our hobby be if we all had PhDs from MIT?
With that in mind, I’ve learned to read through the posts that I am interested without focusing too much on the grammar or spelling - concentrating more on understanding what the person is attempting to say or convey on the topic at hand. Grammar and spelling errors I can usually figure out quite easily. Where it does get to be a challenge for me is when someone chooses not to use periods or commas. Sometimes I don’t know where one thought ends and another begins.
Now, I will freely admit that I am by no means perfect in my grammar, spelling, syntax, or punctuation…but I try. And many of you write much better and are able to express your thoughts much more succinctly than I to…but I try.
I think the operative word here is “try”. If someone makes a suggestion (or a criticism - however you want to interpret it), before you go into “defensive” mode, honestly ask yourself the following question(s):
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Is there any “kernel of truth” to what this person is saying? (If no, move on.)
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If yes, how should that affect, apply to, or change me as a communicator?
Having said that, I trust that you will aptly apply those points to the things that I have said above.
Tom
I think that, by now, it has all been said. The point of the originator is that some people should do a better job in composition. Composition is learned, and has a strong artistic component. Not all of us can do it well.
So, what? Seek clarification, which all people who purport to be good communicators ought to do, and then respond.
Criticism is cheap. You might as well criticize people for not buying the brand of locomotives that you like. Take that same energy and help the person to express him/herself. That would be the charitable thing to do. I know, I know…it’s way beyond some of us.
Ah politics too. The king of flipfloppers calling John Kerry a flipflopper was a masterpiece of deception in the last election.
Paul
I agree with Crandell. This topic has run it’s course and will only degrade from this point forward (or downward?). It’s time to move on…
Tom
Now wouldn’t that be nice if the new MR forum software offered an automatic spell checker feature.
My web based email offers a spell checker, I am sure that it is completely possible that some forum code could be written to include one too!
[sigh] The tone of the innitial post was a serious one , therefor I replied seriously and yes I do have a lack of a sense of humor when it comes to ridiculing others for their abilities, especially when it comes from an “I am better than you” attitude as yours did (or appeared to). If you had meant the post with humor, (which I am sure you didnt) then a smiley face or an ‘lol’ would have alerted the readers to this fact.
From reading the other replies within this thread it would appear that 99% of us are tolerant of others typos/spelling/grammer … as most of us know that none of us are perfect and can overlook the errors without starting judgemental BS threads complaining about it.
I will also point out that I actually said “back-paddling” NOT “back-packing”, so, it would appear that in addition to you being intolerant of others, your own inability to spell correctly or use a spell checker and your inaccurate grammer you also cannot read, even when the words are typed and spelled correctly.
Incidently, “back-paddling” signifies trying to back away from a situation you put yourself in and realise you really didnt want to be there, as you read it incorrectly I can only assume you dont know what it implied.
As has been noted quite rightly earlier in this thread, complaints about fallen membership are rife, and to throw in this type of obviously irrelevant(to 99% of us) and elitist thread simply serves to drive more people away.
Tired of the bull
Karl
You can answer by clearly and concisely stating your motives and making them known
The original poster clearly made a fool of himself and continued ad nauseam.
Yes, there are folks who are spelling-challenged. So what!! I don’t think Spelling is on the list of the Top 100 Quality Traits Of Mankind.
The only spelling that concerns me is how my name appears on the paycheck 
The word is backpeddeling which i probably misspelled, comes from what you did on a bike as a kid, also denotes that as much as you did, it it did not slow you down or take back what you did. Now a ? is what you wrote how they say it in the UK, see we have people from all over.
The word to which you refer is actually " backpedaling " but they both have the same significance, ie: trying to back out of a situation in which you put yourself, whether in a canoe or on a bicycle (incidently anybody with BMX experience or various other bikes will know that if you backpedal with a coaster-brake it will lock the back wheel pretty darned quick and stop you)
In answer to your question, yes that is one of the ways we say it in the UK, one of the more polite ways, and yes I know we have people here from all over which is one of my points and is why I object to people getting judgemental at others ‘written English’. This is a World Wide Web, with world wide participation in a public forum, so if some of the posts are not typographically correct, take a moment and consider that the person writing may not be using their first language, that they may not have had the educational opotunities or many other reasons, but just because you find it hard to read please dont belittle those people, especially with a misspelled thread and then when corrected come back with the statement " well you know what I meant so it doesnt matter "