If I can't read it, I won't!

[Jim From MT]

I think you can place some of the blame on computerese and text messaging. There is a whole sub-culture of text message language/spelling among the "younger generation".

[Trucklover]

I think you can place some of the blame on computerese and text messaging. There is a whole sub-culture of text message language/spelling among the "younger generation".

I try not to get sucked into that, im only 19 years old and all my friends, well most of them use short abbreviations for words, and when i read that, it makes me not want to read there message because they are just too lazy to spell out the words. The only abbreviations i really use are "lol" and "brb" and most of the time this is in chat rooms on forums.....

I myself have the Verizon Wireless Voyager, which has a touch screen and a full keyboard when you flip it open, which does make it much easier to type out a text. I can understand for those who text that dont have a full keyboard on there phone, but for those who do, including alot of my friends, it is just pathetic, you have a keyboard, USE IT

And for spelling, if you cannot spell and find yourself trying to spell words often and just for the life of you cant get them right or they don't quite look right, do what i did and download your self Firefox, it has a built in spell checker in the browser, and it is VERY useful

[ezdays]

The spell checker in Firefox doesn't always know the word you're trying to spell, but at least it tells you when it doesn't think it's spelled correctly. I've also downloaded "WebWord", what that does is when you select a word (highlight it) anywhere in anything you are reading or writing, then hit the WebWord icon on your taskbar, it will come up with the definition of that word and/or some alternate spelling if it isn't spelled right. As for grammar checking, I still rely a lot on MS Word for that. I use it when I compose my articles, and my wife just finished her book, and it was a big help in finding typos, misspelled and misused words as well as bad sentence structure. I would not use that for posting on forums, let's face it, some of the things that are not acceptable in published works, can be overlooked when talking on forums and in chat rooms. I am glad though that I'm too old to be in any group that uses text messages to communicate. To be sure, if I see I have a text message on my cell phone, I know it's someone trying to sell me something, and I delete it without reading it first. I don't think my carrier charges me if I don't download the message and that's a good thing.

[Charlie B]

I didn't know I cold even get text messages until I got one, and I didn't know I was charged for opening it until I got the bill. I don't now and never will text message on a cell phone.
I went to my cell phone account on-line but couldn't find a way to turn off text messaging, but a fast email telling my provider that if they couldn't block it I would find a provider that could.
It took less then 5 minutes to get a reply and it is blocked. It is nice to be past the contract period.
Charlie

[tetters]

werd up squiddie!!! dem suckas who cn't take da tyme to reed an rite gud iz asking fo it!!! fo shizzle!!! u dig ma man!!!

[Cannonball]

I can understand for those who text that dont have a full keyboard on there phone

See?
Right there it is!

Sorry, Truck, but you're busted. :mrgreen:

[Sumpter250]

hmmmmm, take something out of context........and edit it....................

I can understand that those who text, don't have a full keyboard

OK, at least the ones who do it while driving!

[iis612]

I have frequently missed the mark while trying to convey a message. I will either structure a paragraph incorrectly, or allow a seperate thought the break the theme of the paragraph.

There are times when I have several thoughts running through my head at a time, and these thoughts will tend to blur together in a nearly manic fashion.
I do try to communicate clearly, but it would seem that I am better spoken then written.

I know that this has caused trouble before. I don't know if Squidbait is refering to me, and I am not taking his post personally. I am just making a point. The point is that it is easy to fall off track with a thought process, especially with external factors. In my case, the external factors are medications and environmental distractions, such as my children, dog, wife, neighborhood activity, ad infinitum.

I am in agreement with Squidbait that there are chronic offenders. A few folks who make no effort to spell correctly, use punctuation, or capitalizations. It pisses me off too. I won't avoid their posts outright, but if the subject line does not seem applicable to me, I will skip it.

Matt

[Trucklover]

I can understand for those who text that dont have a full keyboard on there phone

See?
Right there it is!

Sorry, Truck, but you're busted. :mrgreen:

hmmmmm, take something out of context........and edit it....................

I can understand that those who text, don't have a full keyboard

OK, at least the ones who do it while driving!

:oops: I blame firefox, and i guess myself for not paying attention in English Class

[nolatron]

I thought this was a railroad forum, not an English class! Our language is much different than those in English speaking countries elsewhere. Get on with it!
Jim

You're right, it is a forum. However, considering that communication is done 100% through what you type in a post, wouldn't it make sense to take the time to type out your post in a reasonably legible fashion? It'll help get your message across to a larger audience.

A snippet from the guidelines on a wireless services forum I run.

Write like a reasonably intelligent person. Make your subject clear, not "OMG HELP LULZ". If people have to struggle to read your posts, they probably won't. if u write like ths u mite find urself in srs trouble LOL

If user doesn't follow it, they get an infraction. That will usually straighten them and they'll start typing properly. We do give our numerous international users where English is not their first language exemption though.

[Drew]

I hate to be the waffling, ambivalent fence-sitter here, but I do sympathize with both sides here...
I suffer with an eye disease, & both reading & writing can be quite tedious & hard ro do...I do use a zoom softwars program, but as far as my typing goes, it's hit or miss (& a lot of the latter) So it follows that proofreading can be a little dodgy as well...I think it's safe to say my typos are the stuff of legend around here and a couple of other places!

The flip side of the coin is that it can also be quite a challenge for me to read through a long post, & if it has a lot of typos, run-ons, all lower-case, no punctuation, etc, then it becomes even harder...
But I've been around this & other RR forums long enough to know certain people, & their (not there ) particular styles of not only modeling, but also their widely varying abilities (or lack thereof) of communicating...you just have to learn to work around it...that's life...The good news is - we don't have to read every post!

As a visually impaired person, I can also appreciate the whole contrast thing with the text & background...
While I actually PREFER the light text on a dark background, I know that a lot of crazy fonts, colors & icons, etc, can be a bit of a pain...There used to be a button you could click on that said "Printable Version"
When you clicked on this, it displayed the entire forum in large black text on a white background...I used to do this before I got the ZoomText...
Well, that was another long-winded post wasn't it?

[MountainMan]

I am far more interested in what people have to say than in how they say it. This is, after all, a forum for model railroad hobbyists rather than for English Lit majors, and we are simply posting, not submitting our thesis for evaluation. We are sharing experiences and ideas, not grading each other's essays.

If the posting style is too extreme or difficult, I find that there is usually one simple solution:

????

This forum lacks the head-scratching icon that accompanies that entry elsewhere, but the meaning is quite clear nonetheless.

If the problem persists despite requests for clarification, just don't read it.

In the meantime, enjoy the company of fellow enthusiasts.

[yellowlynn]

I don't mean to start flaming, but much of this badmouhing the typers (typists) is too ALL encompassing. Many of you remember the time a member was flamed, bad, so said he was leaving. I won't mention the name, but I will guarrantee you one thing, bad as I hurt, I wouldn't dream of swapping places with him. With miserable troubles, he now models in N with his son. I have troubles following his train of thought at times, but I marvel at his tenacity.

I know too many others that have had strokes and many other maladies. With one hand useless and the other not working very good, it would appear using capitals, or upper case, for some words would be extremely difficult. So I say, If you have trouble reading something, skip over it. And hope that the troubles some have, never fall on you.

Oh, yes, I never learned typing, and writing this much is quite a task for me. I just think it is worth it to jump in when I believe one is being unjustly whipped for something they have no control over. :hey: :hey:

Lynn

[ezdays]

Just so you have my thoughts on what I see here. I don't think anyone here is taking fault with those that cannot for one reason or another, compose or type a post properly or has difficulty getting their thoughts out in the open. I don't think anyone is taking aim at the occasional use of acronyms, abbreviations or even some rather sever, if not funny (hey Mikey) typos. I think what some are simply asking, is that for those that are capable of doing things in an understandable manner, as a means of getting their questions, points or answers understood, that they take the time it requires to post with some degree of clarity. If you can't, for whatever reason, don't think for a minute that you shouldn't post. We welcome everyone and will do our best to make sense of what you're trying to say.

It was not that long ago when we had one member whose posts were difficult at best to read, he was antagonistic and basically asked to be banned. The members and staff stuck with him and found his main problem was that his meds were affecting his mind and his body. After a while, his medications were adjusted and he settled down. He was still hard to understand at times, but we accepted him that way. Well, we lost him about a year ago, and there wasn't one person on the forum that didn't miss him.

So you all need to remember, you don't know what's behind everyone that posts here and on other forums, so we look forward to working with the bad spellers, those with limited vocabularies and those with four thumbs on each hand. Now, those that think this is an open invitation to get lazy or to start using text message jargon in your posts, forget it friend, it just won't fly.

[Cannonball]

Now, those that think this is an open invitation to get lazy or to start using text message jargon in your posts, forget it friend, it just won't fly.

Hw abt shrthnd? :mrgreen:

*runs away like my tail is on fire*