Stricter Rules

Um... I know that I'm not a genius when it comes to proper use of the English language, but could we please have some stricter rules on the use of grammar here? I know there's been announcements made about it, but it doesn't seem like anything is being done. People post without using capitals, they use chatspeak, excessive punctuation/none at all and it really ticks me off. We're a writer site here; not a site for preschoolers. I can understand posting using special formats that dismiss normal rules of writing in blogs, poems and RP templates; that's fine. But for post replies, regular threads and whatnot, would it be possible to have posts either edited or deleted if the grammar's terrible? Or can these people at least get warnings? If someone says something like:

"Yeah, I'm gunna go in like two minutes."

That's not good grammar, but people who write like that aren't the issue. The real issue is when people say stuff like:

"ur thred ish teh bom!!!!11"

Or something with equally atrocious spelling/chatspeak that I can't even mimic. -.-


Also, would it be possible to have a required amount of characters per post, like WI does? I know, that rule kind of ticked me off while I was there but I honestly don't think it takes a lot of effort to write more than ten characters. I know there are some threads in the game section that you only can write one word answers for... But we can live without them, can't we? What good do games like that do, anyway? :/ If people still want them, they can either make the words longer, or make them into two/three word games.

Augh, I sound like a jerk, don't I? Well, just a few friendly suggestions, I guess...

I totally agree with you on the whole grammar thing. On another website someone was rping and it was like:

"congratz!" my mom said, taking me wit her.

Just an example, and I know maybe it was a misspelling, but I always go over my posts to check for spelling errors, and other can too. And as for the 10 character rule, it might be useful for some things, but not for others. Sometimes there's not much to say. Maybe someone asked you to start on your rp with let's say Anna and Jake. There's not much to say in my opinion, just a 'sure'. Maybe I'm not thinking about it too much, so I could be wrong. But I support you on your grammer suggestion, since that needs to be improved in my opinion. But even though I enjoy the games, a pretty large percent of my posts came from there, and I'm on the top 10 posters list, which I can see can be unfair, to some people that have written 2,000 lengthly posts. So now after thinking about that, I think I support that idea also. [I know, I change my mind too quick. xP] and like you said, you could always change it to what, 2 words instead of one? It's not that bad, really.

But bottom line, [if it's possible on here/My BB to make a minimum of 10 characters] I support both of your ideas.

Thank you so much for your support, Leah. :3

This is a lovely idea.

I'm fine when people use words like 'gonna' or 'I'mma', or sometimes use the word 'like'. I'm fine with incorrect grammar, 'cause we all have it. And 'cause sometimes it's easier to say 'cause than because and stuff.

Anyway, I still agree totally.

I think there should be a five word rule, actually. xD Or a ten word rule. I know a lot of my existing posts wouldn't comply, but I'd love it. Though it would sorta take a bit of getting used to.

I agree. I've been seeing some of the newer members (no offense, newer members) using chatspeak and such. (I do use things like IDK and stuff, but I personally don't consider that chatspeak.) Maybe make it clearer in the rules?

As for the length limit, I don't want one here. There's always ways around it, after all (eg. adding extra spaces) and it's just irritating. Just my opinion.

I fully agree, Mo.

And Ratt-Sama, it's not just the newbies. Some of the older members still chatspeak too much, for me to understand.
But people like Hyro can't be blamed. [If you saw his "I'm New Here" thread a while back, he did state that he has a few grammar problems.]

I'm not actually sure if there's a character requirement option for Forumotion. I think I remember having seen one once, but I'm not sure where to find it now. XD Or maybe I'm just confusing that with flood control and there never was an option like that, but oh well. Ari, does MyBB do that?

And the grammar thing . . . well, yeah, I agree that it hasn't been reinforced as much lately. XD I have been sending reminders to people through PM, but maybe part of the problem is that I don't pay a lot of attention to them in the first place, so it's easy for me not to notice when somebody starts tlkn lk THESSEEE.

So, well, I do think these are wise suggestions. The grammar thing, hopefully I can address that with the mods and see if we can work on reinforcing it more. (If they don't see this thread, I'll bring it up with them myself.) Can't do much about any sort of character limit until I figure out if I can do it, though, and how to do it. XD

The character limit is possible in MyBB, and it's configurable.

That's pretty much all I have to say. xD

Oh, okay. So we can talk about that . . . um, in our discussion! Yeah.

I probably shouldn't be posting again, but...

What also annoys me [no one in particular, though] is when in rping you constantly use &.

Ex.
Lauren & Jeff went to the mall & store to get ice cream & crackers. & then Haley joined & rode the rollercoaster. & then they all went home & watched Eclipse & fell asleep.

Maybe it's just me, but that and not using capitals/grammer annoys the heck out of me. O.e

Is this just me? xD

leah_hope92 wrote:I probably shouldn't be posting again, but...

What also annoys me [no one in particular, though] is when in rping you constantly use &.

Ex.
Lauren & Jeff went to the mall & store to get ice cream & crackers. & then Haley joined & rode the rollercoaster. & then they all went home & watched Eclipse & fell asleep.

Maybe it's just me, but that and not using capitals/grammer annoys the heck out of me. O.e

Is this just me? xD

Agreed.
Although I'm used to the non-capitalization. [With a few friends, n' all..]

Arianna wrote:This is a lovely idea.

I'm fine when people use words like 'gonna' or 'I'mma', or sometimes use the word 'like'. I'm fine with incorrect grammar, 'cause we all have it. And 'cause sometimes it's easier to say 'cause than because and stuff.

Anyway, I still agree totally.

I think there should be a five word rule, actually. xD Or a ten word rule. I know a lot of my existing posts wouldn't comply, but I'd love it. Though it would sorta take a bit of getting used to.

Thank you, Ari! ^^

Yeah, I definitely agree with you there. As long as they're being correctly incorrect, you know? For example, not spelling 'gonna' like 'gona' or ''cause' like 'cus'. XP

Yeah, that's a great idea as well. It would really encourage us to write more. :3

rattyjol wrote:I agree. I've been seeing some of the newer members (no offense, newer members) using chatspeak and such. (I do use things like IDK and stuff, but I personally don't consider that chatspeak.) Maybe make it clearer in the rules?

As for the length limit, I don't want one here. There's always ways around it, after all (eg. adding extra spaces) and it's just irritating. Just my opinion.

Yeah, I've seen a lot of that too, Ratty. :/ I agree that making it clearer in the rules would probably help.

XD Well that's understandable. I just personally don't see why on a writers' site we would be making super short posts anyway, so... ^^;

Malicious Nightmares wrote:I fully agree, Mo.

And Ratt-Sama, it's not just the newbies. Some of the older members still chatspeak too much, for me to understand.
But people like Hyro can't be blamed. [If you saw his "I'm New Here" thread a while back, he did state that he has a few grammar problems.]

Thank you, Afi.

Yeah, but typically the older members grow out of it once they get used to the site. But yeah, I agree that it's not just the newbies.
Yeah, well that shouldn't be a problem, as long as he punctuates the end of the sentence and capitalizes the first letter.

shadowsowner888 wrote:I'm not actually sure if there's a character requirement option for Forumotion. I think I remember having seen one once, but I'm not sure where to find it now. XD Or maybe I'm just confusing that with flood control and there never was an option like that, but oh well. Ari, does MyBB do that?

And the grammar thing . . . well, yeah, I agree that it hasn't been reinforced as much lately. XD I have been sending reminders to people through PM, but maybe part of the problem is that I don't pay a lot of attention to them in the first place, so it's easy for me not to notice when somebody starts tlkn lk THESSEEE.

So, well, I do think these are wise suggestions. The grammar thing, hopefully I can address that with the mods and see if we can work on reinforcing it more. (If they don't see this thread, I'll bring it up with them myself.) Can't do much about any sort of character limit until I figure out if I can do it, though, and how to do it. XD

Oh, well I'm glad that you've already been sending people reminders, Ado. ^u^ And yeah, well when/if the rule is enforced, we can always start reporting people who "tlk lik THESSEEE" so that it's easier for you mods to talk to them about it. :3

Thank you, Shadow!

Arianna wrote:The character limit is possible in MyBB, and it's configurable.

That's pretty much all I have to say. xD

leah_hope92 wrote:I probably shouldn't be posting again, but...

What also annoys me [no one in particular, though] is when in rping you constantly use &.

Ex.
Lauren & Jeff went to the mall & store to get ice cream & crackers. & then Haley joined & rode the rollercoaster. & then they all went home & watched Eclipse & fell asleep.

Maybe it's just me, but that and not using capitals/grammer annoys the heck out of me. O.e

Is this just me? xD

Ah, I totally agree with you. XD When they do the double '&&' it's even worse... x_x

Komoda wrote:Ah, I totally agree with you. XD When they do the double '&&' it's even worse... x_x

The only time you should use those are if you're evaluating two things in a conditional statement in code. :3

Also, I know this doesn't pertain completely to this idea, but it builds on what Ratty said - people will get around it. Usually on WI people do this on the posting games sections, so perhaps (I haven't checked) the limit could be disabled there? Of course, post counts could be disabled there, too, so it wouldn't matter much.

I completely agree with you. Yes, I'll admit I'm guilty of certainly not having the best grammar, using 'cause', 'like', 'gonna', 'I'mma', and stuff like that too often, but when people tak lyke diss && u kno, likeeeee this, it can really get on my nerves. Enforcing the rules against chatspeak would definitely help. :3

Komoda wrote:Ah, I totally agree with you. XD When they do the double '&&' it's even worse... x_x

Amen to this. XD

I agree with the grammar and capitalization issue completely. I use LOL and IDK and stuff like Ratty, but not like this or something like this:

lolololo ya i totaly luv elcipes. sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
awsum && i luved the part where e (whatever he did here xD) && i TOTS think u should see it. okaiiii BAIBAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!

^That's just horrid. xP I didn't like typing it.

The word count thing, though. -_-
That's part of the reason I don't go on WI anymore. It annoys the HECK out of me. Like, all I have to say is 'thanks.' That's not 10 characters, so what do I do? I have to say it twice or do some freaky glitch thing which makes my post all funny. -_-

So for me..the first one; yes. The second; no thank you.

Arianna wrote:

Komoda wrote:Ah, I totally agree with you. XD When they do the double '&&' it's even worse... x_x

The only time you should use those are if you're evaluating two things in a conditional statement in code. :3

Also, I know this doesn't pertain completely to this idea, but it builds on what Ratty said - people will get around it. Usually on WI people do this on the posting games sections, so perhaps (I haven't checked) the limit could be disabled there? Of course, post counts could be disabled there, too, so it wouldn't matter much.

XD I didn't even know there was a correct way to use it at all.

Yeah, I was thinking of suggesting similar, but I thought it would be entirely impossible. That's a good idea, Ari! :3

Avé wrote:I completely agree with you. Yes, I'll admit I'm guilty of certainly not having the best grammar, using 'cause', 'like', 'gonna', 'I'mma', and stuff like that too often, but when people tak lyke diss && u kno, likeeeee this, it can really get on my nerves. Enforcing the rules against chatspeak would definitely help. :3

Komoda wrote:Ah, I totally agree with you. XD When they do the double '&&' it's even worse... x_x

Amen to this. XD

Thank you, Ave. :3 I'm glad to hear you agree.

Cyn431 wrote:The sticklers for literary conventions have been spoken for! (Well, I'm pretty much stickler for the majority of literary conventions, not quite everything though. xD)

In other words, I fully agree with everything that was on the front post. I wouldn't delete any posts though, just add beneath the original text what would be the proper grammar so whoever had posted could look back, if they choose to, and see proper and improper side by side. That's just me though.

As for the required characters... Again, like others have said, people will get around it, and the same would apply to required word count. Most people would probably just get around the characters with spaces, but there may be others that would find it more appropriate to actually make the filling up space visible with something like "sure lolololololol" or "sure lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol" and they may even take it to a point where it's unnecessary. Now, I don't expect this or think that of Twig's members, but I'm just saying it could happen.

For the ampersand, I agree, I think there are times where it should be used and other times where it shouldn't. I believe the ampersand should be used in a situation like this: "On the talent show there will be performances by Lauren, Bo, Harry, Taylor & Reese, Max and Leo." Not in the example that Leah provided. Really, I don't believe there should be any reason to use "&&", or at least on a writing site. xP

... I think I addressed everything that had been of topic on this thread, but I'm not sure, and this post is long enough as it is, so I'll just wrap it all up and say I agree. ;3

Now that you mention it, I don't think deleting posts because of grammar would be a good idea either, really... That's only something lazy WI mods would do. ^^

Yeah, I guess that could happen, but that could be against the rules as well. There's no excuse for it, really. If they need to, they can make it a full sentence. Like, instead of "sure," they could say, "sure Afi, I'll make sure to get you the pink earmuffs you wanted."

I agree with you, Cyn. :3 I hardly ever use ampersands at all, though. X3 Unless I'm talking about a couple... There's the odd time I'll say Light & L instead of LightxL.

Mrs. Twarry Matsuda wrote:I agree with the grammar and capitalization issue completely. I use LOL and IDK and stuff like Ratty, but not like this or something like this:

lolololo ya i totaly luv elcipes. sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
awsum && i luved the part where e (whatever he did here xD) && i TOTS think u should see it. okaiiii BAIBAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!

^That's just horrid. xP I didn't like typing it.

The word count thing, though. -_-
That's part of the reason I don't go on WI anymore. It annoys the HECK out of me. Like, all I have to say is 'thanks.' That's not 10 characters, so what do I do? I have to say it twice or do some freaky glitch thing which makes my post all funny. -_-

So for me..the first one; yes. The second; no thank you.

XP Glad to hear you agree. Haha, that's the perfect example too.

You could say, "Thank you, *insert name here*. I really appreciate your comment."
Not only is that more words, but it's more sincere. ^^

True....true. But other things wouldn't work that way. xP

Komoda wrote:Oh, well I'm glad that you've already been sending people reminders, Ado. ^u^ And yeah, well when/if the rule is enforced, we can always start reporting people who "tlk lik THESSEEE" so that it's easier for you mods to talk to them about it. :3

Ah, I totally agree with you. XD When they do the double '&&' it's even worse... x_x

Yeah, the reports would definitely be helpful.

Hmm . . . I'd never really seen the double ampersands as improper grammar, honestly. xD I always viewed them as more of something you can play with to make the posts fancier. Though if it were used all the time, or by somebody who didn't have good grammar (because the few times I've seen it the member did have good grammar), then I'd probably start getting irritated.

I guess that's kind of irrelevant, though, since really it isn't proper grammar. XD

Arianna wrote:Also, I know this doesn't pertain completely to this idea, but it builds on what Ratty said - people will get around it. Usually on WI people do this on the posting games sections, so perhaps (I haven't checked) the limit could be disabled there? Of course, post counts could be disabled there, too, so it wouldn't matter much.

I definitely want to disable post counting in the posting games section.

@Mo; About him adding punctuation, and capitalizing the first letter. It's not 100% often, but he does it as much as he can.

The reason why I have a problem with double ampersands is because this is the kind of crap I see on FB all the time:

Some kid who thinks they're cool wrote:hiiiii derrr muffinnn iii luvvvv youuu && WeShoodGetMaried&&HaveBabies && iiii realllyyy wannaaa hang out && gooo too aa moviiee && meeet mee byyy theee alleeeyy sooo weee cannn meeeet someeee olddd mennn && GetRapedBecaseWereDesprat&&HaveNoSelfRespect && luv uuuu babbiii<3 JuusttinnnBiebberrr4Lyfe hommiee fooo shizzle :PPPPP Seeee whaat iii diddd thaaarrr? I aaacttteedd likeee a ganggster && uuusseed jbs naaammee in ttheee saameee senteenceee loleerrcopterr watt aa jokkee

Literally.

Malicious Nightmares wrote:@Mo; About him adding punctuation, and capitalizing the first letter. It's not 100% often, but he does it as much as he can.

That's good.

Komoda wrote:The reason why I have a problem with double ampersands is because this is the kind of crap I see on FB all the time:

Some kid who thinks they're cool wrote:hiiiii derrr muffinnn iii luvvvv youuu && WeShoodGetMaried&&HaveBabies && iiii realllyyy wannaaa hang out && gooo too aa moviiee && meeet mee byyy theee alleeeyy sooo weee cannn meeeet someeee olddd mennn && GetRapedBecaseWereDesprat&&HaveNoSelfRespect && luv uuuu babbiii<3 JuusttinnnBiebberrr4Lyfe hommiee fooo shizzle :PPPPP Seeee whaat iii diddd thaaarrr? I aaacttteedd likeee a ganggster aand uuusseed jbs naaammee in ttheee saameee senteenceee loleerrcopterr watt aa jokkee

LITERALLY.

YES. I see that all the time, too. They might just be using double ampersands to make it look cuter, but really, it doesn't work... ._.

Ugh. I had problems reading that message. e_o

Avé wrote:YES. I see that all the time, too. They might just be using double ampersands to make it look cuter, but really, it doesn't work... ._.

Augh, no kidding. -.-

I think extra letters annoy me, too. I sound hypocritical saying that - I mean, I'll use 'niiiiiice' and stuff like that at times. What I'm talking about, though, is whenn peoplee talkk likee thiss((: becausee theyyyyy lovee beinggg cutee likee thatt.