Bit of a Pet Peeve.
As a lot of you probably do, I enjoy using the SiteFeedback platform here at WA. Most of the time I get good constructive criticism, and it's kind of fun to see how other members' sites look here. Oftentimes my best inspiration for site design comes from all the creativity other members show on their sites.
But there is one thing that I don't enjoy when providing feedback, and that's when I get to a site that is designed beautifully, and I eagerly open up a post, attempting to read it and see what their niche is all about.
The key word here is attempting.
I know it sounds a bit harsh, but I cannot stand when people write posts with awful grammar and syntax errors. Nearly every browser nowadays as well as most word-processing programs come with automatic spellcheck, and any and all errors are clearly underlined in red or blue, and yet people still leave these errors in.
Now, I understand that grammar can be a tricky thing, but when something clearly points out where you made a mistake and you ignore it, I really don't think there is much of an excuse...unless people just write things without proofing them or re-reading them, which is even more ridiculous!
To be honest, I just don't really understand why this, such an easy issue to fix, is never addressed or pointed out. When I go to someone's website and I see an amazing website design and very well-implemented graphics and then I go to a post and see a wall-of-text monster with comma splices, syntax errors, vague examples, and misspelled words, I start wondering how much their privately contracted website designer cost, because I cannot imagine the person who did such a good job with everything else writing all of that.
I guess I can get over that. After all, English may not be everyone's first language, and grammar can be hard to grasp. I still make occasional blunders myself. Everyone does, right?
But back when I first used Wealthy Affiliate on my old account, I posted a very polite comment addressing the numerous issues with the writing in one of the articles on another member's site. I was using the SiteComments platform, and I had a 100 percent comment acceptance rate, so perhaps that's why this came as such a shock.
I got a reply about two days later saying they weren't going to approve my comment because he didn't want this comment to scare away visitors, and that the multiple very blatant errors he made were "nitpicks" at best.
Suffice to say, I stopped using the SiteComments platform for a while.
Grammar is IMPORTANT. Writing concisely is IMPORTANT. Spelling things right is IMPORTANT.
You wouldn't write that badly when applying for a job or writing your resume for a day job, would you? No! of course not. That would make you look unprofessional and uneducated, even if you are professional and got good grades in school.
If you write badly or cannot spell things correctly, you will miss out on a lot of views and returning visitors, because people won't consider you professional enough or knowledgeable enough to write within your niche. It will make you look foolish, and it can be really detrimental to your success.
It's very frustrating to see all that potential wasted, and it's even more frustrating when people you try to help ignore you and discount your opinion just because they think writing well isn't important.
Here's some homework for those of you who want to improve your writing: read, read, READ. Read in your free time at work, read when you get home, and read before you go to bed. Try to spend at least an hour or so of time each day to read. Read every word, don't skim, and take mental notes on how authors write.
Even if you don't take any mental notes, simply enjoying a good book will subconsciously help you when you write something yourself, and it will help you improve your vocabulary along the way.
I hope you enjoyed this post, and for those of you who struggle with writing well yourself...don't feel bad. Nobody has perfect mastery of the English language, even those who grew up speaking the language, so if you can't quite grasp everything, just keep at it, read, learn, and make sure you actually use spellcheck and proof your posts.
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Hi DimensionB,
I too have been frustrated with some of the sites that I have seen here, but, everyone is different and has a different level of experience with english.
There are some folks that have been quite successful even though they make spelling and grammatical errors.
One thing that I have to remind myself of, is, that the site comments platform is NOT for providing critical feedback on the site. That is what the site feedback platform is for.
I probably wouldn't approve comments on my site that are critical either, but, I would use them to correct myself where needed. Constructive criticism is an important tool but should be offered in the right place..
Just my opinion.
I wish you great success and prosperity!
Sincerely,
Tom
I one hundred percent understand your point. In fact, I even mentioned that I can usually ignore issues someone makes if English is not their first language. English is a hard language to learn, and if it's not your mother tongue, it can get very difficult to write articles in it.
I perhaps should have included a paraphrasing of the comment I posted on this person's website:
"Hey, there, I really enjoyed your content. It's great that you're so passionate about something like this, and I can see it in your writing. However, you may want to check your article -- it's a nitpick but there were a few grammar and spelling mistakes here and there."
I can see what you mean when you say that the main purpose of that platform isn't to criticize articles, however if there are multiple severe issues in the post that they may need to address and they have nothing but positive comments, it might seem suspicious to first-time visitors, which could ALSO hurt their rankings.
Once again, this is just my opinion. It's a pet peeve of mine, and I know that there are many other visitors who will have the same pet peeve, so I figured it may as well be me, right?
That being said, I appreciate your concerns. Trust me, I have learned my lesson; I don't mention mistakes when I comment on other peoples' sites anymore. I just wanted to share a story where I learned this the hard way.
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I used to get somewhat irritated by that myself, but now I try to keep in mind that there are people here for whom English is not their first (or even second) language.A spell-checker or other program may point out errors, but the author may be unsure of how best to correct them, though I do agree that an effort should be made.
Still, for some people it may not be their main concern. There are those for whom writing is unpleasant and the act of blogging/ reviewing/ whatever on a regular basis is a victory in and of itself. They can address spelling and such at a later date, once they have established a writing habit. There's no need to scare them away before that happens simply for confusing to, too, and two, or for writing "could of" instead of "could've" which is actually one of *my* pet peeves.
In terms of comments though, I agree that we shouldn't be using comments to point out spelling and grammar mistakes, as that will be visible to all visitors and somewhat undermines the site owner. I will usually PM them, or if I was sent to their site from a discussion here, I'll tell them that "I found a few nitpicky errors, which I can PM you if you like."