IBTL: A prig's charter

[PeterCanessa Oh]

There is an argument in another thread over, for want of a better way to put it, 'typing style'.  Specifically text-talk, such as 'l8r' although personally I dislike the absence of punctuation more.  Now it goes without saying that anyone can write however they want to and, especially, that there are a lot of non-English speakers speakers here who are working harder than the rest of us anyway.  Hmmm, I've been a trained touch-typist for 35 years too but the number of typos I make is embarrassing.

Nevertheless, I'm here and in SL because I want to be, not because it's work, and in this argument I'm a prig.  When I encounter someone who deliberatley makes their posts hard to read I will:

• (60%) skip their posts: there are plenty of people trying to communicate that deserve my time more.  (Special praise to people like 16 here, whose style I find 'idiosyncratic' but whose points are always worth the extra effort to read.)
• (80%) assume they are immature: not necessarily young but more interested in 'looking cool' than in being understood.
• (90%) not help or work for them: I'm not going to dedicate weeks to scripting for someone when it would be days if they'd bother to to put some effort into explaining themselves.  (10% chance it'll be something short and interesting enough I'll do it anyway)
• (40%) discount their views: I know I'm the one skipping stuff here and I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.  I assume it's their fingers and not their brains that are the problem :-)  Nevertheless, if I'm not sure what they're saying I'm not going to give it a lot of weight.

Or, to put it another way, "If you appear literate but deliberately obscure I will almost certainly treat you as an idiot, may well ignore you completely and may assume you had nothing useful to say anyway.  I will almost certainly not make any effort to assist you, since you can't be bothered to make any in communicating with me". - and that is my prig's charter.

I was tempted to name names here but thought it would be more fun for people to classify themselves.  So are you:

• A prig
• A texter
• A non-English speaker
• Really, really bad at typing
• Lazy
• Too relaxed to mind how others type (edited)
• so there was this thing and another thing did something with this thing and the thing did another thing and then everything went away and what I want is for my thing back and i don't know what thing i should look for

Have fun :-)

[Ceka Cianci]

i don't see mine on the list..

i'm just relaxed hehehe

[Irene Muni]

non-English speaker + really bad typing + writer while I answer the phone and other labor issues

[Kylie Jaxxon]

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PeterCanessa Oh wrote:

There is an argument in another thread over, for want of a better way to put it, 'typing style'.  Specifically text-talk, such as 'l8r' although personally I dislike the absence of punctuation more.  Now it goes without saying that anyone can write however they want to and, especially, that there are a lot of non-English speakers speakers here who are working harder than the rest of us anyway.  Hmmm, I've been a trained touch-typist for 35 years too but the number of typos I make is embarrassing.

Nevertheless, I'm here and in SL because I want to be, not because it's work, and in this argument I'm a prig.  When I encounter someone who deliberatley makes their posts hard to read I will:

• (60%) skip their posts: there are plenty of people trying to communicate that deserve my time more.  (Special praise to people like 16 here, whose style I find 'idiosyncratic' but whose points are always worth the extra effort to read.)
• (80%) assume they are immature: not necessarily young but more interested in 'looking cool' than in being understood.
• (90%) not help or work for them: I'm not going to dedicate weeks to scripting for someone when it would be days if they'd bother to to put some effort into explaining themselves.  (10% chance it'll be something short and interesting enough I'll do it anyway)
• (40%) discount their views: I know I'm the one skipping stuff here and I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.  I assume it's their fingers and not their brains that are the problem :-)  Nevertheless, if I not sure what they're saying I'm not going to give it a lot of weight.

Or, to put it another way, "If you appear literate but deliberately obscure I will almost certainly treat you as an idiot, may well ignore you completely and may assume you had nothing useful to say anyway.  I will almost certainly not make any effort to assist you, since you can't be bothered to make any in communicating with me". - and that is my prig's charter.

I was tempted to name names here but thought it would be more fun for people to classify themselves.  So are you:

• A prig
• A texter
• A non-English speaker
• Really, really bad at typing
• Lazy
• so there was this thing and another thing did something with this thing and the thing did another thing and then everything went away and what I want is for my thing back and i don't know what thing i should look for

Have fun :-)

---

Agree with you totally   It seems to me the person in question, has posted without that nonsense before...for whatever reason, she/he is trying to push buttons

No doubt about it, I'm a prig... 

[Marigold Devin]

Inner voice told me to remove my comment. Need to think more before I hit the "send" button. Should have yesterday. Will do in future.

[Madelaine McMasters]

tl;dr

;-)

[PeterCanessa Oh]

Ouch!  Don't get me involved in "the person in question" I really think writing l33t or whatever is fine, but not going to get my attention.  As such I wasn't thinking of "a person" so much as all our reactions to different styles.

But hey, I also created this thread for a bit of creative chaos so knock yourselves out, lol.

@ Ceka - good point, I'll edit the OP

@ Irene - you don't need an excuse :-)

[Madelaine McMasters]

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Irene Muni wrote:

non-English speaker + really bad typing +

writer

while I

answer the phone

and other

labor issues

---

Damned ESL hunt and peck multi-taskers. I'm envious.

[Madelaine McMasters]

---

Marigold Devin wrote:

Inner voice told me to remove my comment. Need to think more before I hit the "send" button. Should have yesterday. Will do in future.

---

Too late, I saw it!

Prig!!!

;-)

[Phil Deakins]

I often describe myself as a dyslexic typist - so often I type all the right letters but in the wrong order. I'm a decent speller but my fingers seem to have a mind of their own.

So that's me - a "dyslexic typist".

[Marigold Devin]

I have problems spelling vegetable sometimes.

My best friend at school was very proud when she learned how to spell the word 'PIE', but my mother was not so pleased when the word 'PIE' was repeatedly drawn in chalk (in pretty different colours) all over the side of our house.

Luckily, in some hobbies or pastimes, knowing how to spell or write a word doesn't matter. How it's said might be open to some interpretation though.



[PudgyPaddy]

I am a stickler.  I abhor English speaking people that write incoherent sentences when they are seeking help.  If they can not help me read their request then I find it near impossible to respond in a manner that will assist them.  ESL's who try to write correctly always get a free pass with me; especially the ones who try harder than some EFL's to be understood.    

[PeterCanessa Oh]

:-) "I'm typing all the right letters ... not necessarily in the right order." to paraphrase a comedy classic.

[Pamela Galli]

My special irritation: Non-English speaking persons who write to me in their own language, which Google cannot translate because they misspelled so much of it.

[Madelaine McMasters]

[PeterCanessa Oh]

Borge is great, I have heard/seen several of his shows.  Brilliant

[Coby Foden]

Wow, PeterCanessa, your post was a joy to the eyes, easy reading. :matte-motes-big-grin:

As a non-native English user, I like when people take the effort in the forums to type correctly, use punctuations and paragraphs in the right way.  It makes the reading a joy.

Generally I skip the posts where the user does not care even about the simplest rules in writing: no capital letters to start a sentence, incomprehensible shorternings (even comprehensible ones like "h r u?" types..), no paragraphs.  It gives an impression that the person is sloppy, or tries to be "cool and relaxed", perhaps?  Naturally we all tend to make typos, spelling errors, grammatical erros.  Those are understandable and tolerable.

Even in inworld chat I get weary if somebody constantly uses all kinds of shortenings when chatting.  Though I'm more tolerant there for "slight sloppyness" than in the forums.

... for in the forums it is easy to check one's writing before hitting the "Post" button ...

[Dillon Levenque]

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Madelaine McMasters wrote:

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:-D

[PeterCanessa Oh]

Thank you Coby.  I know my particular fault, apart from typing mistakes, is sub-clauses (like that one), which make the sentence structure unclear and difficult to read.  I am a parody of myself.

Incidentally, we haven't heard from anyone who objects to long-winded and pedestrian typing and prefers text-type.  That's perfectly legitimate too, I'm only putting my viewpoint as a prig, not saying it's a good one ^^

[Dillon Levenque]

I try pretty hard to be as coherent as possible and I think I succeed more often than I fail. If I'm trying to make a point I'll be careful with my words; if I'm just fooling around I'll write more like I talk—slang, sloppy contractions (gonna), incomplete sentences—but even then I do attempt to be clear.

I try to read just about everyone's posts, but I don't bother with the ones that seem to be just lazy or deliberately screwy.

 

ETA: I don't mind acronyms, even if it does mean I have to run out to Google to see what they mean (as I had to for IBTL).

[Marcus Hancroft]

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Phil Deakins wrote:

I often describe myself as a dyslexic typist - so often I type all the right letters but in the wrong order. I'm a decent speller but my fingers seem to have a mind of their own.

So that's me - a "dyslexic typist".

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I am too, Phil.  But I guess I am also a "prig."  I hate all the ridiculous abbreviations and things you see around the internet now and in text messages.  I have a slider phone and so when I type a text, it looks exactly as this post does.  Punctuation included. 

I am forever typing the correct letters in the wrong order.  (/me laughs)  So, we two are a pair.  You are DEFINITELY not the only one.

On edit:  Did it again.  Had to fix it. 

[Griffin Ceawlin]

Depends on how hard I have to work.

[Phil Deakins]

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PeterCanessa Oh wrote:

:-) "I'm typing all the right letters ... not necessarily in the right order." to paraphrase a comedy classic.

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That was a classic, and I've always had it in mind when describing my dyslexic typing

[Phil Deakins]

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Madelaine McMasters wrote:

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I remember that one too - brilliant!

[Clarissa Lowell]

Well I can be lazy but I think that is good some of the time. You have to take it easy sometimes.

I try to get what I am saying across. If I am not feeling great I might ramble. 

I will read long posts if they are fun to read. If they don't have a point or are just a ragefest I skip or skim.

I think it is immaturity and ego a lot of times if people don't consider what their post is like to read. They are too used to everyone catering to their moods.