Re[2]: Nettiquette Breach -v- Common Politeness

[Bonni Graham <Bonni_Graham_at_Enfin-SD -at- RELAY -dot- PROTEON -dot- COM>]

Ok, OK, I was going to stay out of this one...

But I can't (big surprise, eh?).

I can see both sides on this one, for a couple of different reasons.

YES:  this is an informal forum, and as such, conversational shortcuts are
acceptable.  Not everybody has a spell-checker, and if they have one, not all of
them work in a reasonable amount of time (e.g., while I applaud cc:Mail for
including one, it should probably work a little faster than it does -- up to 35
seconds per word, sometimes).  Some of us are lousy typists (me!), and some of
us think much faster than we type (me!), even if we type well (not me).  And
yes, some of us are not native speakers and need to be allowed a little latitude
(so to speak).

BUT:  a) this issue is precisely why I try to reread everything I write before I
send it.  Another bennie of rereading is that you can make sure your point is
clear, and that you haven't skipped any logical steps, and if you've included
possibly offensive statements you've done so on purpose and are prepared to
defend them.  Many of the flame wars I've seen start seem to have been because
of quickly done responses that did not adequately communicate the point the
author was trying to make.

b) some of the errors I've seen are truly egregious.  And just to show that I'm
not picking on anyone, and that I'm not trying to be more-grammatical-than-thou,
I'll use one of my own.  I sent out a message without carefully rereading it
(just last week) that used "you're" instead of "your".  OOPS -- is my face red
(I particularly hate that mistake, especially when I make it).  While this may
seem like a nitpicky issue, you will be judged, even by other writers (heck,
especially by other writers) on your grammar.  It's harder to accept someone's
point, however valid, when they sound like a member of the Joad family (not that
any of us have been THAT bad).

It only takes a minute to reread a post, and usually only a minute more to fix
an error or clarify a point.

On the other hand, maybe some of us don't have email editors that let us do
that?  I don't know; maybe I'm lucky in that respect.

I do want to say, though, that flaming someone on their very first post is
possibly not the best way to welcome them to the net?  (I was flamed right off,
and I haven't backed off, but then, I love abuse.  And I'm confrontational --
anyone noticed? :)  A couple of the responses could really have been phrased a
little more politely...

Bonni Graham                               |
Technical Writer                           |
Easel Corporation, ENFIN Technology Lab    |
Bonni_Graham_at_Enfin-SD -at- relay -dot- proteon -dot- com | flush, v. Align type to the
President, San Diego STC                   | left or right, thereby
                                           | beating a pair of aces
NOTE: apparently my email address needs    |
to be typed exactly as it appears here,    |          --Ezra Shapiro
punctuation and all, or the system gets    |
upset.                                     |