Do you care about spelling (online)?

hullaballoo

The article here sets out that online companies risk losing revenue because a spelling error might lead people to suspect the credibility of the site.

I'm just wondering how many people would feel that a site might be untrustworthy if it contains spelling mistakes, especially where you're about to part with some cash. Personally, it would put me off buying from a direct sales site, but wouldn't bother me as much if at all if it was a seller on adverts.ie etc.

Gandalph

On a professional site then yes. But on Boards I hate the grammer nazis.

jimthemental

Yap

stovelid

I don't like it on a business or services site, no. It does suggest a lack of professionalism and it would make you wonder about other areas of the business.

I don't really mind spelling mistakes on a message board or similar informal Internet contexts though unless the mistakes are deliberate as in text-speak.

orourkeda

Humans are lucky in the sense that they have the capability to express thoughts and ideas and other high brow concepts.

Some people are far too flippant with their use of language and do not truly appreciate its power.

orourkeda

Gandalph wrote: »

On a professional site the yes. But on Boards I hate the grammer nazis

Tut Tut

FatherLen

i shoor doo luv spellin mee

orourkeda

FatherLen wrote: »

i shoor doo luv spellin mee

You couldn't even do that properly.

Frank Black

Sometimes I spell so bad even my Spellchecker doesn’t know what word I’m trying to spell.

stovelid

orourkeda wrote: »

Humans are lucky in the sense that they have the capability to express thoughts and ideas and other high brow concepts.

Some people are far too flippant with their use of language and do not truly appreciate its power.

Highbrow.

Unless you mean the unfortunates with eyebrows that are contiguous to their hairline.

FatherLen

orourkeda wrote: »

You couldn't even do that properly.

do what?

prinz

Yes I do. It smacks of unprofessionalism, laziness, lack of attention to detail in my opinion and would lead me to believe an ad is more likely to be a scam/faulty/in bad condition etc.

Hasmunch

hullaballoo wrote: »

The article here sets out that online companies risk losing revenue because a spelling error might lead people to suspect the credibility of the site.

I'm just wondering how many people would feel that a site might be untrustworthy if it contains spelling mistakes, especially where you're about to part with some cash. Personally, it would put me off buying from a direct sales site, but wouldn't bother me as much if at all if it was a seller on adverts.ie etc.

How many times did you proof read that to ensure you wouldn't be caught by a roaving grammer nazi :pac:

Lemsiper

Gandalph wrote: »

On a professional site then yes. But on Boards I hate the grammer nazis.

:rolleyes:

W.Shakes-Beer

I like to use proper grammer online. I think that by using short "txt spk" you somehow manage to lower your IQ, at least to other people. Plus, it's nice to read legible words.

I don't mind people mixing around "their, they're, there", and if someone is dyslexic/has spelling difficulties fair enough, but I hate it when people are clearly just overly lazy. "They spk like dis nd its jus painful 2 luk at"

Kevin Duffy

It would make me suspect the credibility and reliability of an online shop or service. It also bothers me when people make no effort to use correct spelling, grammar etc.
I try to fight the urge to be a grammar nazi, but I love the written word so much and it's so powerful that I just can't help focussing on the errors and carrying that through to how I see the message.

E&OE

W.Shakes-Beer

Lemsiper wrote: »

:rolleyes:

^ That emotion is more annoying than any spelling mistake.

barbarians

It can't be that hard to get all your spelling and grammar correct even for responding to a boards thread. I think grammatically correct sentences/responses look much better and tidier.

I would go so far to say a grammatically correct response is taken more seriously or respected more than a grammatically incorrect, hard to comprehend sentence filled with spelling mistakes even if they both made the same point.

(Where was my spelling mistake ? :P)

hullaballoo

Hasmunch wrote: »

How many times did you proof read that to ensure you wouldn't be caught by a roaving grammer nazi :pac:

My writing style bores me so much that I never re-check what I've written, sometimes to my detriment. In fact, it's landed me in some pretty embarrassing situations!

Kevin Duffy

Hasmunch wrote: »

How many times did you proof read that to ensure you wouldn't be caught by a roaving grammer nazi :pac:

Did you mean grammar and roving? Or roaming? Or did you intend the archaic form "roaving", which would not be in keeping with the more modern spelling of the remainder of your message? Where is your question mark? Good grief, it's awful, simply awful.

whydoibother?

Yes, I would definitely care when it comes to a website. If I'm looking for a product/service online, I'll generally do a bit of googling first and the more well laid out and professionally finished a website is, the more professional I think the company will be in general. There are always exceptions.

Beyond this, incredibly bad grammar and language usage can indicate scam. How quickly would you hand and over money to a website that said:

"Provide please details credit card to receipt world class service"?

Frank Black

I rue the day I learned phonetic wasn’t spelled with an ‘f’

W.Shakes-Beer

Also, people who can't be bothered using correct grammer when trying to sell a car for example, puts me off instantly.

Hasmunch

hullaballoo wrote: »

My writing style bores me so much that I never re-check what I've written, sometimes to my detriment. In fact, it's landed me in some pretty embarrassing situations!

I rarely check as well, unless its an obvious mistake. Like i might spell grammar, grammer and not pick it up (see last post:P).
Txt speak drives me nuts because its so hard to read.

who the fug

black francis wrote: »

Sometimes I spell so bad even my Spellchecker doesn’t know what word I’m trying to spell.

Et Tu black francis


Have to put all my posts through spell check and use thine and thou to avoid grammar police

The King of Moo

Poor spelling and grammar on a professional website, or in any professional context, reflects poorly on whoever's behind it for me, and suggests a lack of professionalism and laziness.

I don't like poor spelling and grammar in any context online however. I don't mind when difficult words are misspelled, or an obscure grammar rule isn't followed. But too often I'll come across something that looks like the words just fell out of the person's brain without any though for spelling and grammar whatsoever, and basic mistakes making comprehension difficult are made.

However I'd never be a grammar Nazi and point the mistakes out, unless the person making the mistakes were trying to be a grammar Nazi themselves.

Cat Melodeon

I hate poor spelling, punctuation or grammar on a professional website or in a newspaper. On a message board like this or on a public-run site like adverts.ie it's not such a big deal. People have different levels of literacy, some people read and write lots, others rarely see a written word in their day to day life. That doesn't denote intelligence or lack thereof. It's like driving - if you do it every day, you're probably much better at it than a Sunday driver. The only difference is using 'there' instead of 'they're' isn't actually going to kill anyone.

I hate txtspk though, it really gets on my tits.

Redditor

When comments that people make on a forum have a few spelling mistakes, I tend to think less of their opinions. Constant misspelling/misuse of certain words annoys me as well (They're, there and their).

Irish Guitarist

I don't mind too much when people make their own mistakes but I find it irritating that so many people all over the world make the same stupid mistakes as each other. For instance why do so many people believe that 'alot' and 'aswell' are words? I can't imagine that so many people, even bad spellers, would have thought these were words before the rise of the internet.

I wouldn't trust a professional site that was littered with mistakes. Someone on a guitar forum once asked if his website about guitars was any good. On his website he spelled Jimi Hendrix wrong. I wouldn't trust anyone like that to tell me anything about music or guitars.

On a professional website, I wouldn't trust them if it was riddled with spelling errors.

On boards I don't really care about laziness & typos but I would care about common errors that people seem to believe are actually correct.
"It didn't phase me" would be a good example there.

hondasam

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

It would make me suspect the credibility and reliability of an online shop or service. It also bothers me when people make no effort to use correct spelling, grammar etc.
I try to fight the urge to be a grammar nazi, but I love the written word so much and it's so powerful that I just can't help focussing on the errors and carrying that through to how I see the message.

E&OE

your secretary type that for you ?:D

Novella

I care about spelling in general, and yes, bad spelling on an official website would make me a little suspicious.

Kevin Duffy

hondasam wrote: »

your secretary type that for you ?:D

Dear Hondasam,

Mr. Duffy would like to thank you for your correspondence of 14 July 2011. He will respond to your concerns on his return.

Yours sincerely

A. Secretary

kiffer

barbarians wrote: »

It can't be that hard to get all your spelling and grammar correct even for responding to a boards thread. I think grammatically correct sentences/responses look much better and tidier.

I would go so far to say a grammatically correct response is taken more seriously or respected more than a grammatically incorrect, hard to comprehend sentence filled with spelling mistakes even if they both made the same point.

(Where was my spelling mistake ? :P)

ugh... My spelling is a bit poor so I didn't notice any spelling mistakes, but that space before your question mark burns through my mind like a redhot lead-ball. I guess that wouldn't be a spelling mistake, which is what you asked us to point out.

J_E

W.Shakes-Beer wrote: »

I like to use proper grammer online.

*bites lip*

That....was meant to be ironic right?

Cydoniac

Cydoniac wrote: »

*bites lip*

That....was meant to be ironic right?

Nah, he doesn't care about spelling as long as his grammar is fine. :pac:

hullaballoo

Why? There's nothing wrong with his grammar?

Lux23

Not spelling because loads of people have issues with it and we don't all have the patience to spellcheck our posts but I really don't like when people don't use capitals and at least halfway decent grammar. And textspeak is just wrong on so many levels.

J_E

I guess I'm just overly sensitive when people misspell words like grammar, your/you're, their/there/they're.

Noo

I can't stand bad spelling and grammar. On facebook and other internet things like that I just tend to ignore it but some of my really close friends are making really bad spelling errors, there/theyre/their, your/you're, are/our (still don't get that one), recked, discusting, jelous etc. which of course I let slide (I don't want to go all grammar Nazi on them) but I'm afraid they're forming bad habits. They have just finished college and are complaining about sending out loads of job applications and not getting anywhere. Next time they complain I'm going to beg them to show me their applications so I can proof read them! I'm sure they'll be appalling.

Just like a bad spelling on a job application, bad spelling and grammar on a website is just unprofessional.

FTGFOP

hullaballoo wrote: »

I never re-check what I've written, sometimes to my detriment. In fact, it's landed me in some pretty embarrassing situations!

Do tell!

Emiko

bluewolf wrote: »

"It didn't phase me" would be a good example there.

That's a stunning error.

Liam Byrne

W.Shakes-Beer wrote: »

I like to use proper grammer online.

But not proper spelling ?

On a professional site, it's a complete turn-off.

On boards, facebook, blogs and the like, it's just irritating and makes me ignore them....the odd typo is forgiveable, but if something is written in text speak I just ignore the post because the writer didn't think it important enough to make it readable....therefore it mustn't be important.

Likewise the "that's not a word / phrase" reaction that kicks in when people make stuff up like "could of" and other such nonsense.......but as others have pointed out above, that's now so commonplace that it makes you wonder where and when it started and why there's such a wide level of illiteracy that people started using it......if it were nipped in the bud from day one (by a supposed "grammar nazi", it wouldn't have spread to infect everything.

Zebra3

W.Shakes-Beer wrote: »

^ That emotion is more annoying than any spelling mistake.

Just as well considering you spelt "emoticon" wrong. :pac:

bnt

Absolutely. It's one of those things that tells me I'm dealing with someone who pays attention to what they're doing. If they can't spot a spelling mistake, they might not spot an item on an order, an important detail.

It reminds me of Van Halen's infamous Brown M&M Clause in their concert contracts. It wasn't just to give the promoters a hard time: it was to check that they read the whole thing and did exactly what was requested. If they saw a brown M&M, they'd have crew do additional safety checks on the stage (electrical, rigging etc.), because people could get killed if those things were not right. Details matter.

looksee

The odd typo on Boards, or spelling error, isn't too much of a problem, as various people have said, not everyone has the same standard of written English. I do hate text-speak, endless sentences with no punctuation, and words that are mixed up so you have no idea which one was meant.

Some of these have gone into general use, lose seems to have disappeared in favour of loose, does has become dose, to and too are interchangeable, taught and thought, and lots of others. As they creep into newspapers and magazines it is going to become more and more difficult to establish what the author is trying to say.

Zebra3

People misusing "their", "there" and "they're" as well as "your" and "you're".

Always makes me wonder are they idiots or just lazy.

Elba101

My pet hate is text speak. Can't stand it!!! I can understand people using 2m, 2n and 2d to save character space but when poeple spell of 'ov' i just can't handle it. Why would you do this??

Son Of A Vidic

Zebra3 wrote: »

People misusing "their", "there" and "they're" as well as "your" and "you're".

Always makes me wonder are they idiots or just lazy.

Maybe they're neither of the above, have you considered that perhaps?

Zebra3

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Maybe they're neither of the above, have you considered that perhaps?

What else could they be?

Emiko

Zebra3 wrote: »

What else could they be?

Dare.

Yore.