I know a lot of people on Gather have ambitions to be published.
One thing that will keep me from reading your article is misspelling most of your words.
Grammatical errors are another issue. I can understand people having dangling participles and misusing punctuation, but the least you can do is capitalize the beginning of each sentence.
I do not aspire to be a writer and I believe in giving everyone a chance. but if you can't take a minute to at least run a spell check, I won't take a minute to read your article.
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I'm an anti-M$ evangelist. In this case Firefox is better software than the M$ product.
The Firefox speller helps me catch things as well.
Free Spell Checker
better browser
Thanks for sharing and caring.
pj
It is easy to make errors when you typing so fast or your emotions are running high..I try not to say too much until they keep spelling the same word wrong...as in rediculous...really! I have seen that many times!
So, this may be the better idea yet...thanks, never thought about it.>>actually , I did, when I started, I looked for spell check, and asked about it.
Linda in Tennessee
http://lindatn37932.tripod.com/
SHOULD be:
I do not aspire to be a writer, (comma missing) and I believe in giving everyone a chance. But (words following a period should be capitalized) if you can't take a minute to at least run a spell check, I won't take a minute to read your article.
Let he/she who is without fault cast the first stone.
In hopes that the legendary 'Gather Police' are not resurrecting themselves once again as the last time they went down in a hail of ridicule and scorn and made themselves pretty darned unpopular.
I choose to give everyone a chance and the time to make self improvement as they try to find their way along the journey to fine honing their desired craft and maybe becoming what may be a future literary genius without squashing their hopes over a misplaced noun or one too many of these things ';' (I never can remember what is a colon or what makes a colon semi).
You are correct about the period, but not about the but.
Actually the period should have been a comma. I'm sorry Marsha, I'm having cataract surgery next month to improve my deteriorating eyesight. After my surgery I may be able to aspire to your obviously high standards.
I can, however, still find my spell check.
I'm not a he/she, I'm a woman, hence, the picture of a woman.
By the way, your horse is turned backwards, I think the other view would be more appropriate.
DO YOU HEAR ME, SPELL CHECK.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977064968
You sure about that Kris?
I'm not an English teacher. I learned this stuff in junior high at a regular public school.
WRONG!!! It does not matter in what forum you put it, online or offline. It does not matter whether you are homeschooled, prep-schooled, public or even self taught, if you want to write something and get your meaning across clearly, then you should at least try to spell the words correctly. That means you care about what you are trying to say.
As far as the grammar police well they can kiss my *SS because I don't know one grammar rule from another sometimes. I do my best. I figure if I am ever writing something that will one day get published or sent out to be even thought of, I will most certainly revise the whole manuscript with a pile of book including one called "Grammar for Dummies".
I will read any article that the headline pulls me in, the title as well. I may grimace over a ton of spelling mistakes but one or two I can easily overlook.
Chill people, there is more important issues in the world to complain about.
Peace out!
It's admirable to try to inform and elevate the technical qualities of the work found here on Gather, but I don't ever remember seeing that disclaimer that "all articles are subject to editorial review prior to publishing".
Personally, I rely more on content and the voice projected thorough the article. To me, what you are saying is no more different than rejecting someone for the way they look, sound, etc. Perhaps you're missing out on something deeper, but that's your choice and maybe your loss.
This was a good way for a newbie to get some points though.
Lera - I wouldn't read your stuff anyway - but hey - thanks for the point.
Thank God for small blessings.
You're welcome and here's another point for the both of us.
And good luck getting that corn cob out of your butt.
So big deal, you've been here a month. What I said still stands; do you think anyone cares whether or not YOU read their articles? I doubt it. And I really got a chuckle when I saw that you consider yourself the "Goddess of Gather" that has got to be the funniest thing I've read on Gather for at least a month.
Thanks for the laugh!
Oh, and beware of nose bleeds, high altitudes will do that to some folks.
Daily articles, personal insights, and journal-type entries, are NOT where criticism is warranted.
Your high-handed treatment of them is neither welcome nor deserved.
Get off your high horse, lest you fall off and injure your rather large and prominent probiscus.
The well dressed C A has a good point. Grammar and spelling are more important in essays and fiction than the personal stuff. I think personal insights fall under the grammar/spelling requirement. That's what a large number of essays is.
How DARE you invoke the name of my favorite writer??? LOL!!
King speaks of writers who wish to be published, and on those points I agree.
I stand behind my previous comments on other forms of writing, though.
There seems to be a bandwagon, that a lot of people are riding on, that makes them think that it is too much to ask someone to press a button before they post.
"There" should have been "their".
Spellcheck would not have helped.
All I was asking was that people use SPELL CHECK - not for grammatical genius.
Sure, there are different writing styles, but generally any grammatical rule-breaking is on purpose, and it usually only works if the author is incredibly talented. While some of the folks on Gather are in fact excellent writers, most are not, so there certainly is liberal allowance for that (including for this sentence I hope). Sharon's note about spell check, in my opinion at least, reflects the fact that many Gatherites can't adequately communicate their thoughts because their poor spelling (and other ideosyncratic grammatical lapses) makes it difficult or impossible to understand what the heck point they are attempting to be make.
Spelling mistakes happen, even with spell check, but I believe Sharon is trying to suggest to the worst offenders that a little more effort would be appreciated.
Gee, I hope I didn't spell anything wrong. Feel free to jump on my diction, grammar, spelling, vernacular, punctuation, etc.
Peace and smiles to all. Live life...have fun.
I'm getting the impression that people write their articles in the publisher. I always write in Word, do spell and grammar check, copy and paste to Gather publisher. But I'm also a proofreader of my work and I like to keep copies anyway.