A Neg Rep Rampage
Posted August 21st, 2011 at 10:57 AM by ollie
OK, the title overplays it somewhat. But here's the deal...
I've been hanging around on the site quite a bit less recently. It hasn't been a deliberate decision, I've just been keener to ramble through other regions of the internet. The obvious explanation is the cancellation of the game, but I don't think that's it. One of the great things about this site is (or was, which is my point) that people posted as if they cared about expressing themselves clearly, following basic grammatical and spelling conventions.
I'm increasingly of the opinion that this is not the case any more. At least, I often find myself wading through a misspelt mess with random-seeming punctuation. And I don't enjoy doing that.
As I understand it, the point of negrep is to say "this post made my experience of heroscapers.com worse rather than better". This fits the bill for these posts exactly, so I'm going to start negrepping them. Indeed, the point of posting this here is so that I can link to it in the negrep text rather than explaining each time.
I think it's also important to note what negrep does not say (at least mine does not): "I think you suck". That is not the message I'm trying to convey.
I don't know what my threshold is likely to be. Probably something like three very basic errors in a post or two in a single sentence. I'm talking about stuff that a conscientious 12-year-old would catch; I don't care about dangling participles or who/whom.
Mistakes that are more likely to make me pull the trigger, just because they bug me disproportionately: lose/loose, compliment/complement, misplaced apostrophes,... I'm sure there are more.
On the other hand, use a neat word (correctly) and I'll likely ignore any mistakes.
What do you think? Is this a reasonable stance? Am I imagining the decline in standards? Am I just a curmudgeon?
I've been hanging around on the site quite a bit less recently. It hasn't been a deliberate decision, I've just been keener to ramble through other regions of the internet. The obvious explanation is the cancellation of the game, but I don't think that's it. One of the great things about this site is (or was, which is my point) that people posted as if they cared about expressing themselves clearly, following basic grammatical and spelling conventions.
I'm increasingly of the opinion that this is not the case any more. At least, I often find myself wading through a misspelt mess with random-seeming punctuation. And I don't enjoy doing that.
As I understand it, the point of negrep is to say "this post made my experience of heroscapers.com worse rather than better". This fits the bill for these posts exactly, so I'm going to start negrepping them. Indeed, the point of posting this here is so that I can link to it in the negrep text rather than explaining each time.
I think it's also important to note what negrep does not say (at least mine does not): "I think you suck". That is not the message I'm trying to convey.
I don't know what my threshold is likely to be. Probably something like three very basic errors in a post or two in a single sentence. I'm talking about stuff that a conscientious 12-year-old would catch; I don't care about dangling participles or who/whom.
Mistakes that are more likely to make me pull the trigger, just because they bug me disproportionately: lose/loose, compliment/complement, misplaced apostrophes,... I'm sure there are more.
On the other hand, use a neat word (correctly) and I'll likely ignore any mistakes.
What do you think? Is this a reasonable stance? Am I imagining the decline in standards? Am I just a curmudgeon?
Comments 55
Total Comments 55
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Oh, another disclaimer: new members (whether in time or post count) get a PM and a link to one of the very good threads with advice new members rather than negrep.
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Posted August 21st, 2011 at 11:03 AM by ollie
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Make sure you don't go too crazy with it, let's not make new members feel rejected.
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Posted August 21st, 2011 at 01:13 PM by elvenwizard9
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Reject them. If they can't stick to the standard we don't need them. More power to you, Ollie!
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Posted August 21st, 2011 at 01:39 PM by Swamper
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Good luck, Ollie. Just remember that there are a few people (right now I am thinking of dra(gon)) who don't speak English as their first language. Odd? Perhaps it is. But true, nonetheless.
But as for the native English speakers, I say negrep away. |
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Posted August 21st, 2011 at 02:07 PM by flameslayer93
Updated August 21st, 2011 at 02:15 PM by flameslayer93 |
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Agreed on the new members, Elvenwizard9, hence the added disclaimer. They should be made aware of the standards as a first step.
Also agreed on the English-as-a-second-language crowd Flameslayer93. (Why is it odd not to have English as your native language?) I guess what I'm really after is people caring enough about their readers to make an effort to communicate clearly; whenever I think that effort is there I won't be negrepping. |
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Posted August 21st, 2011 at 06:29 PM by ollie
Updated August 21st, 2011 at 06:35 PM by ollie |
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If someone else was leading this cause, I might be a little worried. I have complete faith in you Ollie. Best of luck.
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Posted August 21st, 2011 at 07:36 PM by Tornado
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamper
Reject them. If they can't stick to the standard we don't need them.
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Posted August 21st, 2011 at 08:08 PM by Shockma Ranyk
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Using the reputation system to try to improve the quality of posts around here is really the point of the reputation system. And the rep system is surprisingly effective in that role, when you step back and think about it.
Just don't go around trying to enforce British spelling and we're cool.  |
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Posted August 21st, 2011 at 08:36 PM by dok
Updated August 22nd, 2011 at 11:06 AM by dok (Oops, I mean, enfourse British spelling. My bad.) |
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I have no problem with Neg Rep as long as it's used the way you use it. I think sometimes people can be a little rude in their Neg Rep comments. I know that won't be the case with you.
~Rednax |
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Posted August 21st, 2011 at 08:46 PM by rednax
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I don't know about it getting worse (I haven't been around all that long), but I do know that bad grammar, punctuation, and capitalization bugs me to no end. Miss-spells (as long as they’re not frequent or very noticeable) I don’t find a huge problem, but bad capitalization and punctuation just annoys me. I’d say be careful, but it sounds like a good idea.
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Posted August 21st, 2011 at 09:32 PM by Viegon
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Quote:
(Why is it odd not to have English as your native language?)
 Everyone has their right to use their rep as they want. Good luck, ollie. |
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Posted August 22nd, 2011 at 04:12 AM by flameslayer93
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I agree with your reasoning for the negrep, but I haven't noticed the increase of posts that leave one "wading through a misspelt mess with random-seeming punctuation". Maybe it is because I myself am here less, but I don't know.
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Posted August 22nd, 2011 at 11:30 AM by A_Train
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I agree 100%.
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Posted August 22nd, 2011 at 04:15 PM by Warlord Alpha
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Sounds fair to me, ollie. Lead by example.
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Posted August 23rd, 2011 at 12:12 AM by Sherman Davies
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Personally, I'm hoping for a return to the stylish utterances of Caveman lingo. It's much purer that way, and with none of that silly grammar.
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Posted August 23rd, 2011 at 11:30 AM by Elginb
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Recent Blog Entries by ollie
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- A Neg Rep Rampage (August 21st, 2011)
