Smart Alec Replies

#38 & 41

Yes, There is a tendency on the part of some people to direct and control and correct. This can be quite a ‘slippery slope’. Before issuing corrections, you need to make absolutely sure that you’re above suspicion. I haven’t read anyone on these or any other forums whose prose, syntax and grammar is totally beyond reproach. It’s not difficult to make a mistake.

If you are at all sensitive about these matters and would like to improve via the self improver route then: “The King’s English” by H.W. & F.G. Fowler and published by Wordsworth, ISBN 1 -85326-304-4 needs to be by your elbow when you write plus the OED.

“People who live in glasshouse’s shouldn’t throw stones!”

John Green

I am with Deano on this one,I have far more important things in life to get upset about…if I see a post/poster that I dont particularly like then I usually just ignore it…but some of the experienced posters on here will go out of their way to aggressively put down younger or less experienced members !

rgds baz

I stand corrected, my apologies – it’s bazv that said that. :rolleyes:

Here, Hampden98, you’re a Rank 5 user (I still don’t know what one is and don’t really care to be honest) but you talk about old Rank 5 users fading away.

No I didn’t, was someone else, but thanks anyway.

Personally I think there’s far more important things to worry about in life than whether someone has spelt something correctly on an internet forum. I don’t get why people feel they need to correct people’s spelling & grammar at all, I really don’t. I’ve far more important, and better things to do. Why concern yourself with it? It’s like the High Vis police when I’m working, or the “Lights” Police when I am on the motorway and it’s dusk. If people concentrated more on what they are doing rather than concentrating on other people then the world will be a better palce. (oops, did I spell that wrong? 😉 )

I really like to see words spelt correctly and consider this of more importance than punctuation.take the word dropped for instance is spelt by some as “Dropepd”.Now that winds me someone spouting the use of the apostrophe who cant even spell

There’s poor spelling and then there are typographical errors, of which dropped / dropepd is obviously one of the latter; one of the problems of typing on my lap in my sickbed and not bothering to proofread as this is not content for publication…and you missed the use of ‘my’ as opposed to ‘me’ which is a greater crime 😉 Personally speaking, I can’t abide poor spelling or typo’s in things that should be correct – menus for instance or any other printed matter and text speak sends me up the wall. Anyway, having wrote “I also quite like apostophes” I fail to see why you accuse me of “spouting the use of the apostrophe”.

Now, as I can’t even spell, let’s have a look at my errors in the post:

i instead of I
dropepd instead of dropped
my instead of me

Let’s look at your last post, then, as you have such superior literary skills:

Glad you are good at handling your job and yourself well in all arduous conditions but you have chosen to be up to your neck in it and that’s your choice so as you say get over it.

I was also in the army for seven years and know the forces humour and for this reason a lot of ex forces make good firemen.As you dont know the circumstances of why I had a sh*t day “its personal” so for all people who might have to attend a funeral of a very close relative we will all remember your golden words of”Sh*t happens,get over it”.

Perhaps we could put the situation into context and put a massive banner above the high street of “Royal Wooton Basset” Sh*t happens,get over it.That would look good on the T.V screens and then think I wonder how people will react to that. Maybe even still walk down a ward full of people with tumours the size of a football and shout out loud “Sh*t happens,get over it”. I had to put this into context to illustrate sometimes how foolish a few words can be if taken literally. I really like to see words spelt correctly and consider this of more importance than punctuation.take the word dropped for instance is spelt by some as “Dropepd”.Now that winds me someone spouting the use of the apostrophe who cant even spell..(Peace ,love and Understanding)..

You seem to have trouble hitting the space key after full stops (3 times).

Forces humour should have an apostrophe

Ex forces should be hyphenated.

Dont should have an apostrophe

“its personal” no apostrophe and no punctuation down the bottom and why quotation marks up top? You seem to like using quotation marks when not actually quoting or referring to speech. Did you have a reason not to capitalise it?

of”Sh*t happens,get over it”. Surely this should read: of: ‘Sh*t happens; get over it’. Repeating it a couple more times doesn’t make it correct by the way, especially the time you manage to type this complete mess: “Royal Wooton Basset” Sh*t happens,get over it.That

TV, perhaps T.V. if you were typing it in the 1960’s but T.V is just plain obvious as wrong.

and then think I wonder how people will react to that. This should read: and then think “I wonder how people will react to that?” as it becomes speech.

Maybe even still walk down a ward full…that’s just not even English.

punctuation.take You missed a space and a capitalisation there.

take the word dropped for instance is spelt by some as “Dropepd”. Surely you meant to write: Take the word ‘dropped’, for instance, it is spelt by some as ‘dropepd’. Of course, what you should have put, to be correct, is: Take the word ‘dropped’, for instance, which has been incorrectly typed above as ‘dropepd’.

dropepd.Now that winds me someonespouting the use of the apostrophe who cant even spell should read: dropepd. Now that winds me up, someone who can’t even spell.

.. should be …

(Peace ,love and Understanding).. did you mean (Peace, love and understanding). or (Peace, love and understanding…)

Well done, not a single spelling mistake that I spotted. Now, as you have attempted to make me look stupid because you noticed one typo out of a possible three that I’d made and I have highlighted that your rant is, in fact, one that could have been made by a near-illiterate, perhaps you might like to go out and purchase a bag of commas, full stops and other punctuation and ask for some advice on how to best incorporate them into paragraphs.

regraDs sanpper :diablo:

#33

Tony T

You’re a bloke. Multi tasking comes naturally !

John Green

Tell me about it, a lot of folks cannot understand forces humour, Ex or otherwise, you laugh at the most extreme injuries and grave events, probably because it hardens you to life’s little excursions, it stays with you for life and those that have never lived it often are appalled and put out by what a serviceman would find Innocuous. Sometimes I have to bite my lip and go with the flow with some stuff…. I was going to give examples, but thought better of it, I often think… Sh*t happens, get over it.

John, you want to come do my job for a day, maintaining 14 plus aircraft on my own, this includes engineering, ordering and managing stores, amendments, hangar maint, legislation, paperwork… Paperwork… And did I mention paperwork.. Tooling….and dealing with everything else.. I then on top of that can have 3 plus aircraft in bits and I am juggling all the parts, work required, jobs outstanding, spares ordering, engineering, legislation, audits, inspections etc in my head…

Glad you are good at handling your job and yourself well in all arduous conditions but you have chosen to be up to your neck in it and that’s your choice so as you say get over it.

I was also in the army for seven years and know the forces humour and for this reason a lot of ex forces make good firemen.As you dont know the circumstances of why I had a sh*t day “its personal” so for all people who might have to attend a funeral of a very close relative we will all remember your golden words of”Sh*t happens,get over it”.

Perhaps we could put the situation into context and put a massive banner above the high street of “Royal Wooton Basset” Sh*t happens,get over it.That would look good on the T.V screens and then think I wonder how people will react to that. Maybe even still walk down a ward full of people with tumours the size of a football and shout out loud “Sh*t happens,get over it”. I had to put this into context to illustrate sometimes how foolish a few words can be if taken literally. I really like to see words spelt correctly and consider this of more importance than punctuation.take the word dropped for instance is spelt by some as “Dropepd”.Now that winds me someone spouting the use of the apostrophe who cant even spell..(Peace ,love and Understanding)..

I do not fly and aircraft and have only connections with aviation through my going to airshows and amateur photography. So at no point would I claim to know some of the things others know here. Thats mostly why I find it a good place to come as you do learn things from other,I would hate to see that side of things go.

I think most of the time comments are made not with malice or intent to offend, and should be seen as such. For me there’s too much cr*p in life to let words on a forum upset me really. But I do understand others take it personally which in the long run is not good for anyone or the forum.

Another big problem is that type cannot convey emotion in the same way as the spoken word, a message that is meant in a light hearted jokey way can be taken very seriously and cause offense when it is not intended to.

All too easy to forget that not everyone thinks the same way as I (or you) do and will do things or react differently to something.
__________________
Inkworm’s Illustrations mostly aircraft but not enough Harriers

Tell me about it, a lot of folks cannot understand forces humour, Ex or otherwise, you laugh at the most extreme injuries and grave events, probably because it hardens you to life’s little excursions, it stays with you for life and those that have never lived it often are appalled and put out by what a serviceman would find Innocuous. Sometimes I have to bite my lip and go with the flow with some stuff…. I was going to give examples, but thought better of it, I often think… Sh*t happens, get over it.

John, you want to come do my job for a day, maintaining 14 plus aircraft on my own, this includes engineering, ordering and managing stores, amendments, hangar maint, legislation, paperwork… Paperwork… And did I mention paperwork.. Tooling….and dealing with everything else.. I then on top of that can have 3 plus aircraft in bits and I am juggling all the parts, work required, jobs outstanding, spares ordering, engineering, legislation, audits, inspections etc in my head…

Here, Hampden98, you’re a Rank 5 user (I still don’t know what one is and don’t really care to be honest) but you talk about old Rank 5 users fading away. For someone who’s been here since September 2009 (years after I’d originally faded away myself) I would imagine that your use of the term old to be somewhat exaggerated; that’s by the by, as one of the ‘earlier members’ who has faded away (I pop in, rarely, when bored) i’ll let you into the reason why I wandered off. I got bored. I got bored with aeroplanes. I got bored talking about aeroplanes. I got bored looking at pictures of aeroplanes. i got bored thinking about aeroplanes. So I went and found something else to do.

Oh, for the record, I’m aware I am a smart Alec; I also quite like apostrophes. I can’t stand people who don’t search for answers to things that are clearly going to have been asked before (I’m thinking of a different forum i’m registered on at this time by the way) especially when, as happened over the last two weeks, three people asked the same question before the previous one had dropepd off the front page. Sorry, but idiots wind my up.

Please note that anything offending in this diatribe is not aimed personally at any member of this forum but at forum’s in general (I am a member of many). That said, unlike Bruce I do see reasons for rudeness :diablo: So, when’s the next curry planned?

Have you noticed how many of the old rank 5 users have ‘faded away’ Moggy ?

What’s a Rank 5 User?

For what it’s worth – I have been left wondering why the forum seems to have taken a downturn in manners recently too….

I’m also feeling a bit perplexed about a query made recently via PM (to comply with forum etiquette as the right thing to do) to a moderator regarding posting youtube vids in new topics on the Historic section when there was a “sticky” at the top asking that Video links be placed there rather than starting new topics? I was rather taken aback by the reply and left feeling that there was little point expecting any rules to be applied if any moderator can decide not to follow them?

Is this the way forums are declining in general?
The forum has already been praised for it’s fascinating wealth of knowledge and assistance – I have no problem with that side of it, but as someone who has been there regarding moderating and admin of other forums, I can see both sides from experience….

Perhaps it’s the “Winter Blues” setting in – who knows 😉

One wonders then, if that has been your experience, why you bother visiting here at all?

Moggy

Always nice to see a friendly and helpful reply from a moderator 🙂

Have you noticed how many of the old rank 5 users have ‘faded away’ Moggy ?
Personally I am horrified at some of the replies on here…especially to younger or less experienced forum members…it doesnt particularly bother me if somebody is sarcastic to me…I have worked in aviation all my life and it is water off the old back.
But there is a problem with ‘bullying’ on here and some forum members who think it is acceptable to post very rude and hostile comments.
Whilst spelling/grammar mistakes are annoying…is it really worth losing younger/inexperienced posters because of the ‘spelling police’ ?
The only arguments I have been involved in on this forum are because of hostile treatment of inexperienced posters by people with thousands of posts to their credit,I go on quite a few forums and this is one of the worst at times !!
I have not had too much spare time to post on here recently but always keep an eye on some of the very interesting aviation stuff on here – I also agree that people have a potentially different persona on forums because it is not ‘face to face’ and easier to get away with being rude in ‘cyberspace’

rgds baz (one of the forum plankton :D)

Work boredom.

One wonders then, if that has been your experience, why you bother visiting here at all?

Moggy

Its discussion time.

I personally am becoming extremely tired (and annoyed) of responses that puts the most innocent request into the “idiot that cannot search for a reply” category.

I have over 20 years of experience of computers, but I still consider myself as a rank amateur.

Should there be more tolerance and guidance on these forum’s.

Discuss.

It’s one of the reasons I rarely reply or post threads on this forum. I normally get a;
`try google`
Several smart alec responses pointing out spelling mistakes.
A reply telling me this was discussed 6 months ago so sod off.
A reply letting me know I’m not in the know but `they` are so sod off again.
etc, etc
I find a more adult response on the Airfix or Games forums.

Hi to Anyballoons? and John Green,

Thank you both for the replies and suggestions in them.As you say AnyBalloons there are these characters that lurk about the internet and on various forums single out there target for a bit of fun and ridicule.:confused:for what reason I know not why.The same person that itemised my thread with a mini English lesson looked through this thread yesterday made one edit on someone’s reply and totally failed to pick up on any other grammatical errors on the thread.

Of course he’s’ been misunderstood and its my fault for getting irate:confused::eek: in being guided to P.C punctuation and he was just sending the lesson in a light hearted way”Sorry I failed to read it this way” but when you feel a bit S**t after a rough day sometimes your mind reading apparatus isn’t playing the same game as the other person who’s trying to point out to the rest of the user’s what a T**T he’s dealing with and I’m going to show him some proper English.

As for learning I’m all for this and of course its a helpful way if others who are more broadly educated in there specialist subject to pass on some little gem;)to help bring some reason with the error.Couple of marker points for me are to call me by my first name,”John” a big yes,yes and communicate with a little more tact.I’m not at school nor the Army I,m 61 this year trying to enjoy my computer without being *******ed about by wanna be know it all’s.

Thank you to anyone who reads this and can see my point of view and hope if there are others who don’t,you just may do one day when someone starts pressing your bad buttons..john bilcliffe:cool::)

One point is: where do you draw the line? In my view, good manners should always prevail – but, at what expense?

If I make a mistake in grammar or spelling – which I do frequently, then I expect and welcome correction. In much the same way as if I make a mistake of what I believe to be fact then, I know, that someone will surely correct me. I again welcome that.

If it is considered by a majority on this or any other Forum that it is evidence of bad manners to correct, then how can any of us ever learn or improve?

In my daily life, I look around – as we all do from time to time and I’m concerned at how slapdash and careless some things seem to be without much attempt to improve the situation. Many people do not try too hard to reach a reasonable and decent standard of either work or appearance or speech or grammar and for all of these things there is plenty of assistance in the shape of advice in books, primers, newspaper articles and suchlike.

By all means be gentle and without malice when offering a correction or advice and explain that you don’t intend to point score. You’re merely adding to the recipients store of information hoping it will be appreciated.

Education shouldn’t stop when we leave school. That is when it should properly start and go on for the rest of our lives.

John Green

Anonymity encourages discourtesy – and, in some cases, downright rudeness. Take no notice, Eh Team. Internet forums of all kinds are an easy refuge for those who wouldn’t say ‘boo to a goose’ in real life, using them merely to vent their prejudices against others.