One of the most annoying things to deal with as a blogger is the annoyance of having the spelling and grammar police comment on your posts about how you messed up various bits of the English language.
I have to admit that while English is my first language, and really the only one I am competent in, my schooling in its grammar and spelling was pretty horrible. I didn’t learn what a noun or verb was until I was in grade eight, or thirteen years old. I think that is pretty dismal, and while it doesn’t excuse any of the mistakes I, or anyone else makes, readers have to remember that in blogging, it is rare to have an editor, and if there is an editor, he or she probably wasn’t an English major.
Readers should cut bloggers some slack, and try to understand the context of the post, and enjoy the content. I don’t mind when I am corrected on a personal name, or website, but I don’t need to know that I missed a comma.
shaun
August 31st, 2007 at 8:00 pm
consrtuctive criticism my friend get used to it. If you run a blog and your blog gets some traffic there are always going to be people correcting your mistakes.
David
August 31st, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Shaun, thanks for commenting, and while I do agree with you, I sometimes thing people go a bit overboard. That is who the article was really focused towards.
Lucia
August 31st, 2007 at 8:42 pm
When people complain about errors, I suggest you tell them to read the “Important Note to Helpful Readers:” at the Volokh Conspiracy. That blog is written by a group of extremely well respected law professors and they agree with you. Blogs will occasionally have typos. Readers are welcome to give feedback, but preferably by email. Then, errors can be corrected.
David
August 31st, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Thanks for commenting Lucia. I’ve checked it out. That’s a pretty big disclaimer for “we make mistakes”. I really enjoyed it though. Maybe I should write my own…
Lucia
August 31st, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Well, it is a big disclaimer — by people whose columns regularly appear in the newspaper and who are often interviewed on tv!
Isn’t it nice to know that the Eugene Volokh agrees with you? He’n not only the main blogger, he has written a well respected book of advice for students who are trying to get their papers accepted into law journals. So you can be pretty sure they do, in fact, understand the importance of correct grammar, punctuation, style etc.
That said, they do not believe every blog post must be perfect from the moment you hit “publish”!