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    Posting Style and Grammar Tips

    It doesn't look like we've got a thread like this on the new forum. Some people have been using online forums since the concept arrived on the internet. Other people have some experience with them, and some are brand new. I just figured a brief 'style guide' could help people make posts more readable and understandable for everyone.

    1) Take your time and type out whole words. There isn't any need to use 'text' or 'leet' speak in a forum. If you're
    rushed but want to reply, the thread most likely isn't going anywhere.

    2) If making a long post or reply, break it up into short paragraphs. It's easier to read and follow visually.

    3) Add a space after punctuation, and capitalize the first letter of any word following a period.

    4) Use relevant subject titles to give readers an idea of what the thread will contain. 'Job Not Giving Pagans
    Holidays Off
    ' is probably better than 'OMGWTF!!! So MADDDD!!!'

    5) If you're not sure how something is spelled, check an online dictionary or a word-processing program's spell-
    checker. You can always copy and paste an entire post into a word-processor or on-line spell-checker like this
    one: http://www.jspell.com/public-spell-checker.html.

    6) If you're making a list of items in a single sentence, use a comma after each item.

    7) Book & movie titles should be italicized, like so:
    Code:
     [i]The Complete Book of Witchcraft[/i] by Raymond Buckland
    Oh, and because I am a pompous ass:

    If 'it' owns something, use its - 'its book, its cookie'. If 'it' is doing something, use it's (it is). It's annoying when people mix them up, isn't it?

    Your sister is going if you are. You're (you are) going, aren't you? In days of yore, you'd both need a chaperone.

    Their (possessive) book is over there (location). They're (they are) going to have to get it themselves.
    Last edited by Juniper; 22 Aug 2013, 02:12. Reason: Updating post per Perze's hard work.
    The forum member formerly known as perzephone. Or Perze. I've shed a skin.

    #2
    Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

    You rock for posting this.


    Mostly art.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

      [quote author=perzephone link=topic=410.msg5430#msg5430 date=1287631043]

      7) Book & movie titles should be italicized, like so:
      Code:
       [i]The Complete Book of Witchcraft[/i] by Raymond Buckland
      Oh, and because I am a pompous ass:

      If 'it' owns something, use its - 'its book, its cookie'. If 'it' is doing something, use it's (it is). It's annoying when people mix them up, isn't it?
      [/quote]

      Oh, so guilty. Thank you for the reminder!
      Great Grandmother's Kitchen

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

        2) If making a long post or reply, break it up into short paragraphs. It's easier to read and follow visually.
        ^this



        For the love of whatever gods you may follow, if you get nothing else from this, please use whole words and break your typing into manageable chunks. If you expect people to take the time to read what you write, you should take at least the same amount of time ensuring that it is readable. I'm not going to read a post that gives me a headache trying to follow it...particularly if you combine it with 1 and 3, because then it looks something like this:

        lasdr ughwe riojghf weikrgjfnw ofkgn wotkgje rfogjvn otfivkjn eortvgn erofgbn eorgibjner tynhvjt cgt bhrtbh.ty erth e5t h.et yyet wt5h. 5eyj5nugiojntv 4uijtgno girjhngui sndfgl4twhbmklbotrnbty. 4th njtro goetjho y5nb .trejv rtbkvnm pertojg kwjtrgn thet5.h j4rtng ksjtreng wthjneoibj etrikhjg epoijgethlokje the5yjh/ .re tyhjkhtgui th.g wihtg w4jg5n witbjg 4trolghi jwoitjgn jtbvnlxsfkdbn srlherthe5ty.botrnbty. 4th njtro goetjho y5nb .trejv rtbkvnm pertojg kwjtrgn thet5.h j4rtng ksjtreng wthjneoibj etrikhjg epoijgethlokje the5yj hhf weikrgjfnw ofkgn wotkgje rfogjvn otfivkjn eortvgn erofgbn eorgibjner tynhvjt cgt bhrtbh.ty erth e5t h.et yyet wt5h. 5eyj5nugiojntv 4uijtgno girjhngui sndfg l4twhbmkl botrnbty. 4th njtro goetjho y5nb.

        ...and that just hurts my old dyslexic eyeballs.

        This isn't an English class, no one is grading you or anything, but if you don't know who e e cummings is, you probably shouldn't be typing like him. Just remember that the purpose of posting is so that others can read it. If you are posting and no one bothers to read it because your spelling is so atrocious that its impossible to do so (dude, we have a SPELL CHECKER BUILT IN TO THE REPLY) or because you don't consider how you format what you are trying to convey to make it readable, you might have well not even bothered posting, it probably won't get read by half the people that stumble across it.





        Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
        sigpic

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          #5
          Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

          I suck at using caps at the beginning of sentences. Damn Microsoft Word does it automatically for me.
          sigpic

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

            Here are some grammar rules:

            [4:82]

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              #7
              Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

              *head a'splode*
              �Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.�
              ― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
              Sneak Attack
              Avatar picture by the wonderful and talented TJSGrimm.

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                #8
                Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

                I'm soo guity of everything above,I'm ashamed.
                Circe

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

                  you know? I'm actually awful. I have noticed I've been pretty bad since I got back on here, but i'm constantly doing text talk or slipping up with things.. It's a force of habbit. When I'm writing stuff up for uni I'm fine, it's just online I really am useless :P

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

                    I tend to push grammar rules. I type what sounds and reads well. But I do try to be correct, when I can.
                    "Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children." - Khalil Gibran

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

                      Read anything I've ever written and you can tell my opinion of proper grammar. Not exactly my forte.

                      However, there IS a distinct need to be understood, with any medium (including written), in order to even communicate minimally. And communication is KEY, particularly on a community website.




                      "Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it." - Ayn Rand

                      "Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." - Marcus Aurelius

                      "The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice." - Mark Twain

                      "The only gossip I'm interested in is things from the Weekly World News - 'Woman's bra bursts, 11 injured'. That kind of thing." - Johnny Depp


                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

                        I don't think following every single grammar 'rule' out there is necessary on a casual forum. Generally we can get a point across even if our sentences end in prepositions, our participles dangle and we comma where we should have semicoloned.

                        (Of course, if you're trying to argue an academic point with someone who has their posts formatted with MLA formatting and all their resources cited, you're not going to get much credibility if you caint spel gud and's ur pozts luk liek a lolcat iz siting on ur puter. ;P)
                        The forum member formerly known as perzephone. Or Perze. I've shed a skin.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

                          [quote author=perzephone link=topic=410.msg5430#msg5430 date=1287631043]
                          Your sister is going if you are. You're (you are) going, aren't you? In days of yore, you'd both need a chaperone. [/quote]

                          +1000
                          I don't know why, but the whole you're/your thing really bugs me. :P (Oh, and since this is a pagan forum, and I see this mistake a lot... alter and altar are two different words! )


                          Really though, as long as folks can understand a post, that is what matters. Little slip ups in spelling, using the wrong spelling, not hitting italics... eh, not too horrible. There's no excuse for not taking the time and making sure your post can actually be read though - writing out actual words and sentences, making paragraphs, etc. As was said, there's no real point to posting here if no one can understand it. (Number 4, giving good titles, also very helpful for a forum.)
                          Hearth and Hedge

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                            #14
                            Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

                            I only have one rule, which I seldom follow -

                            Write as if you were paying attention until at least the fourth grade.
                            Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Posting Style and Grammar Tips

                              I am glad that i know this topic because it was related to our job and i am so happy to read every message in this article i really wish to be more perfect in terms of English grammar ,i am not good in English speaking but every words that I've post her is really a big effort from me,i want that in every feedback i making sure that i expressed this very well so that the commenter's will understand what i want to say.

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