Welcome to All New Posters and a Plea for Easier Reading

[Patsy]

Welcome to all our new posters (and, for that matter, some not-so-new)! Good to have you here. I've been asked to post something I put up on COT here at On Ice, too. Since it was a specific request from several people, I'll emerge from lurk (I have always tried to respect the theory that if you don't skate yourself, On Ice isn't the place for you to be doing anything but reading) to do so.

I would like to make a plea that when you post on this board (I don't really care about any other board since I'm not trying to read posts anyplace else) you give strong consideration to using initial caps in sentences, apostrophes as necessary, punctuation, and double space between paragraphs. <insert an on-its-knees smiley face here>

You're wondering why this matters--I can just hear you muttering, right? Let me explain, please.

One of the charms of this board is that we have posters of all ages--from junior high and below up through 60's and perhaps beyond. One of the nasty secrets of getting older is that your eyes have a far harder time reading print on the screen than they used to.

Sentences which don't start with a capital letter and don't finish with some punctuation, omitted apostrophes, and interminable paragraphs all make it very very hard reading for those of us who just *might* <cough, cough> be a titch older than 35.

You would probably be surprised at how many older readers and posters are here. We *want* to read what you have to say, we're interested in it--but please meet us halfway! Thanks for keeping that in mind. Now THINK SPRING!!

P.S. Break your post into paragraphs by putting a DOUBLE "enter" between what you just said and what you are about to say. A single "enter" doesn't get the job done. *Patsy goes back into lurk mode now*

[Vicki]

Thank you, Patsy. Well said. I also usually lurk but do read the boards daily. Posts that follow basic standards of writing are read. If it's too hard to read, it gets skipped.

[skaternum]

Hear, hear. Posting to a board like this isn't the same as Instant Messaging a pal. Thanks for stating the plea so nicely.

[96.23??]

hi. i know you said its better to have capitals and evrything but this is a fun site and i will try to use stuff like that but im used to riting like this online, but if its spaced out well then i think even without punctuation that it cant be that hard to read! just a comment

[dbny]

Originally posted by 96.23??
hi. i know you said its better to have capitals and evrything but this is a fun site and i will try to use stuff like that but im used to riting like this online, but if its spaced out well then i think even without punctuation that it cant be that hard to read! just a comment

I don't think you are anywhere near your 50's yet, so you really do not know what it's like. I remember when I was a kid and my mom would have me thread needles for her and say what good eyes I had. You think it's normal and you will always be like that. You can't quite believe what you are hearing, but I'm sure you can understand that when you say "it cant be that hard" you are actually saying that people are not being honest with you. I assure you we are.

You say "im used to riting like this online", but that should really not be a problem for you at all, since your youth gives you both more physical and mental flexibility.

Yes "this is a fun site" for all of us, and it will continue to be as long as we remain respectful of each other, so please reconsider. It's only one site, and it will give you practice for school :lol:

[inuk_shuk]

funny to bring up school. that's my point. we do the proper thing in school all day and it's nice to not have to worry about perfect grammar and such after hours. sure, i'll try to use less short forms and stuff but you probably wont catch me with capitols and new paragraphs very often. sorry.

[96.23??]

yeah same!!!!! me and inuk shuk were talking about that we think that weve been sitting around all day in school having to do riting all day all proper and all and on our free time we arent gonna be caught dead riting proper when we dont hafta sorry!

[inuk_shuk]

well that was kind of rude...all i'm trying to say is that not everyone feels they need ot take the extra time and effort sometimes.

[96.23??]

Sorry if that sounded rude it wasn't suppose.. i will try my very hardest to put an effort into it! :) Did u notice i have capitals???? and punctiation! lol

[Suzanne]

Oh, believe me, we're not expecting perfect grammar!

Some of us with older eyes would like to be able to read ALL the posts we're interested in. Tha's all.

[arena_gal]

f u cn rd ts tn u cn gt a gd jb

(if you can read this then you can get a good job, I guess the shorthand I learned in the 1970's has been revived, not so hard to read for me, heh)

Anyway, may I suggest that the chatty group set up a "Skaters Conversation" thread, there used to be one (here or iSkater?) and it was full of texting chat, if I recall, the same sort of complaints were made about the non-teenage-skater-lurkers not being able to read anything.


(mmmmm, and skaters who are posting in threads like they're on msn, EVERYBODY reads those discussions here, so be careful what you say)

[skaternum]

Originally posted by 96.23??
yeah same!!!!! me and inuk shuk were talking about that we think that weve been sitting around all day in school having to do riting all day all proper and all and on our free time we arent gonna be caught dead riting proper when we dont hafta sorry!

Not trying to be the grammar police here, just wanting to point out that this illustrates the point. This post was hard to read. (Not as bad as some, but still...) Nobody's going to slam you for writing this way, but be aware that there are people who will simply ignore it or discount what you're saying if it's too hard to read.

[Alexa]

Inuk-shuk and 96.23....any chance you can start PM'ing each other instead of having conversations in the various threads? Not meaning to be rude, but for many of us with limited time, it is difficult to have time to read posters input on a thread if there is a conversation going on between 2 people throughout the thread.

As for the punctuation/grammar plea, I completely agree that it is so much easier to read a reply if it is written properly. I am not 50-something, but still greatly appreciate those that make the attempt to use punctuation and capital letters at the beginning of sentences.

Thanks!

[Mrs Redboots]

Originally posted by 96.23??
we arent gonna be caught dead riting proper when we dont hafta sorry! And the reason we are going to know you are educated and actually know the rules of spelling and grammar is :?: Don't forget, we don't know you, and, to be extremely rude, posting like that does make you come across as an illiterate child. Which I am quite sure you aren't - so perhaps you could help us think of you as the soon-to-be-graduate that I know you are, rather than as a 10-year-old who has got hold of her father's computer!

[proam]

I don’t bother to read a thread that has no paragraphs, no punctuation, no capitals, bad sentence structure, careless spelling and inane short cut words. I don’t tolerate juvenile (I’m not necessarily speaking of the young) posts.

I also don’t click on a subject title that is not clear in its meaning.

[blue111moon]

I'm the person who asked Patsy to repost her plea here. I've posted here for a long time and found myself being driven away by the sudden influx of teen-speak, text shorthand and generally grammarless and punctuationless posts that seemed to me to be taking over a lot of the threads that I used to find interesting and entertaining. I'm not demanding perfection - I make typos like everyone else - and English is not everyone's first language here, either. We take things like that into consideration.

Yes, I'm a old fogie and my eyes are failing. Yes, this is a fun place. But it's supposed to be fun for EVERYONE and posts that deliberately ignore general rules of grammar and punctuation can be considered rude and insulting to the people who have difficulty reading them.

Behavior should be modified to suit your surroundings. You would not behave the same way in church as you would a a high school dance (or I would hope not, anyway!) nor would behavior that is perfectly accptable at a World Cup Soccer match be accaptable at the opera. Maturity comes when you recognize this fact of life and learn to adapt.

As soon as you log in here and start to post, you have joined a community, a community that gets to know you solely through the written words you post. If you want to be taken seriously, then conforming to the standards of the majority is necessary. And the majority of people here are asking - very politiely - to conform to common rules of language to facilitate understanding and communication among everyone.

Perhaps, if 95.23 and those who feel the same way feel so strongly about hanging on to their exclusionary method of communication, they would feel more comfortable petitioning Adrian for a "Teen Skaters" portion of the On Ice board, which is already for skaters of all ages. Or at the very least, start a thread with that title, so that the dinosaurs and grammar fanatics among us can avoid it.

Lecture over.

[flippet]

blue111moon, thanks. Good post.



Originally posted by 96.23??
yeah same!!!!! me and inuk shuk were talking about that we think that weve been sitting around all day in school having to do riting all day all proper and all and on our free time we arent gonna be caught dead riting proper when we dont hafta sorry!



Well, then, honey, the rest of us won't be caught dead reading your posts. That's just the way it goes. I see that some have tried to be nice to you, and respond to your ill-typed questions, but if you continue in this vein, that's going to drop off sharply. We can only take so much.

If you want to be taken at ALL seriously here, then you post intelligibly.

Feel free to start a 'teen skaters chat' thread--it's been done before, and as I recall, those that posted on it had lots of fun posting however they pleased, and chatting the day away. The key is that it was restricted to one thread, that the rest of us could (and did) avoid if we so chose. Happy medium, happy posters.

So please....start one and have a blast! Don't get me wrong, we like having teen skaters here--this isn't strictly an adult forum. But we like to be able to interact with everyone on a common level--in a text environment, that common level consists of using more or less proper grammar.

Thanks. :D

[dbny]

Originally posted by blue111moon
I'm the person who asked Patsy to repost her plea here. I've posted here for a long time and found myself being driven away by the sudden influx of teen-speak, text shorthand and generally grammarless and punctuationless posts that seemed to me to be taking over a lot of the threads that I used to find interesting and entertaining.

I feel the same way, and have been wondering for a while if we are dealing with a troll or meower situation here.

[flo]

I agree Blue, and I also think it's a gret idea for a teen section if desired. Using punctuation and such is another way of being considerate to all posters. Young or mature eyes - posts are simply easier to read when written properly, and I do appreciate the effort made by most posters to do this.

I would also second the suggestion that Inuk-shuk and 96.23 utilize the PM's more often.

[96.23??]

OK then. I said i didnt mean to make that rude and that i was going to try to write properly so you dont hafta keep going on about it like i never said anything! I'm trying to use punctuation and things like that so sorry if i offended any of you. ANNNDDD me and inuk shuk already use msn instead of bring personal stuff into these chats... did u notice in one i said we should stop so people wouldn't get mad? So yeah, but let it slide if there are a few mistakes, typos and shortened words, because we are used to writing like that, and so far in this paragraph i tried my hardest.

so sorry
96.23!

[lord farquad ;)]

Hello everyone! :)

I agree with everbody on this topic. I think it is much easier to read things when they are properly written and well spaced, however i do agree with 96.23??? and Inuk shuk because we can't expect them to do everything you've asked for! Even I don't do that, i will sometimes forget to capitalize some things or a comma or two and everyone will so, i think people should take in consideration how they write but not so much that it's going to take them twice as long to write what they wanted to just because they are trying to write carefully but take a few seconds to try to make your messages a little more clear and easier on the eyes!!!! Just my comments! :)
and 96.23 it was very nice of you to try harder! thanks i'm sure evryone will appreciate it!!

bye! :D

[flippet]

My dear, there's no need to register a new name simply to pat yourself on the back and agree with yourself.

Cease and desist.

Oh, and if you want to chat with yourself and waste bandwidth, do it somewhere else. Take your multiple personalities elsewhere, or risk being banned.

[inuk_shuk]

ok, I know(or I hope) that you guys aren't trying to make us feel young and stupid and unwanted, but that's what it's turning out to be. All i've been trying to say is that for some of us it's nice not to have to be proper all of the time, but we will make an extra effort to accomodate everyone's wishes. I don't know about other people but i liek to think that i am amoung peers here but right now it's definatly feeling like anyone who isn't or has trouble with all of the english rules is being looked down upon. We're all a skating community and this issue seems to be ripping two generations apart. I don't know what else to say other than I will try to be more correct in my grammar, spelling, ect.

And as for 96.23?? and I, thanx, we do PM and use MSN. I thought you guys weren't reading our posts anyway..? Well, sorry for offending you guys, it's not intentional at all. But we're not going to stop coming here, we're not going to stop being ourselves, we'll try to cut back on the "useless" messages though. That's all..I'm sure i'll get knocked by most of you guys for this post but it's my opinion which is something i thought this site (and being an intelligent human being) is all about.

[96.23??]

Hiya,

I agree with inuk shuk, I already apologized for my what came out as "rude" comments. This will be my last post in this thread because I can tell you guys don't want any of my comments. And even if I've made a mistake or two forgive me :P because i tried my best, and I have been making efforts to make my comments in the last while grammatically correct and so. Also i know i shouldn't have made rude remarks but it's not nice to do them back when i apologized!! :(

We didn't mean to intentionally try to offend anybody with our messages, and sorry if it turned out like that. And sometimes threads will lead off into another direction and it's hard to keep on topic sometimes but we will try to restrain it in msn and pms! And ofcourse we will be still posting! maybe not as much personal stuff that can be kept into msn but let it slide if a little slips through please! And I'm also sure i will get comments about how everyone still wants me to leave but o well what can I do?

thanx and sorry,

[Mrs Redboots]

No, nobody wants you, or Inuk Shuk (interesting screen name, by the way - where is it from?), or anybody else who spells "skating" with an 8, to leave. Rather the reverse - we value your comments, which is why we want you to help us old f*rts with failing eyesight by writing them more clearly so we can understand what you're saying! I know it's easy to make typoes (typos?) or spelling mistakes when you're typing fast, and one doesn't always bother to correct them, but all we ask is that you don't do it deliberately! ;)

[jazzpants]

Okay, you kids!!! You know who you are!!! (Yuffie -- leave the thread!!! Your English is decent enough!!! SCRAM!!!) :P

If you follow these rules, the grown-ups will appreciate it, trust me!!! ;)
[list=1] Watch your caps, spelling, grammar and punctuation!!! If you're having trouble with that, a quick fix is to copy-paste your text to a *NEW* MS Word Document and select "Tools | Spelling and Grammar!" After going thru all the corrections, you can do a Select-All and copy-paste back all the text to here!!!
General Netiquette: If you are address to a specific person (or group of people) and you want the grown-ups to ignore it, it's time to take it to MSN Messenger or Chat!!!
General Netiquette 2: If the thread of conversation between you two or three people takes over a page on a thread, it's time to take it to MSN Messenger or Chat!!!
If you MUST do "teen chat" grammar, START A NEW THREAD and make sure the Thread Topic Title clearly says it's "Teen Chat" or "Kids only"!!! That way the adults with poor vision will think twice about going to the thread! And they'lll thank you for sparing their vision!!! ;)[/list=1]Clear as mud??? Good!!! ;) DO IT!!!

Cheers,
jazzpants

P.S. Reasonable guidelines, flippet??? Kids??? Grown-up???

[skaternum]

Originally posted by jazzpants

P.S. Reasonable guidelines, flippet??? Kids??? Grown-up???

I'm not sure how to respond to this. I'm not flippet, but the other two choices are confusing!! :)

[96.23??]

Okay this it to jazzpants:)

What did you mean by "Okay, you kids!!! You know who you are!!! (Yuffie -- leave the thread!!! Your English is decent enough!!! SCRAM!!!)" ????

Just wondering.




p.s. Mrs. Redboots <-- I think thats it. Its spelt typos. I'm pretty sure atleast? lol

[Hester Prynn]

Listen,

without sugar coating this too much... seeing as I'm 18 myself, I don't feel the need to use "chat jargon". This is an all age board and it's considered polite and responsible to post messages that all users can read. It shows ignorance at the fact the we can't reach an agreement here. C'mon already!!!

First off, "chat jargon" is for the chat room or emails to your teen friends, whatever. This is not the place for that. I'm still in school too... and taking 2 AP english courses (Lit and Comp) so please don't whine and complain about having to always use proper grammer. That's like complaining about having to stroke after a program or something.

Secondly, it doesn't take a huge amount of brain power to use capitols, punctuation or to ACTUALLY SPELL SOMETHING OUT ALL THE WAY. I'm sure there are plenty of people in agreement with me here.

Point being, if you want to post your "coded" posts, get your own thread so that those of us who like reading english, can avoid it.

Sorry to be so blunt, but there was no need for this thread to go THIS long on this subject....

Are we ready to move on now?? Thank ya kindly.
~HP~

[jazzpants]

Originally posted by 96.23??
Okay this it to jazzpants:)

What did you mean by "Okay, you kids!!! You know who you are!!! (Yuffie -- leave the thread!!! Your English is decent enough!!! SCRAM!!!)" ????

Just wondering.
Meaning the rest of the message was meant for you, inuk_shuk, and lord forquad! (I probably left out a couple of other people too.) Yuffie and a few other teens out there on this forum that *HAS* proven to me that they decent English on this board!!! So the message was NOT meant for her or those teens!

NOW as for you...I'll make my point very clear!!! If you write your messages in "chat jargon," NO ONE will take you serious!!! I mean it!!! Not your teachers in junior high, or high school. You will surely go thru HELL in college, b/c they INSIST you learn proper English, or you will have to repeat the class!!! And if that's not enough to scare you -- you'd be surprised just how many employers will NOT hire you if you don't speak or write proper English!!! You should see how many job ads I'm going through now that explicitly said "Excellent verbal and written communication" as a REQUIREMENT!!! (And of course, eventually you would WANT to make your own money to buy new skates and afford your coachand ice time, right???) ;)

I don't know about you, but I'd fix my English PRONTO!!! There's a lot of great things that will come to you over time if you had good English!!! Trust me on this one! I wouldn't miss out on it!!! ;)

I'm done ranting. I'm going back to job hunting!!! :P

[sk8ing is lyfe]

This is getting like Survivor where there clearly is an age gap. I think the purpose of the Board is not to try and sound the most educated or sophisticated (i can tell some of you are doing that!)

All we are trying to say is that...

us teens go to school (notice i didnt spell it skool?) then to skating and train, then when we are tired and ready for bed, we come on skatingforums to check up on things. WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO WRITE AS MANY RESPONSES IF WE ARE BUSY PROOFREADING OUR WORK LIKE WE ARE BEING JUDGED AND GRADED BY THE ADULTS!!!

By the way (notice i didnt use BTW?) jazzpants, I really dont want to have to "spellcheck" my every post!

i am going to get nailed for this but o well, its my opinion!

[iceprincesskc]

Originally posted by jazzpants
Meaning the rest of the message was meant for you, inuk_shuk, and lord forquad! (I probably left out a couple of other people too.) Yuffie and a few other teens out there on this forum that *HAS* proven to me that they decent English on this board!!! So the message was NOT meant for her or those teens!

NOW as for you...I'll make my point very clear!!! If you write your messages in "chat jargon," NO ONE will take you serious!!! I mean it!!! Not your teachers in junior high, or high school. You will surely go thru HELL in college, b/c they INSIST you learn proper English, or you will have to repeat the class!!! And if that's not enough to scare you -- you'd be surprised just how many employers will NOT hire you if you don't speak or write proper English!!! You should see how many job ads I'm going through now that explicitly said "Excellent verbal and written communication" as a REQUIREMENT!!! (And of course, eventually you would WANT to make your own money to buy new skates and afford your coachand ice time, right???) ;)

I don't know about you, but I'd fix my English PRONTO!!! There's a lot of great things that will come to you over time if you had good English!!! Trust me on this one! I wouldn't miss out on it!!! ;)

I'm done ranting. I'm going back to job hunting!!! :P

I know both Inuk_Shuk and 96.23 very well, and have since they were both very young. They are both very intelligent young girls who DO NOT need you talking to them like they are 9 or 10 years old. They both when you actually treat them properly are very interesting to converse with. Maybe if some people on here weren't so how can i put this EXTREMELY RUDE to them, and asked them politely they may comply to what you are asking! :)

It is just my opinion that the sarcasm and rudeness is not needed!!

Thanks

[Hester Prynn]

Right now I'm seeing a finger snapping and head waving movement out of clueless...

As far as the argument about school, skating etc... been there, done that, got the t-shirt and I can still SOMEHOW manage to sound somewhat human. Was that so difficult?

Here's some water to douche the flames.

Jazzpants, I agree, but perhaps would have been a little more sarcastic... but that's me. Not that I'm sarcastic or anything.

Forget the age gap, just type CORRECTLY, which doesn't require large amounts of grey matter. Agreed?

:: takes out hose ::

I'm done with this. Continue the cat fight.

~HP~

[iceprincesskc]

I don't understand why we are all arguing over my friends :??

[blue111moon]

I have solved my problem. I've put the people whose posts I cannot take the time to decypher on my Ignore List in the User CP section of this board. It lowers my blood pressure, saves my vision and spares me from being tempted to respond as vehemently as Jazzpants has.

[Mrs Redboots]

Originally posted by iceprincesskc
I know both Inuk_Shuk and 96.23 very well, and have since they were both very young. They are both very intelligent young girls who DO NOT need you talking to them like they are 9 or 10 years old. They both when you actually treat them properly are very interesting to converse with. Maybe if some people on here weren't so how can i put this EXTREMELY RUDE to them, and asked them politely they may comply to what you are asking! :)

It is just my opinion that the sarcasm and rudeness is not needed!!

Thanks I'm sure they are delightful people - but from the way they tended to post (and I will say that I have noticed some much more literate postings from 96.23, at least, just recently), how were we to know that they weren't 9 or 10 years old? That is exactly what they came across as - children of 9 or 10!

Heaven knows, I use far too many italics when I post - problem with being a preacher and writing to read aloud without sounding as if you're reading - and I know some of us adults use too many smileys, so we aren't perfect, either. But we do try to come across as who we are, not as small children!

[Alexa]

sk8ting is lyfe.... I understand what you are saying in your thread about the time factor, but do you think that all of us out of school and working have an abundance of free time? If so, I will let you know the answer is no. We are also busy people, but just happen to manage to form complete sentences. It doesn't mean that we don't sometimes make mistakes or type things quickly without proofreading.

The point to this whole thread are the posts that have no effort involved whatsoever to use the English language as it was meant to be used. It is not about time or trying to be an English teacher. It was just a warning that if someone wants to participate in this forum, responses will probably be ignored if the member does not want to put the effort in to write in a way that all members can read and understand.

I think that the original post was an excellent request. I think that many members were quietly becoming irritated at the sudden onslaught of teen speak threads that not only were written in teen speak, but went on for pages as a conversation between 2 posters. Personally, I am glad that someone spoke up just so that we can come to this forum and enjoy it again.

[vesperholly]

Originally posted by inuk_shuk
ok, I know(or I hope) that you guys aren't trying to make us feel young and stupid and unwanted, but that's what it's turning out to be. All i've been trying to say is that for some of us it's nice not to have to be proper all of the time, but we will make an extra effort to accomodate everyone's wishes.

I don't think that anyone is trying to "make you" feel young and stupid and unwanted. Basically, when you read someone's posts, you develop a sense of who they are and what they are like. For example, Trillian's posts always come across to me as thoughtfully written and calm. Mrs Redboots sounds like a warm older woman. Jazzpants sounds a little silly and endearingly overenthusiastic about her skating. etc. You may be a perfectly wonderful person in real life, but how am I supposed to know that?

It's similar to the saying "You are what you you eat" - here, you are what you write. When I see a post that consists of "oh ya lol i totally hafta get mydouble sow, haha liek thats gonna happen!" I think the person's a moron. Sorry, but judgement is a harsh mistress. No one demands perfect grammar and spelling all the time - a reasonable attempt is more than enough.

Perhaps it's time for a Teen Focus forum? Or (even better) Adult Focus?

Jocelyn

[flo]

Age, eyes and time constraints are not the issue. You're never too young, or have too little time be considerate to others.
I appreciate the efforts made thus far, and look forward to their improving.

[sk8ing is lyfe]

I'm sorry but i dont think you see what i am getting at.
so because of the rudeness age centering out, i am not afraid to express my opinion. so from now on, i will make an attempt to talk in, as you call it "chat jargon" (what does that mean anyways?)
so here goes...:

i dont think u c what we r gettin @. we go to skool & participate in skool sports also. we come home, do hw in the car if we hafta, then we train on the ice for like 2-4+ hrs. then we finish our hw and then, in the very last few mins b4 we go to bed, we come on here and try desperately to get caught up! we need to type fast b/c we hafta go to bed, and not get bhind in sk8ingforums. we respond to all of the threads, not just one, and it takes a long time.
so unless u dont want our opinions and w/e then we will write the way we want to to get the point across.

hey i coulda been worse!

you said that we shud b ourselves, well mayb this is all we have time to do. anyways, it shudnt matter what or how we type, it shud b the points we make which you judge us on...

after all, we dont judge u! (but we cud!)

[Hester Prynn]

Not that I'm trying to push anyones' buttons, but that just sounded like something straight out of an ESOL class in my school. No wait, they make more sense. Considering my time spent in chat rooms, i understood that.

Hun, "chat jargon".... was precisely that. Now, not that I spend time in school or anything, but jargon... well, look the word up in the dictionary, but seeing as you spend SOO MUCH time in school, I ASSUMED (stupid me) that you knew what it meant. I won't make that mistake again. Forgive me.

Alexa, I agree 100% with you.

Sk8ting is lyfe and friends, I fail to see the complaint. As a high school senior myself, who has to train (Yes, truely, actually train) 6 days a week, somehow I manage to work roughly 25 hours a week while taking a full course load including AP classes... I have no sympathy for such a "complaint". Personally, and yes I'm being very brash here, it sounds like an easy excuse to 'like, you know, like not like type, like normally"

I'm sure other posters agree with me, if I want this teenie bopper posting, I can go into a teen chat room or some other board (or so I thought) and that ONCE AGAIN, IT DOESN"T TAKE TIME OR BRAIN POWER TO TYPE A SENTENCE. Now, you know what sentences are right?? Those things that you read left to right, grouping words together, that end in punctuation???? :roll: Just making sure you knew what I was talking about, like totally! :: does head shaking :: ::snaps fingers::

Frankly and bluntly, reading these "teen" posts (laughing because of my age.. :lol: ) is like living in an episode of Clueless. No seriously, like it totally is.

I apologize to everyone else for my post... you know, that blatant sarcasm. And for being blunt. Whatever. Looks like I'm going to be adding people to the ignore list.

Just remember girls, one day if you actually do decide to go to college, you have to write essays to get in. You can't tell them, "Liek, I wuz tired & didn't feel liek writing normally bcuz ima sk8r n don't hav tyme."

:: ruffles feather :: WOW! this was fun! :: cracks knuckles::

Next Please!
*hp*

[96.23??]

Hi

I know I said i wan't going to post in here again but I am. lol. Now number 1:

I already corrected my grammar and stuff twice on here!! but noooo you guys all ignored it not one of you noticed it, you all just kept on going about how we should correct our grammar when we already did! So if you can stop telling us to it we would appreciate it since we already started doing it.

EXCEPTION: Thanks flo! Atleast you actually took time to read our previous posts to see that we had corrected our things!

Also, thanks iceprincesskc! :)

LOL *sk8ing is lyfe* that was quite a post! I liked it very much! lol ;)

[iceprincesskc]

Well done Becks!

Can we all just let this issue fade out now. The girls have said that they will start talking properly!!

Thanks
ME

[96.23??]

Hi again!

I have a suggestion that may help this thread out! How about EVERYONE STOPS being so rude! It's not helping, all it is doing is making everything much worse!

Also, if people can stop judging people that would make it a lot better! This site is suppose to be about skating and that's what has brought us all together but if people won't respond to people who write " incorrectly" and people who write "incorrectly" won't respong to people who write "too correctly" we won't be having much of a conversation will we?

How about we get back to talking about skating since it's the one thing we have in common? :) And maybe people will start having fun here again! :):):):)

[jazzpants]

Okay, I had a chance to reflect on this and I would like to add some comments: (This is a long post... so skip this if you don't have time and/or have poor eyesight!)

First thing: re: Jocelyn's comment, I'm usually passionate about something (like skating) when it has made a significant impact in my life. And of course, when this happens, the "silly and endearingly over-enthusiatic" side comes out.)

Now given that, learning the English language also ended up being an important part of my life. It became essential to my being successful in the industry I work in to write documents in formal and proper English. The reason why I'm forceful about it is that I've been in the position where I didn't have proper written English skills. Because of that I've paid a major price for it. The last time I paid dearly for not having proper English was by losing a job. Since then, I realized that if I didn't brush up on my English that I was to continue to lose jobs and not have any money to live on. You do NOT want to be in this situation, believe me!!!

I would like to commend the kids for trying to make an effort to write proper English. I HIGHLY appreciate it! :) My intentions was NOT to sound abrasive, but to be more specific about what I feel most of the older posters wanted from you. If I sound like I'm being abrasive, I humbly apologize!!!

So, kids (in the "under 18" term, not the figurative sense, skaternum??? :P) -- ITA!!! I would like to call it a truce!!! (Insert "waving white flag" smiley here, since I can't find one anywhere.) I want to get back to being "silly and endearingly over enthusiatic" about skating again!!! :D :lol:

Cheers,
jazzpants

P.S for Hestor Prynn: all I can say is "You're MASOCHISTIC!!!" (I hate to imagine what you'll go through when you go off to college!!!) :P

[inuk_shuk]

ALRIGHT the thing that is REALLY bothering me right now is that you guys are saying that you "want to be able to read or opinions" and such in other threads, but you know what?? It's quite obvious that you're not even reading the things we have posted in here!!!

I would liek to inform you all that I plan on going to an amazing university such as McGill, Ryerson or Carlton. I plan on studying architecture which is no walk in the park. I will be getting into one of these fine institutions with excellent math and science marks and by proving I will be an asset to their rowing or skating (or both) teams. Obviously, the program I am after requires grade 12 english with a grade that wont bring my average down by 20%. I am an excellent english student, thanks muchly, and I am certainly not one of the "clueless" girls.

And in reply to that, I'll be getting "I'm sure you are, so show it." as you've all been syaing. BUT the point that I've been trying to make since the very first time I posted in here is that we're a variety of different people with a variety of different ages and a variety of different opinions and a variety of different vocabularies and a variety of different reasons for posting what we do. Before I post something, I read it. Always. If I didn't want people to read what I posted, why would I post it? Ok, you think I'm a moron. I know I'm not, the people who know me know I'm not. I'm not trying to be mean, or rude, or disrespectful but --> MEH.

Sorry to post so long but I have one more point to make. The way a lot of you guys (not all) have been talking, teens type "jarbo"..? "jarbon"..? "jar"-something. Whatever. I use internet "slang" to be more speedy when I type on MSN or ICQ. And yes, I'm aware that I'm not on MSN or ICQ right now. From the first time I ever posted here I have never used the same kind of "lingo" here that I use when I'm chatting to my friends. POINT --> you say we are being inconsiderate when we post. Well, I found most of the posts in here to be very inconsiderate and offending to teens. The age gap is painfully obvious. I'll be childish right here and say it really sucks *** that we can't get over this and all be skaters and not either younger or older people (which may be easier for me to say, I don't know what it's like to be on the other side). That's my rant for the day.

Emily

P.S. Excuse any spelling, grammar or other errors I may have made. I'm 15. I'm not a genius. I have much to learn about proper writing. I'm sure this post has been good enough though.

P.P.S. I'm repeating what I've said all along. And I am doing it in capitols so maybe someone will actually aknowledge it. I WILL PUT MY BEST EFFORT INTO BEING MORE CONSIDERATE TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE FINDING IT DIFFICULT AND ANNOYING TO READ MY POSTS.

[96.23??]

Good post inuk_shuk.

Now, Jazzpants... I totally agree, let's just drop this whole thread, it's causing breaks in the skating comunity! :) Let's all stop this sillyness before it just goes over the top and let's get back to talking about skating!

And Jazzpants and flo thank you for commending kids who are trying to make an effort, I for one appreciate it, since you are the only two who actually noticed what we wrote. And to those who didn't notice I'm not asking you to tell us on how well we can write and I'm not trying to be mean or anything! It just seems like you haven't read our posts when we were trying to tell you that we were trying to correct our messages thats all.

Thanks and can we please just get back to talking about skating!!!!

[sk8ing is lyfe]

ok, i want to drop it too, however i have one problem...

hestor prynn, you call us childish? you just embarrassed yourself infront of all of skatign forums with your clueless reenactment!
i thought it was rather stupid and i am embarrassed for you.
i am trying not to be blunt, however it is very hard.

this site is called skating forums, not adultskatingforums. why r u saying that we should have to create a teen one, why dont you create an adult one.? it works both ways.
in the skating community, you have canskates, test stream kids, and competitive. then adults who are skating for fun. notice how most of these people would be children or teens??? what gives you the right to make us feel unwanted in the skating community, when all we are rtying to do is give skating our best shot in the future and see how far we can go amaturely? to purposely ignore our opinions is stupid (once again) as we have so much to offer the forum!
if you choose to ignore our insite, then that is your problem not ours, so if you want to pretend that you adults are as sophisticated as u let on, with your amazing(im sure) education, then go for it, but dont complain to us!

this whole thread sickens me! im sorry. but it is so immature. I agree with the first post, but it couldve been left at that

i wouldve made an effort to change, however now i will not do so until we are treated with respect rather than looked down upon. you can continue your aristocracy but leave us out of it.

i value your posts i really do but i am truly not impressed with how you have taken this whole controvery.

BTW (by the way) hestor prynn, i have a 94% in english thank you very much, so i do not need critisism on my spelling or punctuation.

i therefore do not apologize for any mistakes in here!

[inuk_shuk]

I would have to agree with skating is lyfe on this. It does go both ways with creating an "only teens" or "only adults" section. But wouldn't that stink if it had to come down to that? I also agree that the younger generation has been treated like dirt in this thread. Excuse us for acting our age :).

One other thing about us getting into university : the universities that we apply for are NOT going to be coming on skatingforums to examine the way we post. They're not going to be inspecting our online conversations with our friends. And as I'm sure you have noticed from the last few posts, we are perfectly capable of speaking proper english and will be fine, but thanks for your concern on an issue un-related to our skating which is what we come to this site to discuss.

Once again, I will be making an effort to post in an easy - to - read fashion. Thank you and good night :D .

[love2sk8]

Originally posted by sk8ing is lyfe
we go to skool & participate in skool sports also. we come home, do hw in the car if we hafta, then we train on the ice for like 2-4+ hrs. then we finish our hw and then, in the very last few mins b4 we go to bed, we come on here and try desperately to get caught up! so unless u dont want our opinions and w/e then we will write the way we want to to get the point across.


I agree completely with this....shorter ways of writing things do come in handy, and when in a rush, are very useful.

However, I see where the other people are coming from also, and I understand that it may be hard to read. But its tru that when we come home after a long day, and our only spare time is 20 mins on the computer, being judged isn't always fun.

Anyways, I'm extremely tired of hearing about this stuff, because its a constant battle...I think people need to compromise, or just ignore people whose posts are not to their standards.

[Hester Prynn]

PML! point taken... with a grain of salt.
Oh, and yes, I'm so embarassed for myself. I'm going to shudder in the corner now. :roll:
But in the interest of time... truce.
Better yet, POST WHATEVER THE HECK YOU WANT HOWEVER THE HECK YOU WANT. fair?? If someone wants to sound like a person with an IQ of 10, let them.

That said, I agree this thread has been drawn out (partly my fault) and we need to get back to the skating talk. I'm sorry if my point of view offends anyone... but... I'm moving on.

See y'all around.
*hp*

[inuk_shuk]

This will likely be my last post in this thread. I'm so sick of this.

Hester Prynn : THANKS!!! And I WILL post "whatever the heck I want" :lol: !!! If you, or anyone else for that matter, decides they want to ignore me, GO AHEAD. And if you, or anyone else for that matter, wants to think that I'm a moron or that I have an IQ of 10, go ahead and do that too!! Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. At this point, I don't care. Ignore me, do it, I want you to.

Read what you want.

Think what you want.

Enough said.

Cheers *raises cup of kool-aid*

[Norlite]

Originally posted by sk8ing is lyfe
ok, i want to drop it too, however i have one problem...

hestor prynn, you call us childish? you just embarrassed yourself infront of all of skatign forums with your clueless reenactment!
i thought it was rather stupid and i am embarrassed for you.
i am trying not to be blunt, however it is very hard.

this site is called skating forums, not adultskatingforums. why r u saying that we should have to create a teen one, why dont you create an adult one.? it works both ways.
in the skating community, you have canskates, test stream kids, and competitive. then adults who are skating for fun. notice how most of these people would be children or teens??? what gives you the right to make us feel unwanted in the skating community, when all we are rtying to do is give skating our best shot in the future and see how far we can go amaturely? to purposely ignore our opinions is stupid (once again) as we have so much to offer the forum!
if you choose to ignore our insite, then that is your problem not ours, so if you want to pretend that you adults are as sophisticated as u let on, with your amazing(im sure) education, then go for it, but dont complain to us!

this whole thread sickens me! im sorry. but it is so immature. I agree with the first post, but it couldve been left at that

i wouldve made an effort to change, however now i will not do so until we are treated with respect rather than looked down upon. you can continue your aristocracy but leave us out of it.

i value your posts i really do but i am truly not impressed with how you have taken this whole controvery.

BTW (by the way) hestor prynn, i have a 94% in english thank you very much, so i do not need critisism on my spelling or punctuation.

i therefore do not apologize for any mistakes in here!

94% in English??

My goodness, now this thread could almost turn into a discussion of the horrible state of our school system 8O

[Rachel]

Um, girls.

Sorry to sound unsympathetic, but most adults work 40 hours a week, and do a lot of boring work around the house. Some take classes; some have a second job; some have children to take care of; all of them have a lot of responsibilities.

We're all busy people.

What amazes me is that you spend all this time at school writing correctly, then get online and suddenly forget all that. If you are truly spending hours writing correctly and have very little time to get online and use cute spellings, then it should come much more naturally to you to write correctly than it does to use the cute spellings. After all, it's not that the cute spellings do not also have rules and correct ways of being incorrect; you have to think about one at least as much as the other, or so I was always taught in writing theory and linguistics. I think it's a bit disingenuous to claim that you can't write "correctly" because you are tired or it's too much work; it's just as much work either way. I would guess that it's been more of an awareness problem than anything else.

However, I think some people here are being a bit hard on you and that you have more maturity than you are being given credit for. Being quite childish myself, I would be strongly tempted to retaliate by pointing out the spelling, punctuation and grammar errors in some of the posts criticizing mine. Thank goodness you have refrained from such rude behavior and demonstrated some class.

[96.23??]

OKAY NOW:

I for one have HAD ENOUGH! We have already come up with write as you like and think as you like and if you don't like how they write you can judge them because now we are all just very fed up with this silly thread that has really gotten us nowhere! :x

So can we all just forget about this? I've already truced with jazzpants and I think enough is enough! No more rudeness towards each other please!

Also, if people apologize take the apology don't just keep going about stuff they have done wrong in the past because it sure isn't helping!

Also, Norlite, there was no need for your comment which was if anyone didn't see it :

"94% in English??

My goodness, now this thread could almost turn into a discussion of the horrible state of our school system "

It wasn't one of the nicest posts I've seen but I don't want to make a big deal out of it, just take into consideration you probably have just offended some people.

Thanks and can we all just forget about all of this now?

[Suzanne]

96.23?? -- yes, I'm all in favour of moving on. And yes, I do appreciate the fact that you are writing now so that we can understand you. Thanks!

[inuk_shuk]

Alright, I know i said the last one was probably my last one, but I had to post just one more. I couldn't sit back and watch some of you guys be that rude to us and sya nothing.

Rachel --> We know adults ahve a lot on their plates too. I have two parents that definatly don't have much time for recreation.

Norlite --> I found your post to be extremely offensive. I have 91% in english and I worked very hard for that mark. I think it was well deserved and I'm sure skating is lyfe's mark was too. NOTE : Our schools have very high stadards for us and it's very hard to get an A in something. Thanks.

Suzanne --> You ROCK!!!

That's all.

[flippet]

Ok all, putting on the moderator hat now--which those of you who know me know that I almost never do.

One point to make--if you'll notice, no one was singled out when this thread was started--it was a general request. If there are posters who felt singled out, perhaps it's because they recognized themselves in the request? And if that's so, then they already know and are sensitive to the differences.

So. I think everyone understands the issue now--on both sides. I've seen effort to cut down on the slang, which is great--posts are much more readable now. I think we can close this thread and move on.

If people are still bothered, I think the 'ignore poster' function would be a good one to use. Not that I want to see anything less than a community here, but if stress levels are increasing either way, perhaps it's a better option.




Thanks for everyone's input--it's all being acknowledged. Locking now.

~flippet the mod