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

[Squidbait]

OK, my minor rant for the day. Maybe it's aimed at you, but probably not. If it is, then take it personally, because you annoy the heck out of me!

I find it hard enough to read messages on this board. The text colour (light on a dark background) is hard enough on my eyes, nevermind the technicolour headers, footers, icons and so-forth. hock:

If you haven't got the energy to hit the "shift" key and the period to start and end a sentence, or hit "return" to start a new thought, I haven't got the energy to wade through your stream-of-conciousness text to figure out what the heck you're talking about. :evil:

Unless you're e e cummings (which your writings suggest you definitely aren't) you've got no excuse except perhaps laziness or illiteracy. Since you can apparently spell more-or-less correctly, I'm guessing it's the former.

You want help from people? Make it easy for people to help you. Type so people can read what you're saying. I have to read enough badly-written crap by allegedly educated people, I'm not going to waste my time trying to wade through yours when I'm trying to relax.

Bah! Humbug! Arrrgh!.... And for all you bleeding hearts that think I'm being unfair and unreasonable, I just kicked a kitten and bit the head off a baby too!

[scubadude]

oh know,,,,not these crap again...........wy dont you kreate a sticky thwed bekuz so u don't haf to keep repeeting urself

[Squidbait]

Hey, that's not fair! I haven't mentioned Google once!

[scubadude]

Touche and good memory!

[tomustang]

It's true...

[Charlie B]

Squid is right.
We have people here that have had strokes and other problems that do a great job of communicating.
If you can't spell, use the spell check in google tool bar.
Proof read your post before hitting "submit". Is that too much to ask.
There are many other rail forums out there "aweighting ur xprt advse"
Charlie

[eightyeightfan1]

You do make a good point.
But you have to remember also. This is an international forum. There are some folks here where English is taught as a second language. And if my high school Spanish classes are any indication, I really wasn't interested(Why do I have to learn Spanish...I'm never gonna need it). I didn't pay attentioned then, and I'm figuring those from another country are the same way. Learning to speak it is one thing, trying to type a language you have no understanding of is another.

[Squidbait]

I'm perfectly willing to make allowances for differences of language. However, when the individual in question identifies himself as "X from -insert-English-speaking-country-here", I'm much less likely to be charitably-inclined.

[Cannonball]

You do make a good point.
But you have to remember also. This is an international forum. There are some folks here where English is taught as a second language. And if my high school Spanish classes are any indication, I really wasn't interested(Why do I have to learn Spanish...I'm never gonna need it). I didn't pay attentioned then, and I'm figuring those from another country are the same way. Learning to speak it is one thing, trying to type a language you have no understanding of is another.

For someone who's second language is English, it's excusable.
For anyone who should be well versed beyond Elementary school basics, it's sheer laziness.
I know I'm not the greatest speller in the world, which is why I spell check everything.
I still need to know that capital letters begin sentences and proper names. Periods end sentences.

Also- Get your tos and theirs straight. Those are my biggest grammar pet peeves.

To is going somewhere. I am going from here to there.
Too means also and is preceded by a comma. I want to go, too!
Two is a number. It looks like this- 2. The two of us are going to the mall.

They're is a contraction for "they are." They're going to the mall.
Their is possessive. We will take their car. That house is theirs.
There is a destination. We are going over there.

This is all stuff people should have learned by 3rd or 4th grade English, yet I see these six words continuously mixed up.

Oh... and hear, here, heard and herd.
4 more mixed up words that drive me nuts.

Hear is what you do with your ears. Do you hear what I hear?
Here is a place. We're here at last!
Heard is hear in past tense. I heard you already.
Herd is a bunch of cows. Let's round up the herd and drive 'em to the corral!

[Ralph]

Feelin' better now?

You're going to find all kinds of writing styles, methods of expression and thought on a forum. I think your plan to not read those you'd rather not read is a good one for you.

Ralph

[jmarksbery]

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

[nachoman]

You are probably opening up a can of worms here, but it is a valid gripe. Another reason for poor typing could be a cat who won't leave the keyboard alone . I often have to type one-handed because the cat demands the attention of the other "petting implement".

I am a forgiving person. I don't let grammar and spelling mistakes on informal message boards and emails bother me too much. Overuse of acronyms, abbreviations, or general "text message" speak is my only pet peeve. For example, my local professional basketball team put "PHX" on their logo and jerseys, instead of spelling out the city name of "Phoenix". Phoenix does not have many letters, is not difficult to spell, and on a logo or a Jersey, it is only written once, by a printer or a machine. There is no reason to abbreviate the city name except to be intentionally tacky. So, I call them the "Sky Harbor Airport" Suns (PHX is the airport code for the local international airport).

I will forgive most spelling and grammar errors in an informal setting, as long as they aren't too numerous that it is difficult to read without much effort. Now, in a formal writing, I am much less forgiving. For example, there was a grammar error in the instructions for my election day ballot.

PS: The browser I am using highlights misspelled words as I type. It is quite handy.

[Squidbait]

I think your plan to not read those you'd rather not read is a good one for you.

Ralph

In the absence of an Ignore list, it's all I can do.

[ezdays]

Yes, some people do have a hard enough time reading the white on blue background, but when we started this we wanted to remain true to the original forum and that's the color scheme we had there. You might want to increase the font size that you're viewing. Just go to the "Flying A" in the upper right. You can increase or decrease the viewing font size there. That should help. No, it won't help poor spelling or bad grammar or the wide use of abbreviations that are prevalent on the Net, but that's part of life.

I'm probably the worlds worse speller, and thanks to my flunking English so many times (four semesters in my last two years), I wasn't allowed to graduate with my class in high school. Thank God that Firefox has put a spell checker in that works just about anywhere, including here. As for grammar, well, I write columns for two different newspapers, and no matter how hard I try, or how many times I check them and my wife proofreads them, the editors always seems to find some typo or a misused word. I wish they didn't. One saving grace for me is that I took touch typing in high school and in college. This was way back before there were computer keyboards. You might ask why, well, me and my buddy were the only two boys in the class, that's why...

[jmarksbery]

Didn't the old Gauge have 2 choices for the screen, the classic blue and then one with a white background and black letters, I think called Custom?