Punishing "grammar police

Haven't seen this happen much lately, but that monster is still lurking around and pops up on the forum more often than you'd think. What's the actual issue here? People show up to an online community for all sorts of reasons: to connect with people, grab some info, debate stuff, or just hang out and chill... and I think every single one of those motivations deserves equal respect, no exceptions. So, if someone types "change" with a typo, is it really necessary for some pedantic nerd to jump down their throat and lecture them about grammar, or hit them with some "you illiterate hillbilly" insult?

I say we penalize these little grammar police and busybodies who clearly have nothing better to do than find fulfillment in these nerdy trivialities. 🙂

Man, I am totally signing off on this...
It honestly drives me absolutely insane when people feel the need to jump in just to correct someone's spelling or grammar...
In my opinion, that obsessive urge to correct others says way more about their own mental state than it does about the person they're correcting...
But whatever, I guess it's allowed on this forum—you can make mistakes, and you can be one of those people who corrects them...
Let them live their lives, I suppose; some people just have to find someone to lecture, even if it's just here...

If you ask me, that kind of blatant trolling should be an automatic ban from the sub, and honestly, if they keep up with that whole "you're illiterate" attitude, it should probably count as harassment too.
Either way, this isn't even a post that adds anything useful to the discussion or the topic at hand—unless, of course, we're assuming someone is actually just typing gibberish without any coherent thought behind it.
Jerry Martin19, have you reached out to the mod about this yet??

Look, when someone corrected my grammar before, I didn't think it was worth getting worked up about. I’m sure the mods have much bigger fires to put out, but honestly, if they just flagged it when they see it, maybe those types would eventually just stop... at least that's the hope. I don't think it's some huge crisis, but it's an annoying distraction every single time it happens. It's completely pointless too, since it's never actually related to the topic at hand, and sometimes it even derails the whole conversation...

Look, I don't care if people call me a snitch, because that's not what I am, even if I do report trolls like that. If there's something I don't want around me, I've gotta get rid of it. And if the solution is reporting it to a mod, then that isn't snitching—it's just solving a problem that I'd handle myself if I actually had those "privileges"...

hollowtrucker77 said:The moderators are struggling here; they’re drowning in a mountain of entries to review, and when you're buried that deep, it's inevitable that things start slipping through the cracks.
Look, don't go thinking you're going to turn into some degenerate or anything along those lines that kids nowadays get obsessed with just by stepping up.
On the contrary, you'll actually be helping out so that our environment—both yours and theirs—becomes a much better and more pleasant place to be.

That’s fair, though I suppose some mods tend to show a certain level of deference toward specific forum users for all sorts of reasons.
In other words, they just never seem to face any consequences...
I should be free again in a couple of days, so I'll send you a link via PM then, just so you can see how the whole thing actually works.

Jerry Martin19 said:Look, I don't care if people call me a snitch, because that's not what I am, even if I do report trolls like that. If there's something I don't want around me, I've gotta get rid of it. And if the solution is reporting it to a mod, then that isn't snitching—it's just solving a problem that I'd handle myself if I actually had those "privileges"...

At the end of the day, I suppose it's better to report someone than to lose your cool, snap back in the same tone, and end up getting a warning or a ban. Then you just have a bunch of people behind their monitors laughing, thinking, "Oh look, here goes another one..."

Jerry Martin19 said:Haven't seen this happen much lately, but that monster is still lurking around and pops up on the forum more often than you'd think. What's the actual issue here? People show up to an online community for all sorts of reasons: to connect with people, grab some info, debate stuff, or just hang out and chill... and I think every single one of those motivations deserves equal respect, no exceptions. So, if someone types "change" with a typo, is it really necessary for some pedantic nerd to jump down their throat and lecture them about grammar, or hit them with some "you illiterate hillbilly" insult?

I say we penalize these little grammar police and busybodies who clearly have nothing better to do than find fulfillment in these nerdy trivialities. 🙂

I'm right there with you, 👍

I posted one of those trollish threads the other day—you know, the "learn how to write American properly" type—over on the Psychology subforum, and within just a few hours, it was wiped clean. It’s fine to hit that little report button here and there, though... eventually, someone will actually show up and deal with it.

Jerry Martin19 said:Haven't seen this happen much lately, but that monster is still lurking around and pops up on the forum more often than you'd think. What's the actual issue here? People show up to an online community for all sorts of reasons: to connect with people, grab some info, debate stuff, or just hang out and chill... and I think every single one of those motivations deserves equal respect, no exceptions. So, if someone types "change" with a typo, is it really necessary for some pedantic nerd to jump down their throat and lecture them about grammar, or hit them with some "you illiterate hillbilly" insult?

I say we penalize these little grammar police and busybodies who clearly have nothing better to do than find fulfillment in these nerdy trivialities. 🙂

Man, there's no worse trash than the people who, when they run out of actual arguments, start attacking someone's typos or accent just to discredit them.
Idiots like that should get an automatic ban, maybe even a penalty card—IDIOT!
☕

Jerry Martin19 said:Haven't seen this happen much lately, but that monster is still lurking around and pops up on the forum more often than you'd think. What's the actual issue here? People show up to an online community for all sorts of reasons: to connect with people, grab some info, debate stuff, or just hang out and chill... and I think every single one of those motivations deserves equal respect, no exceptions. So, if someone types "change" with a typo, is it really necessary for some pedantic nerd to jump down their throat and lecture them about grammar, or hit them with some "you illiterate hillbilly" insult?

I say we penalize these little grammar police and busybodies who clearly have nothing better to do than find fulfillment in these nerdy trivialities. 🙂

I am right there with you!👍
For instance, when I’m on the forum, I carry myself just as I would in a casual conversation; I don't obsess over my word choice or obsessively check my punctuation. Sometimes I write a short note, sometimes a longer one, and I simply hit send because I really don't give a damn whether I missed a letter or forgot a period.

I completely agree—those fools with their "brilliant" observations irritate me beyond belief.🙄

Look, nobody's perfect. If someone tries to correct you, you just hop over to their profile, find some silly mistake they made, and then tuck it right into your signature. Then, whenever they try to say something remotely intelligent, you just drop that little hint that they can't even write properly, let alone contribute anything constructive 😉

mistymarlin6 said:Look, nobody's perfect. If someone tries to correct you, you just hop over to their profile, find some silly mistake they made, and then tuck it right into your signature. Then, whenever they try to say something remotely intelligent, you just drop that little hint that they can't even write properly, let alone contribute anything constructive 😉

Man, I had to... 😁

^^😁 poetic freedom 😛 😬

I was wondering if any decision has actually been made regarding whether "lecturers" are going to be penalized in the same way as trolls?
Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.....

Honestly, the grammar police and the trolls are the worst. They just flood the boards by nitpicking and mocking the way you express yourself. Personally, I try my best to speak clearly and follow proper linguistic standards. I’m only human, and I make mistakes, but damn it, no one should be labeling me an uneducated peasant just because of that. It’s insulting, and frankly, it’s just trolling.

Everything you're saying makes perfect sense—just not on every single sub-forum. ☕

If you wander into the Social Science section intending to debate linguistics, yet you can't decide whether to spell a word correctly or incorrectly, or if it's an option or an objection—well, that lack of basic knowledge renders you incompetent for any serious discussion. It’s akin to someone attempting to lecture on mathematics without being able to solve a simple equation, or discussing medicine while insisting the human body consists of 237 bones.

And frankly, I will always call out such individuals, regardless of how you feel about it, the moment I spot them. It’s the sheer audacity of those who refuse to master the basics yet insist on acting like experts. Trying to compete with true scholars—that is the primary issue.

Secondly, this forum is a medium of the written word. In this space, your grammar serves as your personal ID card. It speaks volumes about your education and your level of culture. Therefore, it wouldn't hurt to be a bit more careful here and there. Because as much as being corrected might irritate you (not that I do it often myself!), it raises the blood pressure of others just as much when people stumble over basic spelling or punctuation rules and nuances (or whatever else), making themselves look ridiculous. Moreover, it shows a lack of respect for others. I have realized this countless times, and if you actually took a moment to reflect, you would see the truth in it. Communication is a two-way street; if you expect concessions from others, you must be willing to make them yourself. Let's flip the script: why should anyone here have to struggle through your sloppy, half-baked ramblings? Is it really too much to ask to think for a second or two before hitting a key? Are we on the same page, or what? 😉

Finally, it is telling that those who grumble most loudly against proper writing are exclusively the uneducated. For the learned—or at least those who actually bother to learn something on this forum—it is never an issue. On the contrary, they are grateful for every lesson.

Look, here's the thing. It’s not a problem when someone calls out a typo during a serious, high-level debate. The issue is that trolls almost always weaponize grammar as an "argument," turning a standard discussion into a cheap ad hominem attack. They pull that move once they run out of actual points to make, just typing stuff like, "Look at this guy, he can't even spell XYZ correctly."

There’s another scenario where this happens too. It’s pretty stupid to lecture someone if, say, a guy from the Deep South insists on writing change instead of chang'n. Most of the time, they know exactly how it's spelled and said; they just feel more relaxed using their local dialect while typing. I mean, if some guy in America doesn't realize that chang'n is actually change, he basically needs a PhD just to understand regional slang...

jap - Jerry Martin19, you've got my full support on this... back when I first joined last year, I ran into all sorts of losers whose only response to my posts was telling me not to mix up my vowels or grammar... look, buddy—get a life... if you don't have anything smart or constructive to say, or a way to actually engage with my post reasonably, then don't even bother talking to me..

..like what you pointed out—if I'm from the coast, which I am, and if I use my local dialect in everyday speech (and honestly, I use it at college too and none of those stuffy professors ever batted an eye) then I definitely don't need those types of people on this forum..

I get annoyed by a ton of little things with certain users here too, so what? There's a million times more of that stuff in real life, and it never occurs to me to lose sleep over it, let alone argue about it on a forum... if someone can't handle my writing style, they can just hit the ignore button and move on... peace out😉