On Tue, 11 Feb 1997, Craig Corder wrote:

> Last week I said we should not be concerned with English errors in our posts.
>
> I received a little sympathy, but no support for my stand, so I yield. I
> will do my best to proof my posts and will not be offended if you flame my
> goofs.

I must have missed Craig's original message, so I don't know exactly what
he said, but I'll give you a viewpoint. I think people ought to be
reasonably careful, but flaming someone for an error is definitely too
harsh. A little teasing might be more appropriate for some errors. I
think we tend to have the attitude that since these messages are just
written in electrons, rather than paper, and since we write them fast,
it's okay to be sloppy. I'd like us, instead, to take the same care we
would take in writing a greeting card to a friend. As a professor at a
college where we have students write a great deal, I get really distressed
by the errors many students make, errors that my contemporaries and I
never would have made beyond 3rd or 4th grade. So I do get concerned when
I see people on tweeters or other such groups not knowing how to punctuate
possessives, not knowing the difference between _its_ and _it's_, between
_site_ and _sight_ (an important distinction for birders!), and making
similar errors. My college professor's drive to improve people and make
the world perfect leads me to suggest that as we give one another
important information about birds, we might also give one another lessons
to improve our writing, so we can all communicate better. I don't mean
private reprimands or flames but, rather, an occasional impersonal
reminder. For instance, let me remind everyone that _it's_ is a
contraction for "it is" while _its_ is the possessive of _it_. There,
that didn't offend anyone, did it? :-) And now we can all be morally
and grammatically superior for the rest of the day!

Burt Guttman guttmanb at elwha.evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College Voice: 360-866-6000, x. 6755
Olympia, WA 98505 FAX: 360-866-6794

Reunite Gondwanaland!