What is correct SPAG?

[MarMar]

Not strange. I'm like that as well.

[Ms Becky]

Me too. I correct my friends grammer sometimes when they're talking sometimes, even though I try *so* desperately hard no to. They hate that. I can see why.

[MarMar]

I do that with "the boyfriend"... He hates me for it. He just doesn't know yet.

[Love_peter_Baker]

Nothing to do with this debate (so it's actually a bit off-topic), exactly, but I can be brief; There has been talk about spoiler-free zones, so.. There will be rules about how and where spoilers can be posted. There will also be some clarification around avatars.

I have trouble with my SPAG but ever since I have joined this board my SPAG is getting better.

Even though i have not been here long I am inproving in english aswell.

Thanks to everyone who put SPAG rules in, its helping me loads.

Yay! Someone who actually liked this rule! You make my heart happy!

Glad I made your heart happy Mercury girl.

[princess_jessik]

Who old are these older members? 20? Because I am.. I have never seen "older" members comlaining.. The ones I have see are about my age, and up to 30? Approximately...

I didn't mean to offended anyone when I made the comment but to me, it seems older people in general are more concerned about spelling and correct punctuation etc. then teenagers.

I think the forum is really strict too, but at the end of the day rules are rules and we all agreed to them when we joined

I totally agree. Because the rules on this site are so strict compared to others, it is really hard to get used it. And because I'm not one of the people like Liz, who commented on how she likes correct SPAG, remembering to use correct SPAG is hard, especially if you don't come on this site often. People are so quick to judge and be so rude for just one little mistake. Understandably, some of you have been coming on this site for months & are fully used to the rules. It takes a while for new people, like myself to adjust to the different rules on this site compared to most. My no means am trying to sound like a whinger and suggesting you change the rules, but I would just ask people to be more tolerant and patient with new members. But I am trying to work on my SPAG, because rules are rules.

[John]

I think the reason it's a bigger problem on this board than on some other TV boards I visit might have to do with the average age of the members. Now, I totally don't think that just because someone is a teenager, they're going to post in text speak, but I think there's a higher incidence of not attempting proper SPAG in this age group than in other age groups.

I mean, teenagers are at school all day (when they probably don't want to be) having to write essays they don't care about on subjects that don't interest them. When they get home they probably feel that going online is something they do to get away from school lessons and the rules / formality associated with them. And then this board gets new members all the time, so even as some people acclimatise to the rules, there are new members joining who might take a while to acclimatise. Obviously I know that there are many many teenage members who have great SPAG and interesting views on the show / life in general. But I think maybe the teenage demographic has something to do with it.

Maybe the degree to which people really care about proper SPAG reflects the type of discussion they're looking for, too? Many of the people whose SPAG shows little effort at all are posting messages that aren't particularly interesting / amusing / well-thought-out. Whereas those with generally good SPAG tend to make the most interesting posts, I think.

Although, it could be that messages written with good SPAG just convey their meanings more clearly, whereas those with poor SPAG tend to be vague as a result. I'm sure if everyone 'got' that posting with good basic SPAG makes other people more likely to find them interesting, they'd make more of an effort. Maybe.

With out being rude to anyone, but it seems to be the older people who complain more about the poor spelling & txt speak that teenagers use. My mum complains because she thinks that my friends & I use horrible spelling when sending text messages & using msn & emails etc etc. Personally, I think that most txt speak is fine, but I learnt my lesson because I accidently posted something on this website in the 'moan' thread that was ment to go on another forum. I go on heaps of forums and I would have to say this forum is SO strict on SPAG & other rules. Having said that, I do think maybe some times people are abit harsh and quick to judge.

Alot of people on this site seem to be alot older & mature then the people who post on other sites I go on. Whilst alot of you may disagree, in my opionion, you can have a perfectly fine post using simple txt speak like the @ symbol. Alot of people I know who are teenages, like myself use txt speak all the time, because it's something we are used to. Having said that I think there is a massive difference between using the occassional txt word & speakin lyk dis all da tym.

Anyway I just thought I would 'throw my 2 cents in' because of the warning I got yesterday for SPAG.

I think I'm close to the oldest board member. I don't complain about text language. If I can't understand a post for whatever reason I don't read it and I certainly don't reply.

[Frankie]

Having said that I think there is a massive difference between using the occassional txt word & speakin lyk dis all da tym.

That is a good point.

I think the mods do take this into account...personally I dont worry too much over the occasional use of a single txt spk word, or the use of abbreviations like BTW, IMO, I use the later a lot myself...LOL...but persistent use of text speak does exclude people...as John said earlier if he comes across such posts he does not read them....a lot of people don't ....that is sad... the writers of those posts may have had something interesting to say, and they and John, for example ,could have had some discussions about all sorts of things..... but because they used a form of communication which is not universal othes were excluded. ...opportunities were missed.

The SPAG rule is not about older people telling younger people what to do...you will find the ones who are complaining the loudest about poor SPAG are actually in their late teens......it is about ensuring good communication and access to discussion and debate for everyone.

[MarMar]

Moderators do let the occasional slip happen without handing out warnings for them. Dyslexic members are not given warnings for the mistakes they do. You get warnings if you fail to make effort. New members are not given a warning the first time the rule (or any other rule) has been broken. We send newbies a PM with links to the rules, so that they will be made awasre of how we want this board to be. Too bad some don't bother reading the PMs they receive...

[Marieh]

I have a question. If I'm not sure how to write a word and I put "(sp?)" behind it or something like that and it's correct/not correct would I then get a warning?

(This has not happend.... yet)

[MarMar]

I will not give you a warning for it, but I might check the word up in a dictionary if I was unsure about the same word every time... www.tritrans.com is recommended, if you need to know the English equivalent to a Norwegian word.