When sending electronic mail, why don't people check their messages for spelling and grammar? The worst language-mashing I have ever seen occurs in internet mail messages. I find it difficult to believe that EVERYONE is in a big rush all the time, which is the only excuse even remotely acceptable for posts like this: >how do i fix it so you will see stats on the one you'r fighting eg. if >im fighting let's say fido :-) i want to show the current position >it's in like excellent when i slash it down to big nasty eg. it shows >the mob is in big nasty condition??? This kind of stuff is just barely intelligible. No capitalizations, incorrect punctuation, and fragmented sentences. Either the person writing this is inebriated, from a foreign country, a second-grader, or in a really big hurry (although I can't imagine why). When I see a message like this, the first thing I notice is the terrible grammar. Subsequently, my initial impressions of the author and his abilities to code in the first place are severely marred, making it a lot less likely that I will take the post seriously. Another thing is typos. We all make them, but one of the great things about text editors is the user's ability to edit his input. > How would I got about adding a guildmaster for a new class? > I put in a druid class, and made a room, and made a mob..to be the > gui;ldmaster All of the typos in the snip above could easily have been corrected, and the corrections would have taken a mere thirty seconds, at maximum, and much less if done 'on the fly' (the backspace key has a use, you know). Messages riddled with typos are somewhat exasperating, although they are far easier to read than those whose authors didn't even try to write well. Some typos can escape even the most thorough of searches, so they aren't such a big deal. No one expects a mud coder posting a code question or answer to the list to proofread his message three times and spellcheck it carefully, but then again, it's silly to throw error-filled text in everyone's face, hoping they 'know what you mean'. I'll probably get flamed all over the place for the posting of this preachy, condescending piece of my mind, and these should be directed to ME <philipe@basix.com> as opposed to <circle@pvv.unit.no>. However, I think I speak for many people who are tired of email idiocy. -- Jeeves Creator/IMP/Builder of CalaisMUD (under development) P.S. Formatting problems are generally not the fault of the author. Certain mailers do strange things sometimes.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : 12/18/00 PST