Board etiquette

[MikeB]

If you quote someone, is it bad manners to correct their spelling mistake, or should you let the quote stand in its own right, mistook and all??  ;D ;D

[MikeB]

[Palustris]

Or do as they do in 'posh' books and add the word 'sic' in brackets after the mistake to show that you have noticed it and are so clever as to draw attention to it!

[MikeB]

that you have noticed it and are so clever as to draw attention to it!

I think you could lose a few friends that way, I was wondering if it was OK to alter it without bringing any attention to it or would it still offend the original postee?

[Hyacinth]

 I think the only time there's ever a need is when someone's asking how to search for info re: a particular plant & is spelling it all wrong?

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'd never correct it, as it seems a bit arrogant. If you can't live with it, paraphrase instead of quoting directly. 'So-and-so says that...'

[Hyacinth]

 My blatant disregard of the confidentiality of the PM system was when I gleefully told my friends in Watershed that DottyP had told me that she had to "rush off to the PO"  ::)

(and if you'd forgotten that, Doris, here's your reminder)  ;D ;D ;D

[lorna]

Mike In my opinion if we are talking about  boards such as we are on now I don't think I would correct spelling mistakes if I noticed them. If it was of some importance maybe I would try to be diplomatic. I sometimes use the spell check but of course that doesn't always work. IE if you type there instead of their then it would go unnoticed.
If I have to write a "serious" letter then I do find that my Word file points out any grammatical errors I have made.(often many!!)

[Roy Bham UK]

Leave it well alone, if it makes sense but if it is a serious typo that doesn't, (make sense) then change it, no one will mind especially the poster. ::)

[Mrs Ava]

Hells Bells...probably one of mine as they are usually full of typos as my hands can't type as fast as my brain thinks!  Even after 10 years as a PA!!

I think I would leave well alone, unless like Lish says, people are naming a plant or something technical which could cause other people who would like to research it, problems and wild goose chases.

That said, we are all chums here, aren't we, so we wouldn't take offence..would we?????

[MikeB]

Concenus is then to leave well enough alone. Good enough for me, strange as it may seem E-J it was one of my own that I was re-reading and when I noticed the error. ;D ;D

[calendula]

nad ahd anoyne chagnde ti?  ;D

[MikeB]

nad ahd anoyne chagnde ti?  ;D[sic]

Yes, me

[greyhound]

I know of one forum where not only do they take delight in correcting mistakes, but they actually highlight the corrections in red.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'd be really annoyed if anyone did that to me; it's downright patronising. 'Nah, nah, na-na nah, I can spell and you can't!'

[busy_lizzie]

Yes agree!  It would be the height of bad manners to point it out and only make the poster feel embarrassed.  My brother (who is a teacher) at one time used to point out peoples ungrammatical words, which I thought was terrible. He doesn't do it now after years of being "telt off"!  ;) busy_lizzie

[DolphinGarden]

Well I would change it, and have done on the beeb board. It's like this, if the poster didn't notice on the initial posting, well they're not going to notice a correction are they? At least you'll feel better. Go for it.

[weedbusta]

do people not realise that one in ten adults have problems with basic reading writing and number work. correcting someones spelling is enough to put them off posting, and could seriously undermine what little confidence they have. if you can make sense of it, then leave it alone.

[triffid]

We're more like good fiction here than grammar manuals --
complex, well organised plots and a cast of wonderful and intriguing characters.

So who cares about spelling? Not me, for one! 

[Emagggie]

Not me for another. Content is what matters here, not spelling.  ;)

[Meg]

Life to short I think to bother. Surely as long as the message is true and sound I 4 1 couldn't care less