19 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

As many of you know, the forum has seen an influx of new users over the past weeks and months. Unfortunately, some posts, especially those coming from new members, are not meeting the basic minimum standards of coherence to qualify as written language.

All members agreed to the established rules when joining the forum, and are expected to abide by them:
 

Rule 7: Post in legible, coherent English, without excessive use of emoticons, slang, chat acronyms, or IM shorthand.

 
If we want to attract knowledgeable people to the forum who can answer our many questions, we must show that we are intelligent life forms, which includes adhering to a common linguistic system.
 
Examples of chat acronyms and IM shorthand NOT allowed on the forum can be found on the following website:

http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php

In summary, we are asking all users, new and old, to make a minimum effort in their posts, which includes sentence capitalization, proper punctuation, and a prohibition on obscure acronyms, so we may continue to grow as a community and forge the highest quality discussions. These are the rules we all agreed to when registering for the forum. Good luck, all!

[Enderz]

I bet some people didn't understand what "If we want to attract knowledgeable people to the forum who can answer our many questions, we must show that we are intelligent life forms, which includes adhering to a common linguistic system" - Andrew 2016, means.

 

[drtrmiller]

It means if we want to attract smart people to help answer forum questions, we must at least make an attempt to write well.

I've seen posts recently that looked more like text messages, or like they were written using voice-to-text or auto-complete, and then the person didn't take the time to correct any of the mistakes.

Compare the following:

man nice for him u got ther be a shame if crap like dis ruind it

Man, nice forum you have there. It'd be a shame if crap like this ruined it.

Which do you think would be better at attracting intelligent and high quality discussion?

Forums that tolerate poor writing styles tend to attract fewer experts. With all its faults, the Yuku forum run by antdude was, in its heyday, far better at attracting experts compared to today's hobby communities that have more lax standards.

The lower the standards for intelligent discourse, the more likely you'll be to find a shoddy echo chamber where the blind lead the blind, and where all the conversations are among teenage kids who have never kept ants, who get all their knowledge from YouTube videos, and whose greatest proficiency is the prolific posting of pseudoscientific puff in the language of 8th grade Jabberwocky gibberish.

Edited by drtrmiller, October 23 2016 - 11:58 AM.

[Enderz]

It means if we want to attract smart people to help answer forum questions, we must at least make an attempt to write well.

I've seen posts recently that looked more like text messages, or like they were written using voice-to-text or auto-complete, and then the person didn't take the time to correct any of the mistakes.

Compare the following:
 

man nice for him u got ther be a shame if crap like dis ruind it

Man, nice forum you have there. It'd be a shame if crap like this ruined it.

Which do you think would be better at attracting intelligent and high quality discussion?

Forums that tolerate poor writing styles tend to attract fewer experts. Compare how many experts were active in the Yuku forum run by antdude with this and other hobby communities that have more lax standards. The lower the standards for intelligent discourse, the more likely it will be the blind leading the blind, and all the conversations will be among teenage kids who don't know anything, but are incredibly prolific in posting nonsense.

 

I know what it means xD

[MrPurpleB]

Maybe that is why the guy, with the Solenopsis xyloni, does not answer. The accuracy of one's grammar and spelling is very important to try to create a conversation especially with knowledgeable people.  

[Enderz]

Maybe that is why the guy, with the Solenopsis xyloni, does not answer. The accuracy of one's grammar and spelling is very important to try to create a conversation especially with knowledgeable people.  

Maybe your intellect has come up with the answer to our Solenopsis xyloni problem!

[MrPurpleB]

 

Maybe that is why the guy, with the Solenopsis xyloni, does not answer. The accuracy of one's grammar and spelling is very important to try to create a conversation especially with knowledgeable people.  

Maybe your intellect has come up with the answer to our Solenopsis xyloni problem!

 

Just sound really smart and use jargons," special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand.."

[Enderz]

 

 

Maybe that is why the guy, with the Solenopsis xyloni, does not answer. The accuracy of one's grammar and spelling is very important to try to create a conversation especially with knowledgeable people.  

Maybe your intellect has come up with the answer to our Solenopsis xyloni problem!

 

Just sound really smart and use jargons," special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand.."

 

exactly my friend

[andSocks]

We need Antdude.

[gcsnelling]

Poor grammar along with outside links to images are the two main reasons I will not answer questions.

Edited by gcsnelling, October 23 2016 - 2:38 PM.

[T.C.]

Agreed!

[chickenman297]

Poor grammar along with outside links to images are the two main reasons I will not answer questions.

Hey there. So if I were to ask a question, should I be posting the full size image instead of the thumbnail with a link to postimg.org?

[dspdrew]

We need Antdude.

 
Well let's not get too crazy now. In all seriousness, he would totally be welcome as a member here, but spamming every post with corrections doesn't really help the problem much. Not sure if anyone has noticed (people who write well probably haven't), but I have added quite a few misspellings, missing punctuation, incorrect scientific name abbreviations, and instant messaging shorthand to the "bad word" filter, which basically auto-corrects the post. It's not perfect, but it should help.

[dspdrew]

 

Poor grammar along with outside links to images are the two main reasons I will not answer questions.

Hey there. So if I were to ask a question, should I be posting the full size image instead of the thumbnail with a link to postimg.org?

 

 

The best way to post images is by embedding them in the post so that no extra clicking and opening of tabs or windows is required to see the images. All images are automatically resized to 800px if they are larger, so linking to even larger, higher quality images is always a great idea for those who want to see an even higher resolution.

[drtrmiller]

Poor grammar along with outside links to images are the two main reasons I will not answer questions.

Hey there. So if I were to ask a question, should I be posting the full size image instead of the thumbnail with a link to postimg.org?

 
The best way to post images is by embedding them in the post so that no extra clicking and opening of tabs or windows is required to see the images. All images are automatically resized to 800px if they are larger, so linking to an even larger higher quality images is always a great idea for those who want to see an even higher resolution.

Did you know, if you have a link to the photo that ends with a known image file type, such as .jpg, .gif, or .png, you can simply copy and paste that link in your post, and it will automatically embed as an image? That's the easiest way, by far!

[dspdrew]

 

 

 

Poor grammar along with outside links to images are the two main reasons I will not answer questions.

Hey there. So if I were to ask a question, should I be posting the full size image instead of the thumbnail with a link to postimg.org?

 
The best way to post images is by embedding them in the post so that no extra clicking and opening of tabs or windows is required to see the images. All images are automatically resized to 800px if they are larger, so linking to an even larger higher quality images is always a great idea for those who want to see an even higher resolution.

Did you know, if you have a link to the photo that ends with a known image file type, such as .jpg, .gif, or .png, you can simply copy and paste that link in your post, and it will automatically embed as an image? That's the easiest way, by far!

 

 

Yes, I created that functionality as a last resort. It's not a good way to embed images though, because if this ever changes all those images will turn to links.

[chickenman297]

Thanks guys

[T.C.]

We need Antdude.

haha, well if he becomes a moderator here, I'm out!

[angelo.cardillo]

Hi, what about people that don't speak English as 1st language.. I can do a lot of errors.. If i try to use google translator, maybe it is worse :-)

[CallMeCraven]

Hi, what about people that don't speak English as 1st language.. I can do a lot of errors.. If i try to use google translator, maybe it is worse :-)

We have several people here who do not speak english as a first language. Do your best to post as clearly and concisely as you can, and avoid and slang you may know. If people ask for clarification, just apologize and do your best to further explain what you are getting at. People here are friendly and understanding and will do their best to accommodate you. This rule is mostly used to sort out text message abbreviations and local slang terms.

Edited by CallMeCraven, November 28 2017 - 3:01 PM.