To hope Mnetters have "Reading and Comprehension" skills????

[Pan]

No facetiousness intended, simply a result of noticing a keeness to "attack" someone after ascribing entirely mis-placed 'labels' to them. This has been invariably after (perhaps deliberately) mis-reading posts made by them and then running away with themsleves on a tirade of bad language and general abuse, nothing to do with ANY level of debate.

It often manifests with posters apparently thinking"well if you think A, then you must think B" to themslves. It happened quite alot on the "bombings" thread over the weekend, to me specifically on a different thread, and have just seen it again elsewhere.

This IS a 'written word' forum, so I don't think it unreasonable to expect reading and comprehension skills to be absent.

Please read posts for what they say. NOT what you wish them to say.

I thank ewe.

I'll clean up afterwards!!

Pan, you is being gittish again. [takes one to know one emoticon]

Mercy NOOO! The menopause scares the living cr*p out of me, my mother's was gruesome

Weeel, Aloha appears to have a thing for me. For some reason.

Offski.

ANd sometimes when I say 'I don't understand' I often mean 'more detail please, where are you coming from/what's the background?'

[menopausal woman]

Pan is a namechanger? Who was he before?

Message withdrawn

What a nasty little post. Shame the 'offski' isn't permanent.

For the record I agree with Pan. Well said.

< Leans out the window, calling after Pan>

I understand what you're saying in the op Pan.....Pan? PAN, I GET YOOOOOUUUUUU.....

I assume Pan is upset because he didn't like the distate shown by civilised people for the repulsive, libellous and offensive conspiracy theory being aired on one of the McCann threads today - you know, the one saying the McCanns engineered the disappearance of their own daughter.

Agree with Aloha about the McCann thread. Utterly revolting and shameful.

....but I think Pan was more pissed off about the thread about the floods/sinners/bishop, which I glanced briefly at and pronounced barking

Oh, now i just want to look for that thread solely to annoy myself...

Message withdrawn

My sobbing in the corner was jocular.

As someone who considers themselves far from stupid, i have to admit i find it quite patronising if I am pulled up on my spelling when in the grand scheme of things it makes no difference to the point I am making. I know that i may not be as eloquent as other posters but that said it does sometimes prevent me from bothering to post as my ability to spell is rarely relevant to the debate in question.
I do understand how it can be frustrating if people don't comprehend what you are saying but confusion happens in rl and even more so on an internet forum.

In my extremely humble opinion, a person who is picking on somebody's spelling and grammar, has no other point to make. End of. He/She has just ousted him/herself out of being taken seriously. It is like WTF! Petty, unfriendly, totally meaningless, any reasonable person would see beyond a spelling/grammar mistake and look for the meaning of the post. Not all here are British, and we communicate the best we can.

Hmm, I disagree. I do think basic skills like spelling and grammar are important. Our beautiful language is under threat from a culture of text-speak, ingrained laziness and sliding standards IMO and is worth protecting. I don't like the current thinking that seems to be "it doesn't matter, ppl know wot I mean". I'm afraid I find sloppy spelling and grammar irritating and it does have a negative effect on my perception of the poster. That doesn't mean I never make mistakes myself (especially from shoddy hurried typing) - but I would be happy to be told about them.

GS, but text speak is different from making a spelling or a grammar mistake, wouldnt you say? I am also against text speak, it seems a little "uneducated" for lack of a better term.

It's not the odd spelling mistake that bothers me starry - it's the attitude that spelling and grammar don't matter, and that anyone who thinks they do must be a pedant and have no other point to make. That is the thinking that gave rise to text-speak IMO.

Ahem, Greeny, it's grammer, not grammar.

Message withdrawn