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
Comments
Uh Oh!Well met!
Geez! And here I am, trying to lower my standards, so as to conform to the [eighth grade] general level of education of the masses, rather than continually making people run to their dictionaries for every other word in my posts/blogs! |
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Posted August 23rd, 2011 at 01:45 PM by kolakoski |
I have read other similar things around here of late, and I find it of interest.
My question is - what does it mean? Is it a changing of the guard? Are veterans fading away into the sunset as a younger generation elbows its way through? They say children can use phone apps before they can tie their shoes now. Is it just an example of the rising technologically literate but illiterate population? Or is it another brick in the long slow road of this games demise? |
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Posted August 23rd, 2011 at 02:49 PM by Sylvano the Wasabus |
I certainly hope nothing that happens on this board can be generalized into any broader insights about the culture at large...
What does it mean? It means we're maybe about to have another grammar and spelling stand-off around here-- it's been happening off-and-on like clockwork ever since this site has started. Personally, I think it's much ado over nothing-- I just skip the stuff I find too painful to read. |
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Posted August 23rd, 2011 at 11:46 PM by Elginb |
I have also noticed considerably more posts with typos, misspelled words, lack of content, etc. I attribute it to a lot of new posters (not necessarily new users) who are no longer kept 'in check' by a lot of the old salts who have either moved on to other sites, lost interest in HS, or are keeping a low profile. Sylvano nailed it:
Quote:
Are veterans fading away into the sunset as a younger generation elbows its way through?
So, neg rep (and/or some acknowledgement of the spelling error in a reply) sounds like a good way to promote the importance of smooth reading. |
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Posted August 24th, 2011 at 09:16 AM by Filthy the Clown |
Go for it, ollie. As a teenager myself, I am sure I can be accused of all these things, but I know that a good neg-rep can shoot many of us back on track, at least for me. I am bothered by it just as much as many of you. So as I said before, go for it!
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Posted August 24th, 2011 at 12:41 PM by Killer Lawnmower |
Also, this bugs me to no end- 16$. It's $16! I'm behind you 100%, but could you add that to your list of things you'd Neg Rep about?
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Posted August 25th, 2011 at 03:06 PM by Arrow Grut |
Quote:
Also, this bugs me to no end- 16$. It's $16! I'm behind you 100%, but could you add that to your list of things you'd Neg Rep about?
My peeves are already pretty wide-ranging (can I add using adjectives as adverbs to the list while I'm here?) so I dread to think what'd happen if I started worrying about what annoyed everyone else too! |
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Posted August 25th, 2011 at 06:55 PM by ollie |
One thing that I believe no one mentioned dis typos. I make A TON of typos. You could probably go to anything I ever posted and find a typo in it. Is this because I am too lazy to clean them up? No. It is because there are too many to find. I try very, very hard to find all fo my typos, but I'm always findign new ones when I go back to the post in question. For example, there was a total of sixteen typos in this post (that is low). Neg repping for typos is not fair, and it is very discouraging to members. It's liek saying, "You can't type, so I dont' want to hear from you again." I realize that you cannot distinguish between a typo and a misspelling generally, so I would recommend that instead of firing away with your rep cannon, you take a more polite approach to new members, encourage them to post, and send them a PM pointing their errors out. IMO.
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Posted September 18th, 2011 at 05:58 PM by TGRF |
I count five typos remaining in your comment, The Grim Reaper's Friend (and all appear to be typos rather than spelling errors).
As I've already said, with new members I'll do just as you suggest. You're not a new member. If you make a post with too many typos (according to whatever my mood dictates is too many at the time I'm reading) I'll negrep it. If you're happy with your typo-rate then ignore any negrep you get for it; if you're unhappy with it then improve your typing (or, more accurately, the care and attention you give to your posts). |
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Posted September 18th, 2011 at 06:36 PM by ollie
Updated September 18th, 2011 at 06:42 PM by ollie |
My point is that I give a ton of care to my posts. If you have ever had to edit a whole bunch in your posts, you have probably notice the annoying fact that the red underlines disappear at random times, leaving you clueless about where the typos are. On top of that, I saw the spell checker clearly miss several things. Weird. *checks for typos. I think I got them all, right? I don't see any red.*
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Posted September 18th, 2011 at 09:59 PM by TGRF |
I don't have "red underlines". Is that how the spelling checker works? It's certainly one of the bazillion reasons I don't use Word (or other wysiwyg word processors).
The point here about rep though is that it does not matter how much care you give to your posts. If there is a typo in every sentence I won't enjoy reading it, quite possibly to the point where I'll give it neg rep because it made me, the reader, think you did not care enough. Neg rep is only what you make of it. You are free to reflect on your posts and the processes by which you came to decide they were fit to be unleashed on the public and to either disagree with the neg rep and ignore it or agree and change your habits. As I said before, if you're happy with your rate of typos then carry on as you are and ignore any neg rep it attracts. Otherwise, take some action and improve it. I hope you choose the latter, and your most recent comment is evidence that you have. (I see one typo, and it's one a spelling checker won't catch.) |
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Posted September 18th, 2011 at 10:46 PM by ollie |
I has Red LinesI don't know why, but when I use Firefox or Chrome, I get the little squiggly red lines. Because I look up at my post every few words, I can catch most of my typos. But in general, I might forget to add a word, so I'll go back and add it later. In fact, I edited this particular sentence in and found about 4 typos in this short statement.
(Yes, the title was intentionally bad) |
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Posted September 19th, 2011 at 03:55 AM by flameslayer93
Updated September 21st, 2011 at 03:49 AM by flameslayer93 (I saw the typo in TGRF's post too...) |
SorryI think I speak for all people 12-16 it's hard for us, we try but texting has mest with are brains. I will try harder on my posts.
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Posted October 21st, 2011 at 10:18 PM by ImAPirate |
"mest with are brains"? Thanks for the effort.
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Posted October 21st, 2011 at 10:55 PM by Tornado |
Quote:
Originally Posted by ImAPirate
I think I speak for all people 12-16[b]. It's hard for us, we try but texting has messed with our brains. I will try harder on my posts.
(Also, I don't think you speak for all 12-16 year-olds. There are many in that bracket here with very good writing styles.) |
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Posted October 22nd, 2011 at 11:10 AM by ollie |
Recent Blog Entries by ollie
- A small step for math education... (September 16th, 2013)
- 15-19 years old? Thinking about college? (January 17th, 2013)
- Another tournament, another update. (October 15th, 2011)
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- A Neg Rep Rampage (August 21st, 2011)