Well, Opera has a spell checker, (do not know if it requires aspell to be installed) you just write something in the text area and make a spell check, it is really useful to make less grammar mistakes (it auto replaces them if you want to), but for those who's English is a third language (like me) the sentence structure or logic could still be quite bad and maybe not understandable.

Yes! Finally, someone's actually said something about poor spelling and grammar of some people's posts!
It really annoys me when I see poorly punctuated and spelt posts, especially in a place such as Astahost. It really ruins the true emphasis of Astahost - of intellectualism, learning and sharing your knowledge with others.

Well for those of us that use Firefox I have found an extension for it that does spell checking. Its called Spellbound and can be found HERE, while the dictionaries for it can be found HERE. Now I doubt it has a grammar checker, I have yet to find one, though with practice one shouldn't need the help with grammar.

The spell check libraries are extensive, I would redefined suggest looking into this if you have the time and inclination to do so. Also, get a Websters Dictionary and if you aren't sure of a word, even if the spell checker says its correct or incorrect, then just look it up.

Well, hope this helps everyone out.

I think there is too much expectation. People make mistakes, even people who you think would not, like editors of a news paper, book, etc. Everyone does, and I notice them.

So then what can we do about it?

Should we automatically force spell checking? We want to keep this a friendly forum, and not make it too daunting, the more actions a person has to make the less user friendly it will become.

Should it be the members of Astahost's responsibility to correct any errors? We already have a lot to do, especially since a lot of us are more voluntary, and have lives outside of Astahost.

Maybe we can do something, I was intrigued by the link to the spell_checker that was posted on http://www.antilost.com/community/ and my idea was using it, but instead of needing to press the spell check button, I was thinking that I could make it so that spell checking was checked while you were typing, and would be similar to MS Office with the squiggly red line and other Office applications, that notify you of errors while you type. It's just an idea I had, and it would be great to get something like this happening. If I can find any free time, I will work on this.

As for correcting grammar, or making sure that the correct word is used, is still left up to the member of that post. Do we really need to hire an editor to check every post made here?


Cheers,


MC

I don't think this is a matter of forcing anything on anyone. What we're discussing here is, I think, a way to provide a guideline, not a rule.

Yes, there are people whose native tongue is not English -- I'm one of them, actually -- and we cannot expect them to stick but to the very basic elements of grammar and pronounciation. There are those who are more comfortable with using shorthand forms. There are those who use slang often. There are many types of contributors here, and so I suspect enforcing a *rule* wouldn't work at all.

But as a general guideline, contributors should make the effort to make their posts meaningful, as much as they can. If the meaning comes across alright, then it's alright -- even though I do prefer writing in a syntactically and grammatically correct way.

The spell-checker idea is a great one. I suppose it might require some modifications to the forum coding, but I trust there are people here who are can volunteer to do the job, and they'll most probably do a dashing one, too.

Hmm... alright. So this topic is now about administrators/moderators, or Astahost staff, and spell checking? Okay, then maybe there should be another thread about it

However, I think spelling is an important aspect of communicating, for it makes everything look nice and professional, not like 'i dink dat u r kul!' Haha, that's kinda noobish or "not nice". No matter, you don't have to change your browser or read a book on spelling and grammar. If you have the heart to improve your spelling and grammar, though, it will be good for you.

I'm sure it will be

cyborgxxi, this thread is about more then just the grammer, and spelling of the moderators/admins/members, it also concerns the way the "professionalism" of all who post here seems to be slipping a bit lately.

Or atleast thats the what I've gathered and come away from this thread with. I just mainly posted about the grammer and spelling as my idea on a first step in correcting the slip we as a community have let happen. But thats just my humble opinion.

As usual, an excellent opinion, Logan, and I wholehearedly agree.

The professionalism level here at AstaHost is much higher than at many other forums I'm subscribed to. Which is why I'm willing to help as much as I could to keep it that way, if not to improve it.

You know what I find quite ironic? The fact that someone posting about ppor spelling and grammar, and who can't even spell the word "grammar" correctrly.

Apart from that, I must say I do agree with you. We've been seeing so many posts about Google or GMail, and "What's your favourite" kinda stuff. Standards have been slipping, not only in spelling and grammar, but also the general quality of posts. People have been posting stuff that is only just above being spam, but is actually a waste of time for anyone to read, but moderators and admins have allowed it.
I think we need some serious reform in standards here.

I'm not knocking the Astahost staff, or Xisto - they do a fantastic job, I've yet to find somewhere better than here - but it would help if the site were a bit more presentable. The forum is a bit of a mess at the moment, this skin isn't amazing, and quite a few features don't work very well. Quite a large amount of the site could do with updating. The packages page (http://www.astahost.com/package.php) still refers to members having to get at least 50 posts for hosting (the old system, before hosting credits were introduced). Acording to the webhosting page (http://www.astahost.com/index_webhosting.html) the servers haven't been updated since 2004. A lot of the site is out of date, or contradicts itself.
It's not just us that need to clamp down on spelling and grammar, the Astahost staff really ought to do something too.

I agree with saxsux on the sinking quality of posts, I especially am annoyed by threads, that are about current events, (and thereby according to my understanding "News") being published in forums, with related contents (like stuff about the sony rootkit in security issues). This kind of stuff floods everything and makes it difficult to find the threads where people are actually looking for help. I don't think, publishing News is a bad thing, I just think, that they should stay in their forum, because they rarely result in replies that are interesting two months later.

On the other hand, saxsux, I think no one should be bashed for his/her spelling problems, because the opinion behind doesn't get any less worthy if the writer spelled "grammar" wrong. That's why I suggested the [spell][/spell] stuff. That makes it easier to note down mistakes and help without any scornful notions.

Good observations on Astahosts topicality though, I agree, that this also contributes to an unprofessional look. Another thing, I would ask for, is the "My Assistant" Tool to be upgraded, so that it can be made easier to keep track of threads, that you are interested in (not only topics you started). I image it in a way, that I flag threads, that I'm interested in. I know that I can search for "replies to my topics", but there might be threads, that I can't contribute to, but that I'm interested in. Furthermore the Advanced Search thing gets cluttered up with the sticky threads, because they are sticky in search too, no matter how old they are (completely senseless in my eyes).

I hope we can change Astahost to the better together!