Linux is a proper name and needs to be capitalized.

unix should also be caught as incorrect since the correct name is UNIX.

Hi,
I really think that stickies should be sacred. The really good ones that are informative deserve to be stickied.

I just took your post wrong and I do apologize for the misconception on my part. It does bother me that some just don't attempt to post a query in a manner that is understandable. I do understand that not all can compose a fair post when the language is not their primary but to use 'netspeak' shows the literacy aspect. So no argument other than the person just being to lazy to present a proper query.

I'm sure Jeremy has control but the above rule states it is your discretion.

For me, the rule of thumb is that if the OP has put zero effort into making what they say easy to understand and has just splurged miscellaneous information onto the screen with no thought and no organisation, then that is unacceptable. By unacceptable, I mean that I'm not prepared to put effort into understanding it if they aren't prepared to put effort into writing it.

After all, there is one OP and (potentially) quite a few readers/responders/benefiters, so from a 'greater good' point of view, it makes sense that the effort is put into it once and not potentially hundreds of times.

This applies whatever the mother tongue of the OP might be; if the OP is not a native English speaker, the end result is bound to be less polished, but you have to make allowances for that. Actually, quite often the people who apologise about their English are easy to understand, if not totally polished. Hell, I'm even prepared to make allowances for US spelling...

OTOH, I get the impression that many of the text-speak/no paragraphs/no logic messages come about because either the OP can't be arsed, or because they don't see it as appropriate in a technical forum to write in a way that is easy for us old fuddy-duddies to read.

Now, of course, you can argue that all that I have to do is ignore the posts that don't meet my all-too-elevated standards. One of the problems with that is that, if many people do it, the forums fill up posts that are difficult to read and don't get a technical answer, for no reason that is apparent to the OP or to someone casually googling the subject and potentially we and Linux gets the reputation of being unhelpful.

This is not a good outcome.

I would like it to be clearer, on entry (ie, on sign up to the site; maybe a refresher on first post), that a poster maximises their chances of getting a technical answer that is helpful if they help respondees by being clear. That is they aren't clear, they increase their chances of just being ignored and that text speak is considered a reason for non-response by many.

I would also like it be clear that their is a 'deal' (contract, if you like) on offer here; you get free technical advise, but your post is part of a database of answers to help future puzzlers over similar issues; if you don't try to make that as useful as you can to the other puzzlers, you are cheating on the deal.

I'm sorry about going on about this, but there are some great resources available here (you know who you are, I hope), and wasting that feels criminal to me.

Hi,

I'm not a purist, I just believe as in your post stated that the original poster does have responsibility to others on the forum. By this action they too assist by providing a clear concise post that can be addressed by other forum members. This does provide a good knowledge base for potential users with similar problems.

Now tell me that you understand what my meaning is for the above?

Not proper and should not be allowed on a forum of this type. To much can be mis-read or not defined by 'netspeak'.

onebuck you never answered my question

Whear du the mods draw the line?

Do they need a checklist and with 2 misspelled words or three punctuation errors and your post is removed?

Speaking for myself, though this does apply to the others too, I don't remove posts for bad spelling, leetspeak (or l337sp34k) or anything like that. If a post is entirely in non-English I will put in a comment, but that's about it. In the end, it's up to the poster: we say that this is an English speaking board and if you make a post that isn't readable by our members and you take no steps to rectify that, it's your own fault that you don't receive the answers you need.

My point is that with members being from around the world it would be impossible to be fair judging their posts. Look at the difference in The United States, there is Texas Style then there is the other slang. I do not like netspeak and do not respond to them but do try and read all posts of interest. If these posts are slow or do not get responses the OP might get the message.

As far as posts not being separated or paragraphed being too hard to read, I think this may consist of lazeness on the readers part.

If someone needs my help finding their way around
I expect them to walk up to me and ask, not yell
at me to walk over to them ...

On the second page of this thread jiml8 has a post that I was refering to. If you have trouble reading that post maybe something is interupting your train of thought or you are getting like me and forget easily. I will admit that if questions are separated and there are small paragraphs and if you are interupted it is easier to find your place to start again or if there are two or more problems mentioned to deal with separation makes it easier. But isn't looking for the easyway a first sign of becoming lazy?

But doesn't that foremost apply to the person who seeks
help and expects the voluntary helpers to do the extra
work? I think it does. ;)

Hi,
We're not just talking typo here. The laziness with the lack of using a spell check and the use of poor written posts. The mods can monitor the posts but we as participants should do some regulation. If you need to be shown how to cross the 't's and dot the 'i' then why are you even using a computer? Not to be smug nor smart but there are some responsibilities for the poster to convey the information in manner that can be understood by all.

As for the mods checklist, they will have to address that since it's not for me to list or direct.

Some students graduate with 'A's in English and some with 'D's. I believe if it appears a person is trying or English is his second language he should not be penalized. I will agree if it appears he is lazy or is writing poorly on purpose we need to ignore him. The point here is making sure it is intentional.

From what I have read in the recent posts is that most of the problems have been solved in these forums or somewhere. If this is the case and people are expected to search, read and comprehend there would be only about four or five posts per day. How long would people stay interested in this forum then?

A lot of people use the computer and can not type. They read their local newspapers, get all the sports scores, watch videos, listen to music, shop, etc. Most of this all can be done with the mouse click, no need to type and I might add most of them appear to enjoy the computer as much or more than I do.

As spell check goes - grate in most cases but it still has a ways to go with proper names.

I would agree if the person has more than say ten posts. I can remember some of my first posts were full of mistakes. A lot of this was due to ignorance and some of it to the 'awe' of posting in a forum. I do think you can tell him of his errors and then go on try and solve his problem. If it continues than ignore the thread.

I'm not convinced that it's simply English usage that's the issue - it's the basic ability to fram a question and having some idea of what is relevant information. Someone saying

I downloaded X and got an error during configure (end of postr)

isn't thinking about what they are saying. I don't much care if the description of the error/problem is in broken English.

People can clearly think through problems in any language even if they can't express them that clearly to us. The main problem is general lack of thought and laziness.

Why don't we use Esperanto,here on LQ!?